This Week's Focus: Wisconsin
14 Tuesdays to go.
I am burning up with Olympic fever over here. Simone Biles! Katie Ledecky! Surfing! SNOOP! I woke up giddy this morning, recalling the US Men’s Gymnastics Team’s performance last night which garnered them their first medal in sixteen years, thanks mainly to the heroic efforts of the guy my bestie Toria referred to as the Pommel Horse Clark Kent. I am loving every minute of this year’s games and we haven’t even gotten to Synchronized—I mean, Artistic!—Swimming or Trampoline! U-S-A! U-S-A!
Compounding my glee is the exhilaration I’m still feeling after last night’s Women for Harris organizing call. More than 300,000 of us logged on, and while I felt as though I was in the choir, as someone much wiser than I am commented later, “They may be preaching to the choir, but the choir needs to sing.” Amen to that. There is much to do, and as a first step, I donated my $47.00 and am now digging in to figure out what lies ahead and how I can help.
Which brings me to the battlegrounds. The latest conventional wisdom points to these seven being the must-win states for Democrats: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. (I’m on the search to add an eighth state to this list so it’s a nice even number; Florida or Ohio might win out!) I am going to focus on one or two of these states each week for the next month or so, outlining what’s at stake in each as well as spotlighting ways to help.
First up, The Badger State. One of the first things to know about the political state of things here is that The Democratic Party of Wisconsin—WisDems—is one of the best organized and most effective party operations in the US. Thanks to their efforts, WI’s state supreme court was flipped to Dem control in 2023, which has strengthened the state’s chance of overturning a hideous abortion law from 1849 that sprung back to life after Roe was struck down, and has allowed the state to throw out the gerrymandered electoral maps that have given the GOP a lopsided advantage in elections for years and made it next to impossible for Republicans to lose control of the statehouse. Short story, sign up with them, and/or join Team East on Vote Save America, to donate and volunteer; between both these great orgs, they know how to get the vote out and they know the priority races that need resources. This is not to mention the great things that The States Project and, particularly Movement Voter Project, are doing in-state, so make sure to check them out as well.
Here are some elections to watch:
US Senate: Incumbent Tammy Baldwin is running against some medicore white dude who doesn’t even live in Wisconsin. That this race is even at all competitive is a mystery, but Baldwin needs as much help as she can get to secure victory.
House: Wisconsin’s 8th district seat is now open, as GOP Rep. Mike Gallagher resigned this spring. Democrat Kristen Lyerly is running unopposed, and there are three Republicans who are running in a special primary on 8/13. This is a chance for Dems to pick up a seat in November and inch us closer to a House majority. Also, don’t sleep on WI-3; this seems to be a flippable district and every vote there will count.
My daughter is a senior at the University of Wisconsin, and getting her registered to vote in-state after she enrolled in 2021 was surprisingly simple. (In fact, one of the first elections she was able to vote in was the aforementioned one for WI state supreme court.) The Campus Voting Project outlines the steps necessary for out-of-staters to register on campus, if you or someone you know has a Wisconsin-bound freshman Badger.
As has been said, as goes Wisconsin so goes the nation, so it is vital that Dems win up and down the ballot there this year, with as big of a margin as possible. So, if anyone is interested in sharing an AirBnB with me in Madison this October so we can register voters and periodically embarrass my daughter, hmu. There are some good eats in town that don’t include cheese curds (otherwise known to me as poor man’s mozzarella sticks) and Lake Mendota is gorgeous in the fall. On Wisconsin!
Wisdems got this.