Dana Perino had one question for Wisconsin gubernatorial frontrunner Francesca Hong on Fox News' America's Newsroom this week. It was a simple one. Six years ago, Hong — a state representative and card-carrying member of the Democratic Socialists of America's Madison chapter since 2020 — posted that the path forward was to "defund then abolish. Reform can't be an option."

Perino's question: "How does defunding the police put working class people first?"

Hong's answer was the kind of perfectly rehearsed non-answer that tells you everything. "The governor cannot defund the police, and I won't defund the police," she said. "But I will invest in the things we know prevent crime." Translation: she still wants to gut police budgets, she's just learned to say it with a smile and a pivot.

This is the same Francesca Hong who wrote in 2021 that "police exist to uphold white supremacy." Not some police departments. Not a few bad actors. Police — the institution — exist to uphold white supremacy. That was her position as a sitting state legislator.

And it doesn't stop at cops. Hong's public record includes calling for the elimination of ICE — which she labeled "enforcers of fascism" — along with abolishing the U.S. Senate and eliminating the Supreme Court. For a woman running for governor, she seems to have a problem with most of the government that already exists.

When Perino pressed her on the evolution from "abolish police" to "I won't defund police," Hong offered that "people can evolve." Which is a generous way to describe a candidate scrubbing her positions nine days before an August 11 Democratic primary. People evolve over decades of lived experience. Politicians "evolve" when their consultants run the polling numbers.

Hong isn't some obscure state rep anymore. She's the Democratic frontrunner for governor of a state that went for Trump. She's getting the CNN and Politico treatment. And now she's sitting across from Perino on national television trying to explain why the woman who wanted to abolish every law enforcement agency in the country should be trusted to lead one of America's most contested swing states.

Republican Representative Tom Tiffany, the GOP front-runner in the governor's race, has to be watching this with something close to disbelief. His opponent's debate prep now consists of explaining why she didn't really mean the things she said on the record, in public, multiple times, across multiple years.

Hong's DSA membership, her police abolition posts, her "Cancel Thanksgiving" social media moment — none of this is opposition research dug out of a college journal. It's her public record as an elected official. She said these things while serving in the Wisconsin state legislature.

The Democratic primary is August 11. Wisconsin voters will decide whether "people can evolve" is a governing philosophy or just a campaign slogan.