Francesca Hong, leftist candidate for Wisconsin governor, called 911 on anti-Israeli protester in 2023, report says

Democratic candidate for governor Francesca Hong, the leftist in the race, called 911 on an anti-Israeli protest display in 2023, according to a report from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. 

The democratic socialist and frontrunner in the primary reported a protest display featuring a paint-splattered Israeli flag — a decision she told the outlet she regrets. 

In late December 2023, Hong called Madison police twice to report a “highly antisemitic act” that she wanted to be “potentially investigated as a hate crime,” according to the police report obtained by the Journal Sentinel. 

Hong, who represents part of downtown Madison as a member of the State Assembly, was sent a photograph of the protest display featuring an Israeli flag and fake bodies splattered with red paint. 

Portions of Hong’s calls to police have been posted to TikTok in recent months.

“Three years ago, there was a piece of protest art at the encampments in Madison, which was photographed and posted to social media,” Hong said in a statement. “My constituents reported they felt threatened and alerted me to the social post, but the image was cropped and incomplete to misrepresent anti-Zionism as antisemitism – a distinction I take seriously.

“Based on their concerns for their safety and my incomplete information, I did something I regret deeply: I called the police and asked them to look into it. This turned out to be a mistake because the image posted to social media was intentionally misleading. I believe in free speech. I support a free Palestine. The genocide in Gaza and the colonization of the West Bank must end.”

Hong also texted Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway about the display, according to the report. Records also include a call to the non-emergency line from former Madison Ald. MGR Govindarajan, who represented the area on the City Council.

Hong told the police dispatcher that she was not at the site of the display but said she received a photo of it. She said she was “trying to figure out what the fastest way to take it down is because I’m not at the location.”

The dispatcher said he would have an officer look into it, but “I don’t know legally if officers can force somebody to take this down.”

Hong asked if it could be removed because it was on city property, and then said she’d like it to be investigated as a potential hate crime. The dispatcher said officers would first need to investigate whether a crime was committed.

In a second call, Hong again described the display to another dispatcher as “a display of antisemitism that’s pretty disturbing and jarring.”

The officer following up on the call wrote in his report: “The display was removed subsequent to my taking Hong’s call after approximately an hour and a half in which she had contacted the Madison police again to report that she had received numerous phone calls from constituents in the Madison area advising her of the uncouth nature of the display in question.”

After police removed the display, its creator and owner, Jesse Ransom, contacted police because he had previously put a GPS tracker on it and could see that it was moving. Ransom tried to report the removal as a theft, arguing he’d taken steps to comply with city rules.

Ransom said he built the beginning of the display early in December 2023 as part of an ongoing protest action to urge U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin to call for a ceasefire after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel and Israel’s subsequent retaliation – which she ultimately did Dec. 21. Ransom said he first parked his bike with the display downtown on Dec. 15.

On Dec. 22, he said, he added items to the display like the Israeli flag “with red paint to symbolize blood being spilled in war.” Ransom has voiced frustration that none of the police reports related to his bike include the fact that the word “CEASEFIRE” was painted on it, along with a phone number to contact Baldwin.

“While exercising my first amendment rights to petition my government and complying with all laws my private property was unlawfully seized by Madison Police department without due process for political speech,” Ransom wrote in a complaint filed with the police over the incident.

Ransom confronted Hong about the incident during an event in June 2024 and later shared a recording of their conversation with the Journal Sentinel.

“I did not know there was a ‘ceasefire now’ sign,” Hong told Ransom. She said the campaign staffer who informed her about the incident was “deeply upset” and that she also heard from “community members who agreed that it was something we should try to take down.”

Ransom responded that the display was “free speech directed at Tammy Baldwin,” to which Hong replied, “Absolutely.”

Hong acknowledged her regret over the incident, telling Ransom, “I regret calling the police. I regret having that taken down.” She said she had sought to make amends through her subsequent actions, including introducing a resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and sponsoring legislation to repeal Wisconsin’s anti-BDS law. The law, enacted under former Gov. Scott Walker, prohibits state and local governments from participating in boycotts of Israel.

During Wisconsin’s spring 2024 election, Hong was among the elected officials who helped lead the state’s “uninstructed” campaign, which encouraged voters to protest the Biden administration’s military aid to Israel and call for a ceasefire in Gaza.

Hong also emerged as a leading opponent of legislation signed by Gov. Tony Evers in March that codified the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s 2016 definition of “antisemitism” for use by state and local governments. Critics of the measure argued that it could infringe on free speech rights.