Socialist Frontrunner Admits To Being Bipolar

Wisconsin’s leading Democratic candidate for governor once told a magazine interviewer that she overdosed on lithium, cut herself as a teenager, and spent a week locked in a child psychiatric hospital.

Quick Take

State Representative Francesca Hong described a bipolar diagnosis, hospitalization, and self-harm in a 2023 interview with Meal Magazine.
The interview resurfaced in August 2026 as Hong emerged as the frontrunner in Wisconsin’s Democratic primary for governor.
Hong has also called for abolishing police and prisons and previously backed defunding police departments.
Conservative commentators argue her history and policy record raise serious questions about her fitness to lead the state.

What Hong Actually Said In Her Own Words

The quotes are not secondhand gossip. They come straight from Hong’s own mouth in a 2023 sit-down interview published by Meal Magazine’s “Soup Lefty” series. She said that at 18, she had a mental breakdown so severe she missed her own high school graduation because she was hospitalized for a week at a child psychiatric facility.

Hong described the experience in stark terms. “I just felt like nothing had meaning anymore,” she said, calling it “a numbness that took over, and a pain that I couldn’t describe.” She went on to say she was later diagnosed with bipolar disorder, took SSRIs, and overdosed on lithium at another point in her life.

The interview sat online for two years before it caught fire in political circles this month. Hong’s own campaign account posted a summary of the disclosures in a public message, confirming the five-point rundown: bipolar diagnosis, mental breakdown, psychiatric hospitalization, self-harm by cutting, and a lithium overdose, all sourced to her 2023 remarks.

Why This Became A Campaign Flashpoint

Hong is not a fringe long-shot. She currently sits atop the Democratic primary field for Wisconsin governor, a battleground state both parties are fighting hard to win. That status is exactly why outlets like the Post Millennial framed her disclosures as newsworthy rather than a private matter, arguing voters deserve to weigh mental health history alongside policy views.

Bipolar disorder brings real swings between manic and depressive episodes that can last days or weeks. Critics argue that combined with the stress of running a state government, that history is a legitimate question for voters to consider, not an attack to dismiss out of hand. Supporters counter that stigmatizing mental illness discourages anyone who has struggled from ever seeking help or public office.

Her Policy Record Adds Fuel To The Fire

The mental health story did not surface in a vacuum. Hong has spent years building a reputation as one of the most left-wing officials in Wisconsin government. In 2020 social media posts, she called for defunding the police and described it as “a first step towards abolishing the police”.

She has since softened her public language, telling interviewers, “The governor cannot defund the police, and I won’t defund the police.” Critics point out that a Democrat-controlled legislature could still pass abolition-style bills for her to sign, meaning the underlying goal has not disappeared, only the framing.

Hong has also drawn fire for calling it “cowardly” when hospitals halted gender transition procedures for minors, a position that puts her further left than many Democrats in swing states. Wisconsin state legislative records confirm she has represented Madison’s 76th Assembly district since 2021 and entered the governor’s race after incumbent Tony Evers announced he would not seek a third term.

Here is who each is, based on public records, their own statements, campaign materials, and reporting:
•Top left (Asian woman): Francesca Hong, Democratic state representative and leading candidate for Wisconsin governor in 2026. She is of Asian descent. In a 2023 interview she…

— 🇺🇸🇺🇸 Vance-Rubio ‘28 🇺🇸🇺🇸 (@idrcmJD) August 2, 2026

What Comes Next For Wisconsin Voters

Hong has not denied making the statements, and no one disputes the interview is authentic. The open question is political, not factual: will Wisconsin Democrats nominate a candidate carrying this combination of personal history and hard-left policy positions in a state Trump and Republicans are determined to keep competitive.

Common sense says voters have every right to weigh both the substance of her platform and her own public account of a serious mental health crisis. Pretending either one is off-limits for discussion does a disservice to Wisconsin families who will decide who runs their state government next.