Former Obama adviser David Axelrod believes Wisconsin Democratic gubernatorial candidate Francesca Hong losing her primary would be good for Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul el Sayed, denying Republicans an opportunity to tie the two progressive candidates together.
“It would be good for @AbdulElSayed if Francesca Hong loses her bid to become the Democratic nominee in Wisconsin next week,” Axelrod wrote in a post on X. “He is a serious person. She is a font of zany liberal, faculty lounge exotica.”
Axelrod argued that if Hong captures the Democratic nomination, Republicans would attempt to paint el Sayed and the Wisconsin Democrat as ideological allies while seeking to shift attention away from President Donald Trump.
“But the Rs, hoping to deflect attention from an unpopular @POTUS who hangs from them like an anchor, would surely try and link Abdul and Hong as philosophical kin,” he added.
Hong, a self-described democratic socialist, has become one of the most closely watched candidates in Wisconsin’s gubernatorial race after embracing several progressive positions that have drawn national attention.
She previously voiced support for “defunding the police as first steps towards abolishing the police,” though she later walked back those remarks, saying she does not want to reduce resources for public safety and opposes unsafe streets.
FRANCESCA HONG SAYS ‘NO’ TO ABOLISHING POLICE, BACKS AWAY FROM 2020 ‘WHITE SUPREMACY’ CLAIM
She had also previously voiced support for canceling Thanksgiving in a 2020 tweet, writing, “Cancel Thanksgiving. Should have done this in 1621. If it takes a worldwide pandemic for us to realize we should stop celebrating colonialism and the original superspreader event that killed indigenous folx and women, so be it.”
Axelrod’s comments underscore growing concerns among Democratic strategists that nominating candidates viewed as too far left could provide Republicans with political ammunition in competitive Midwestern races.