Three Wisconsin Democrat gubernatorial candidates told a Muslim community forum they would veto any anti-Sharia legislation that reached their desks as governor.
State Rep. Francesca Hong, former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, and State Sen. Kelda Roys each made the pledge during a July forum co-hosted by the Wisconsin Muslim Civic Alliance and Wisconsin Muslim Civic Foundation.
The event brought together Wisconsin’s Muslim community and allies for what organizers described as “an evening of civic dialogue, accountability, and engagement.”
In video provided exclusively to Breitbart News, the forum host framed anti-Sharia legislation as unfairly targeting Muslim religious practice and violating the First Amendment before asking whether the candidates would veto such bills.
“SHARIA LAW IS AN EXTREME IDEOLOGY, AND THESE RADICAL DEMOCRATS ARE WILLING TO PUT SHARIA LAW ABOVE WISCONSIN VALUES. WISCONSINITES WILL FULLY REJECT THEM.”
Hong, Barnes, and Roys all indicated they would veto the legislation.
Republican Governors Association Communications Director Kollin Crompton told Breitbart News: “Sharia Law is an extreme ideology, and these radical Democrats are willing to put Sharia Law above Wisconsin values. Wisconsinites will fully reject them.”
The three candidates are competing alongside Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez and former Gov. Tony Evers aide Joel Brennan in the Democrat primary to succeed Evers, who is not seeking another term.
Hong, a democratic socialist, recently called hospitals “cowardly” for stopping what she described as “gender-affirming care” for minors. She has pledged to veto legislation targeting LGBT and transgender-identifying people and supports using taxpayer funds to expand access to gender-transition treatments, including by investing in clinics.
Barnes unsuccessfully challenged Republican Sen. Ron Johnson in 2022, with his campaign and outside groups spending more than $96 million combined. He has called the nation’s founding “awful,” said national parks “weren’t made for the enjoyment of people who weren’t white,” and backed reducing police spending, abolishing ICE, allowing illegal aliens to receive driver’s licenses and in-state tuition, ending the Senate filibuster, establishing government-run health care, and criminalizing certain expanding ammunition.
Roys has supported additional firearm restrictions, including a proposal to bar licensed concealed-carry permit holders from possessing guns on university or college property. “When people have unfettered access to firearms, we can’t live free from the fear of gun violence,” she said.
After a December 2024 handgun attack at Abundant Life Christian School, Roys advocated background checks and red-flag laws, arguing that states with such measures “see gun deaths and firearm injuries go down.”
On the Republican side, President Trump endorsed Rep. Tom Tiffany in January, calling him a “Highly Respected America First Congressman” and giving him his “Complete and Total Endorsement.”
Tiffany has raised more than $10 million since launching his campaign in September 2025, including more than $8 million from January through June. He has pledged to freeze property taxes, block Chinese ownership of Wisconsin farmland, preserve sex-based distinctions in sports and state law, reduce regulations, and “clean up the bull” in Madison.
