Current Affairs Of Pakistan & World: Swing-state socialism

Swing-state socialism

May 30, 2026

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With help from Eli Okun and Ali Bianco

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DRIVING THE DAY

In the crowded Democratic field running to replace Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers, there’s a surprising frontrunner for a battleground state: a democratic-socialist line cook who has called to abolish the police.

Francesca Hong, a 37-year-old restaurant owner and single mother who became the state’s first Asian-American assembly member in 2021, has surged to the lead in several early polls after launching a long-shot bid on a deeply progressive platform.

Hong is part of an array of lefty candidates with working-class credentials running in competitive states and districts up and down the ballot in this year’s midterm elections — a crop emboldened by the popularity of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and a turn toward economic populism amid widespread cost-of-living concerns.

Abdul El-Sayed is running from the left of Haley Stevens and Mallory McMorrow in the competitive Michigan Senate primary. Zach Wahls, who is backed by Elizabeth Warren, is locked in a tight contest against the Chuck Schumer-supported Josh Turek for Iowa’s Senate nomination. In Colorado’s 8th District, where Dems see a flip opportunity, Manny Rutinel is running against the more moderate Shannon Bird. And last month, Graham Platner got a boost when Schumer-endorsed Maine Gov. Janet Mills dropped out of the race to oust GOP Sen. Susan Collins.

Establishment Democrats worry that these figures — whose platforms play well among primary voters but could bite them in a general election — might spoil the midterms at a time when the party has the wind at its back, desperate to claw its way out of the wilderness and still weary of the “woke” allegations that Republicans effectively wielded against Kamala Harris. “If Democrats hope to beat Republican incumbents in red and purple districts, then they cannot run candidates who are far outside the mainstream of their district,” the center-left think tank Third Way wrote in a memo published last month.

Hong says the party establishment just lacks imagination.

“I think they're underestimating voters,” Hong said in an interview with Playbook. “I think that has always been a problem for the Democratic Party — that we are not listening to how they are feeling.”

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Her platform includes free child care, a $20 minimum wage and a full moratorium on data center construction. She is an outspoken critic of the Israeli government and helped lead Wisconsin’s “uninstructed” pressure campaign on the Biden administration’s posture toward Gaza. She’s faced backlash for past calls to “abolish” the police. And she has suggested as governor she would call the state National Guard to arrest federal ICE agents.

But Hong doesn’t think her far-left politics would pose a risk in a general election. “The liability is having someone who is the establishment and wants to maintain the status quo,” she said.

There’s still months to go before the Aug. 11 primary to decide who will face off against Tom Tiffany, the presumed GOP nominee endorsed by President Donald Trump. Still, Hong is leading early polls among nine Democratic candidates — making her an unusual frontrunner to lead a state Trump won by about 1 point in 2024.

Wisconsin has a deep history of socialism, including three socialist mayors of Milwaukee between 1910 and 1960. The state boasts one of the Senate’s most conservative members, Sen. Ron Johnson, but also one of its most progressive, Sen. Tammy Baldwin. And progressive Democrats in Wisconsin are quick to point out that Sanders, the country’s democratic-socialist standard-bearer, won 71 out of Wisconsin’s 72 counties in 2016.

Hong isn’t just running on a different platform than her competitors — she is also running “the most non-traditional race,” said Gordon Hintz, who served in the Wisconsin state assembly with Hong when he was Democratic minority leader. While other candidates have been more reserved so far, Hong spent — and surged — early on to boost her name recognition. Hong’s campaign says it has about 3,000 active volunteers and has already organized 250 events across the state, with an additional 230 planned for the coming months.

“She has shown up, she's the only candidate currently who has built any infrastructure down in Rock County,” said Jim White, who leads Rock County Democrats. “She's the only person who has active canvassers, has people showing up at events, at meetings, she's the only one who seems to have increasing infrastructure to do outreach to voters, and that's been something that I think we've all really noticed.”

But it’s still an uphill battle for Hong — especially in the fundraising fight. Mandela Barnes, the former lieutenant governor and failed Senate nominee is polling in second place and has raised more than $2 million. Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley has brought in more than $850,000. Hong has raised about $635,000, according to Wisconsin campaign finance records.

Hong said she is focusing on turning one-time donors into recurring donors and has leaned on nontraditional fundraising tactics, like streaming. She has appeared with the progressive Twitch streamer Mike from PA and with Mercury Stardust, a TikToker with more than 2.6 million followers who describes herself as “The Trans Handy Ma’am.” Next month, Hong is planning to stream a DJ set and a cooking demo on Twitch, according to her campaign.

Both White and Hintz noted they still have not decided who they’ll vote for in the primary. But they both guessed part of Hong’s appeal to voters — particularly those who are young and politically disengaged — was because she is “fun.” Hong is, for example, known to host fundraisers at karaoke bars.

Her go-to song? “I Will Survive.”

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6 THINGS THAT STUCK WITH US

1. BOARD OF TRADE: As the Trump administration fleshes out the details of the proposed “board of trade” Chinese leader Xi Jinping agreed to earlier this month, more than half a dozen industry group leaders and CEOs told POLITICO’s Ari Hawkins that trade groups and companies are chomping at the bit to submit feedback. The White House and Beijing both said the framework will cover $30 billion or more in exports from each country — a sizable chunk of the more than $650 billion worth of the goods and services traded between the countries. But additional details are scant.

2. EBOLA WATCH: The ongoing Ebola outbreak is teeing up yet another clash between the White House and the World Health Organization, POLITICO’s Sophie Gardner and Carmen Paun report. During the Covid pandemic, Trump ignored WHO guidance — and criticism of travel restrictions — when he closed the U.S. border to foreigners who’d recently been in China. Now he’s ignoring the WHO again, shutting out most travelers from the affected countries.

3. ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth last night delivered a familiar message to a new audience, framing the U.S. relationship with Asia in transactional terms while sidestepping the biggest military flashpoint in the region, POLITICO’s Jack Detsch and Paul McLeary report from Singapore. In a major policy speech, Hegseth called for “drama-free” ties with Asian countries and called for Washington and Beijing to have a relationship “based on fairness and reciprocity” — making no mention of Taiwan, a rare omission for a Defense secretary.

Watch the season finale of On the Road with Jonathan Martin

On the Road with Jonathan Martin wraps Season 1 in South Philly with Gov. Josh Shapiro, who weighs in on the future of the Democratic Party, voter trust, 2028 speculation and more — from inside Angelo’s Pizzeria. Watch the finale and catch up on the full season.

4. IRAN LATEST: Trump left a two-hour Situation Room meeting last night with no update on a “final determination” on an Iran peace deal, POLITICO’s Megan Messerly reports. The president had laid out several conditions earlier Friday in a Truth Social post, including demands that Iran agree never to have a nuclear weapon, immediately open the Strait of Hormuz without restrictions or tolls and remove whatever mines from the strategic waterway that the U.S. had not already removed. After the meeting concluded, a White House official said, “President Trump will only make a deal that is good for America and satisfies his redlines. Iran can never possess a nuclear weapon.”

5. 2028 WATCH: At South Carolina Democrats’ Blue Palmetto Dinner in Columbia last night, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear addressed the gutting of the Voting Rights Act, sounding a lot like a presidential candidate, Playbook’s Adam Wren writes in. “The actions of the Trump administration are providing a huge opportunity for Democrats to go out and regain the trust of the American people, to be the party of common sense, common ground and getting things done. Democrats can win again by winning back the middle — and it’s there for the taking. We do this by showing up and getting dirt on our boots and governing well. That’s how we rebuild and regain the confidence of the American people,” Beshear said.

Meanwhile, Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) called for a “third Reconstruction” centered on “economic power” at Rep. Jim Clyburn’s (D-S.C.) World Famous Fish Fry yesterday. He also issued a call for Supreme Court term limits: “Eighteen years, and you're out,” he said. “And when we have the power, we must expand the court from nine to thirteen justices.”

6. CALIFORNIA WATCH: Former HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra is leading the California governor’s race ahead of Tuesday’s primary, with billionaire Tom Steyer trailing behind him — raising the prospects of the top two Democrats advancing to the general election and shutting out the GOP, according to the final Emerson College/Inside California Politics poll out this morning. Becerra notched 28 percent of the vote, followed by Steyer with 22 percent. But Republican Steve Hilton was in third place at 21 percent, putting the delta between Steyer and him within the three-point margin of error. That latest polling comes two days after a L.A. Times/Berkeley IGS poll of likely California voters found that 25 percent would back Becerra, 21 percent Hilton and 19 percent Steyer.

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CLICKER — “The nation’s cartoonists on the week in politics,” edited by Matt Wuerker — 17 funnies

Christopher Weyant/Boston Globe

GREAT WEEKEND READS:

— “It Was Supposed to Be a Lifeline for a Blue-Collar Town. Then Trump Returned,” by POLITICO’s E&E News’ Benjamin Storrow: “The president has made combatting offshore wind a hallmark of his second term. … New Bedford is at the center of it all.”

— “DHS allows mother it deported without her toddler to return for his burial,” by WaPo’s Maria Sacchetti: “Wendy Hernandez Reyes denies she ‘abandoned’ her son, as ICE claimed. In an extraordinary act, she was allowed to come back to the U.S. for his burial.”

— “What Happens After a Deportation? A Family Leaves Their American Dream Behind,” by NYT’s Jaime Lowe with photos by Juan Arredondo: “A few weeks after their return to Bogotá, several boxes were delivered from Los Angeles. ‘This might sound dumb,’ Karen says, ‘but when I arrived in L.A., I didn’t have much. When I got my first check, I bought small things like perfume or mascara or nail clippers. And when I saw them again in the box, I felt transported to another time.’”

— “The Big Little Penis Panic,” by N.Y. mag’s Brock Colyar: “In the age of looksmaxxing, Trump, and ‘catching print,’ men have seized on an enduring anxiety with new energy.”

— “How China is breaking apart a people and its culture,” by FT’s Alison Killing: “The campaign of repression against the Uyghurs has entered a new phase.”

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TALK OF THE TOWN

LET’S GET PHYSICAL — President Donald Trump is in “excellent health,” according to the results of his latest physical the White House released last night — though he has gained 14 pounds since April 2025 and is near the threshold for clinical obesity. Trump’s doctor, Capt. Sean Barbabella, noted that the oft-speculated bruising on his hand is a “common and benign effect of aspirin therapy.” More from NYT

BLOCKED — A federal judge ruled yesterday that Trump’s rebranding of Washington’s premiere performing arts center to the “Trump-Kennedy Center” was illegal and ordered that the center return to its original name, POLITICO’s Kyle Cheney and Josh Gerstein report. U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper wrote that federal law “requires the building to honor ‘President Kennedy and President Kennedy alone.’” Hours later, Trump said on Truth Social that he would abandon the redesign and direct his administration to transfer oversight of the center to Congress.

JAMES + BRIANNA — “Dem. Senate candidate James Talarico’s mysterious girlfriend revealed — and she’s vegan,” by N.Y. Post’s Josh Christenson and Jared Downing: “Brianna Menard, 30, describes herself as a ‘committed vegan,’ yoga buff and cat mom who likes ‘dancing the night away’ at local gay bar Cheer Up Charlies in Austin, according her bio at a local food coop, where she serves on the board.”

TRANSITION — Rob Greenway is joining American Global Strategies as SVP for national security. He is leaving the Heritage Foundation, where he will remain a visiting fellow.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Jeff Freeland … NBC’s Frank Thorp … Reema Dodin … Holly Page … Miryam Lipper … Thomas Cluderay … NYT’s Michelle Cottle and Kirsten Danis … Stratton Kirton … Loren Duggan … Nicholas Ballasy … Victoria Buchanan … POLITICO’s Maggie Miller, Amanda Chu, Alexa Nealy, Michaela Ross, James Bambara and Nicholas King … Rob Noel … Lisa Stark … Novartis’ Nicole Longo … Ashley Bender Spirn … Rusty Pickens … former Rep. Steve Israel (D-N.Y.) … Jenna Lee … Steve Kramer … Ashe Schow … CNN’s Eric Levenson

THE SHOWS (Full Sunday show listings here):

CBS "Face the Nation": Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy ... Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) ... Mike Pence ... Cindy McCain.

NBC "Meet the Press": Mike Pence ... Gov. Andy Beshear (D-Ky.). Panel: Leigh Ann Caldwell, Val Demings, Garrett Haake and Steve Hayes.

FOX "Fox News Sunday": Kevin Hassett ... Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.) ... Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.). Panel: Michael Allen, Mark Bednar, Francesca Chambers and Juan Williams.

CNN "State of the Union": Sen. Andy Kim (D-N.J.) ... Interior Secretary Doug Burgum. Panel: Rep. Yassamin Ansari (D-Ariz.), Brad Todd, Kate Bedingfield and David Urban.

ABC "This Week": White House NEC Director Kevin Hassett ... Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.). Panel: Donna Brazile, Chris Christie, Faiz Shakir and Patrick McHenry.

Fox News "Sunday Morning Futures": Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent ... Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) ... Florida Lt. Gov. Jay Collins (R).

MS NOW "PoliticsNation": Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) ... Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson ... Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee ... Mississippi Senate candidate Scott Colom.

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