Self-described socialist gubernatorial candidate and state Rep. Francesca Hong is staging a high-profile campaign rally this Sunday featuring some of the national progressive movement’s most controversial out-of-state figures, a move that coincides with the Wisconsin Democrat Party’s state convention and could be seen as anti-establishment counter-programming.
The event at Atwood Music Hall, billed with the tagline “We make better (rallies) possible,” will feature California Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna, Illinois congressional candidate Kat Abughazaleh, author and activist Qasim Rashid, and Madison Alder Sabrina Madison. Comedy from Gareth Reynolds of the popular podcast The Dollop, along with live music, is also on the bill. The rally kicks off at 4 p.m. on June 14, the second day of the WisDems convention, which is taking place just a short walk away at Monona Terrace.
Among the headliners is Rep. Ro Khanna, the California progressive who has drawn fresh scrutiny over a draft ethics complaint alleging that his family generated up to $108 million in suspicious stock trades. Critics point to thousands of trades in defense contractors such as Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Palantir, timed around major legislation, as well as in pharmaceutical stocks ahead of FDA decisions. The trades were routed through family trusts, prompting accusations that Khanna’s household profited handsomely from information unavailable to ordinary investors while he sits on key committees.
Also on the roster is Kat Abughazaleh, the Illinois Democratic congressional candidate and social media troll who was federally indicted last fall on felony charges including assault and conspiracy to injure law enforcement officers. The charges stemmed from her alleged role in a skirmish outside a Broadview ICE facility during anti-enforcement protests. Her presence at a Wisconsin campaign event highlights Hong’s doubling down on her anti-ICE, defund and abolish the police and prisons movement that has drawn criticism.
Joining them is Qasim Rashid, a Virginia-based self-described human rights attorney whose past campaigns have drawn fire for alleged self-dealing. Virginia Republicans accused him of paying himself a campaign salary from donor funds while presenting himself as a practicing lawyer despite limited recent courtroom work. Rashid previously worked at Kaplan University, the for-profit online school that faced widespread scandal over aggressive recruiting and questionable practices before collapsing under regulatory pressure. His brand of online activism has often veered into inflammatory anti-Semitic territory.
Interestingly, the Democrat Party of Wisconsin is holding its 2026 state convention June 13-14 at Monona Terrace in Madison. Early Marquette polling has shown Hong leading the Democratic primary field for governor, and she has performed strongly in straw polls among activists. Party insiders have expressed concern that her radical, unapologetic socialist positioning and national far-left alliances could drag down the ticket in a swing state. Hong’s decision to host a spectacle featuring indicted activists and ethics-plagued congressmen on the same weekend sends a clear message: her only intent is to rally the extreme progressive base and ignore center-left coalitions.
This is not Hong’s first embrace of controversial national figures. She recently celebrated the endorsement of Rep. Ilhan Omar, the Minnesota Democrat whose own career has been defined by repeated ethics investigations, allegations of immigration fraud involving a sham marriage, lies about her exploding net worth, and ties to Somali-led multi-million dollar COVID and childcare schemes. Omar’s brand of identity politics and anti-Israel rhetoric has been toxic even among many Democrats. Pairing that with this weekend’s lineup of out-of-state radicals reinforces the impression that Hong’s campaign is importing the same failed progressive model that produced chaos in Minneapolis.
Wisconsin voters have watched similar experiments play out in neighboring states. Minnesota’s new paid family leave program is already triggering automatic tax hikes after applications blew past projections. Illinois has struggled with crime, population loss, and fiscal mismanagement under one-party Democratic rule. Importing activists with records of confronting police and politicians dogged by insider-trading allegations does little to assure swing voters that Hong understands the difference between Madison’s activist bubble and the rest of the state.
Hong’s supporters will frame Sunday’s rally as a way to energize the base. For the broader electorate watching both the convention and the counter-event, the message is harder to miss: the candidate who wants to be Wisconsin’s next governor is choosing to stand with the national far-left fringe whose legal troubles, ethical clouds, and radical policy prescriptions have repeatedly been rejected by voters when fully understood.
