A Wisconsin gubernatorial Democratic candidate revealed she quickly left a Culver’s with her son on the verge of an ‘anxiety attack’ because there were ‘too many old white people.’
Francesca Hong, 37, posted on X in 2019 that anxiety drove her to leave the fast-food restaurant after ‘too many old white people’ allegedly thought she and her son didn’t speak English.
‘I ate two bites of my kid’s cheeseburger at a Culver’s in Black River Falls and told him they ran out of ice cream,’ she wrote.
‘Mostly just wanted to leave because I was on the verge of an anxiety attack… too many old white people who didn’t think we spoke English.’
The July 2019 post resurfaced as Hong launched her gubernatorial candidacy, championing policies including universal childcare, fully funded public schools, cheaper healthcare and protecting immigrants against ICE.
Hong’s post was reshared on X by right-wing political commentator Matt Walsh, who wrote: ‘A woman who confessed to having anxiety attacks around white people wants to be governor of Wisconsin, an 85 percent white state.’
‘If this doesn’t immediately destroy her campaign and career then we’re doomed as a country,’ he added.
The comments saw outrage and mockery over Hong’s story, as many users slammed the candidate.
Francesca Hong, 37, posted on X in 2019 that anxiety drove her to leave a Culver’s after ‘too many old white people’ allegedly thought she and her son didn’t speak English
The July 2019 post resurfaced as Hong launched her gubernatorial candidacy, championing policies including universal childcare, fully funded public schools, cheaper healthcare and protecting immigrants against ICE
‘How can you be a representative of a constituency you hate and loathe so much you have panic attacks when around them,’ one comment asked.
‘Ohhhh lawd have mercy, that poor delicate flower won’t survive the anxiety of the job. Best to put her in a mental health facility,’ another user quipped.
‘If you have an anxiety attack at a burger joint, you have no business running a state,’ a third wrote.
In response, Hong re-shared a post that saw her commenting on Culver’s in 2020, which said: ‘They are the perfect road curd. No other fried curd comes close. Only Culvers curds or fresh curds are appropriate for travel. For in person dining Culver’s curds are indeed, trash.’
Hong’s fresh response said: ‘I see that folks are digging up old tweets in an attempt to shift the narrative in this race. I stand by this statement, unequivocally. Their fries also leave much to be desired. The Reuben, however, slaps.’
She has not yet addressed her comments about ‘old white people.’ Daily Mail has contacted Hong for a statement.
Alongside her post about anxiety, other people also noted Hong’s admission to having a ‘mental breakdown’ when she was 18 years old in a resurfaced interview.
In September 2023, Hong, as the first Asian to win an Assembly Seat in Wisconsin, told Meal Magazine as a chef and owner of her own restaurant, Morris Ramen, that she had a history of poor mental health.
‘At 18, I had a mental breakdown. I didn’t actually walk at my high school graduation because I had been hospitalized for a week at a child-psychiatric hospital. I just felt like nothing had meaning anymore,’ she said.
‘It was a numbness that took over, and a pain that I couldn’t describe. I couldn’t feel anymore, and that scared the hell out of me. And I found myself self-harming to feel something.’
After she was probed by the outlet, Hong revealed she had been diagnosed with bipolar disease, placed on an antidepressant and experienced a lithium overdose.
In the same interview, Hong commented on an inflammatory post on X aimed at the Wisconsin Tavern League over Covid-19 policy soon after she was elected.
‘I know that inflammatory or aggressive language can feel off-putting at first, but I am expressing my right to be emotional, to be personal, to be human,’ she told the outlet.
‘So this is me being a human – angry, frustrated, and scared that there are forces that I don’t have control over impacting the people that I care about. Part of it is in redefining who a politician is: somebody with a foul mouth who works in the dish pit on a Saturday night.
‘There’s a lack of curiosity and creativity in politics. And if I can be someone that can continue to agitate and use activism as a way to push policy from the inside to the outside…’
In September 2023, Hong, as the first Asian to win an Assembly Seat in Wisconsin, told Meal Magazine as a chef and owner of her own restaurant, Morris Ramen, that she had a history of poor mental health
Hong revealed she had been diagnosed with bipolar disease, placed on an antidepressant and experienced a lithium overdose
Hong, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America and the Assembly’s Socialist Caucus, was first elected to the State Assembly in 2020
Hong further said she recognizes Twitter’s reach as ‘an engagement tool.’
‘A tool for letting people know that I feel pain that you are feeling too. Relational organizing depends on me making connections with people, and it’s not always going to come from a place of peaceful discourse. We are past that,’ she continued.
‘I used to have people accuse me of being like Trump, and now two years later, they see what the intention was: to literally dismantle democracy and overturn an election.’
Hong, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America and the Assembly’s Socialist Caucus, was first elected to the State Assembly in 2020.
The Daily Mail reached out to Hong for comment.
