Francesca Hong (left) and Kelda Roys were the winners in two highly competitive races to represent Madison in the Wisconsin Legislature.
Restaurateur Francesca Hong surprised a few Tuesday night. The political newcomer is all but assured to represent Madison’s isthmus in the Wisconsin Assembly next year after winning a very competitive, seven-candidate Democratic primary race with 28.2 percent of the vote. She seemed a bit dazzled but confident in her message when Isthmus spoke to her on election night.
“What the people want are fair wages. They don’t want to fear the police. They want to be able to participate in the process and live better lives,” Hong said in a phone interview after election results were in. “We worked to connect folks to a bigger movement and I’m grateful that people thought I was up to this challenge. The work starts now.”
Hong, chef and co-owner of Morris Ramen, won 17 of the district’s 26 voting wards, beating two sitting elected officials — Ald. Marsha Rummel and Madison school board member Nicki Vander Meulen — neither of whom won any wards. Heather Driscoll, an active member of the Schenk-Atwood-Starkweather-Yahara Neighborhood Association who has previously run for a seat on the Dane County board, won just one ward and came in fourth.
Hong will be taking over the seat held by Chris Taylor, who represented the district for nearly 10 years; Taylor was appointed a Dane County judge in June by Gov. Tony Evers.
Hong’s nearest competitor was another political neophyte: Madison police officer Tyrone Cratic Williams. In an Aug. 12 statement conceding the race, he took a parting swipe at Hong for “her desire to dismantle police unions.”
“This is because you also campaigned for industry workers to unionize, and you also want to bring back collective bargaining rights,” wrote Cratic Williams. “Speaking about dismantling a union and unionizing workers in the same campaign — isn't Madison currently struggling with leadership using these same tactics?”
Hong signed a letter of “no confidence” against acting Madison Police Chief Vic Wahl that was submitted to the Police and Fire Commission in July by community activists. The letter cited “grave concerns” of Wahl’s handling of the Black Lives Matter protests in Madison that were sparked by the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer in May.
“I’m inspired by how many voters told me they had never voted in a primary election before — people who never saw the Assembly and Senate working for them,” Hong tells Isthmus. “I championed the message that real change comes from people demanding action and...people showed up for that in this election. It’s wild and I’m grateful.”
During the campaign, Hong aligned herself closely and held several virtual events with state Senate candidate Nada Elmikashfi — who lost Tuesday to former state Rep. Kelda Roys in a seven-way race to succeed outgoing Sen. Fred Risser.
Roys won with 40 percent of the vote in that race, defeating Elmikashfi by 13 points. Roys was the young, progressive candidate challenging the Democratic establishment in her run for Congress against U.S. House member Mark Pocan in 2012 and governor in 2018.
“It's very strange to be sort of maligned and cast in this role of an establishment politician when I've always been an extremely progressive Democrat and someone who has never hesitated to speak truth to power,” Roys tells Isthmus.
Elmikashfi, a Muslim Sudanese immigrant who has never run for office before, wasn’t afraid to differentiate herself from Roys during the campaign.
“Kelda Roys owns a real estate company, lives in a half a million-dollar house, and has the resources to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on her political campaigns,” Elmikashfi tweeted on July 15. “People in my community are sick and tired of decisions being made by the rich and powerful.”
Elmikashfi also made waves for tweeting “Fuck your statues” in June after protesters toppled two statues on the Wisconsin state Capitol grounds — beheading and tossing one into Lake Monona. It was the same night that a small group of protesters attacked state Sen. Tim Carpenter (D-Madison) for filming demonstrators on a downtown street. A few weeks later, Elmikashfi sparred with Carpenter in a protracted series of online messages. Carpenter eventually issued an apology on Twitter for his part in the heated debate: “I will work now to confront rashness within myself and to avoid being reactionary.”
Elmikashfi’s unapologetic campaign made headlines and earned several high-profile endorsements, including from U.S. House member Ilhan Omar (D-Minnesota), Madison Teachers Inc. and Planned Parenthood Advocates of Wisconsin. But it wasn’t enough to overcome Roys.
Elmikashfi did well downtown, on campus and in isthmus neighborhoods. Her support may have pulled Hong over the line in that close Assembly race. Elmikashfi received more votes in the district than both Roys and Hong.
“I am inspired by Nada’s leadership. I think it's very needed in this community. I look forward to watching her continue to challenge and better her community,” says Hong. “She won't ever stop fighting for what's right. She will always challenge those who are not challenging what's unjust, and I was honored to have been able to campaign alongside her.”
But Roys racked up big totals on the west side and was competitive throughout the district, winning 56 out of 79 voting wards. Former Ald. Brian Benford came in a distant third, followed by Amani Latimer Burris, Aisha Moe, village of Shorewood Hills Board Trustee John Imes, and William Henry Davis III. Roys faces no Republican opponent in November and will assume the seat Risser has held since 1962.
“It was a really challenging, competitive race. I think it was very exciting for Madison to have so many great candidates in four open seats this year,” says Roys. “I think it's a testament to the crisis that we're in and the activism in this community that we have so many people that are willing to kind of step forward and run.”
If Roys serves Madison as long as Risser has, she’ll be in office until 2078. When asked if that’s her plan, Roys responds, “Hell no.”
Ald. Samba Baldeh will likely represent Madison’s north and far east side in the Wisconsin Assembly. He defeated Ald. Lindsay Lemmer by 14 points Tuesday night.
Baldeh credits his victory to successfully navigating new ways to connect with voters during the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead of knocking on doors and holding in-person events, he tells Isthmus he focused on getting his message out through digital channels and by making more than 7,000 phone calls to voters.
“I also think being an immigrant and a Black person made me a unique candidate that attracted a diverse group of constituents. I also think my campaign is a sign that white people are ready for a change,” says Baldeh, who is only the second Black person to represent the Madison area in the Legislature. “It speaks to a willingness to talk and confront institutionalized racism and the mass incarceration of people of color. I think [my win], generally, will help white people defuse their guilt to a certain extent and means they are ready to work with communities of color.”
Baldeh is expected to replace outgoing state Rep. Melissa Sargent in the Assembly but faces Republican opponent Samuel Anderson in November. Sargent was seeking to replace retiring state Sen. Mark Miller (D-Monona) this year and had the most lopsided victory of the four open legislative races in the Madison area. She defeated Andrew McKinney by over 50 points with 77 percent of the vote.
Sargent said there wasn’t a roadmap for campaigning during a global pandemic.
“I will tell you, I missed knocking on doors. I missed the miles of walking. I missed getting to know the district on that intimate, in-person level. I’m hopeful we can get back to that point and it’s why it’s so important we get the state government back on track, accountable to the people,” Sargent tells Isthmus. “What was really clear this year is that voters are looking for unapologetic leaders willing to get things done, break the dysfunction we currently see in the Legislature.”
The pandemic presented new challenges to election clerks and a dramatic rise in absentee voting. But it didn’t seem to negatively affect voter enthusiasm in the traditionally sleepy August primary. Madison voter turnout in 2016 was 22 percent and 30 percent in 2018. This year, it ticked up to 39 percent.
