Wisconsin Democratic gubernatorial candidate Francesca Hong faces a Capital One lawsuit seeking repayment of $29,344 in credit card charges tied to years of nonpayment. Hong’s campaign says the debt has since been paid in full.
Madison isn’t far from where Francesca Hong’s campaign tells a story about cost of living stress. But on May 26. a Dane County Circuit Court filing pulled that conversation into a harder. more personal spotlight: Capital One sued the 37-year-old Democratic gubernatorial candidate over nearly $30. 000 in credit card debt.
The lawsuit asks for repayment of $29,344 in charges Hong incurred on a Discover credit card beginning in 2011. The filing alleges she stopped making minimum payments on those charges.
Hong’s campaign, however, says the matter has already been resolved. On June 2, a campaign spokeswoman said the debt has been paid in full, and the campaign manager said a confirming letter would be sent shortly.
Capital One’s case was filed May 26 in Dane County Circuit Court against Hong. The amount sought—$29,344—refers to charges made since 2011, according to the court records.
Campaign manager Becky Cooper said the campaign has moved to close the issue. “We will have a letter shortly confirming this debt is paid in full,” Cooper said.
Cooper also linked the debt to business spending and the economic strain she said people have felt during the pandemic. “Like 80% of Americans, Rep. Hong has debt, specifically from business expenses that rose astronomically during the pandemic. She leads from a place of knowing the endless struggles with bills and the stress that places on families every day. Her policies will help Wisconsin residents develop greater economic stability and success.”.
Hong. a state representative who has served Wisconsin’s 76th Assembly District in Madison since 2021. has built a national-sounding political profile—grounded in her work before politics as well. She was a chef in her early 20s in the state capital and became co-owner and co-chef of Morris Ramen. which closed in 2024 after seven years in business. She has continued working as a chef and a bartender while serving full-time in the Assembly.
The timing of the lawsuit and the response is landing in a race where financial questions can’t be separated from expectations about how a governor would handle the state’s money. If Hong becomes governor, she would oversee Wisconsin’s finances, including building a state budget partly shaped by borrowing.
Cooper also addressed a question the lawsuit inevitably raises for voters: whether campaign funds were used to pay off the debt. “Absolutely not,” she said when asked whether any campaign funds were used to pay off the debt.
Hong is leading the Democratic primary field in recent statewide polls among decided voters ahead of the Aug. 11 primary election. The open race is crowded on the Democratic side, while U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany is the only major Republican running for governor, according to the campaign field described in the reporting.
The sequence—Capital One filing in Dane County on May 26. followed by a campaign statement on June 2 that the debt has been paid—places the focus on documentation and follow-through. Voters are left with the same immediate question: whether the letter confirming full payment arrives quickly enough to quiet the dispute as the primary approaches.
For now, Hong remains in the center of a contest where reputation, finances, and trust are all being tested in parallel—by court filings as well as by polls.
Francesca Hong Wisconsin governor race Capital One lawsuit credit card debt Dane County Circuit Court Becky Cooper Discover credit card Democratic primary Aug. 11 election Tom Tiffany