Tomorrow, Wisconsin candidates for local offices begin gathering signatures to get on the ballot for April elections. Their races will decide who administers the November 24 elections.
MAGA is coming. Chip in to help WisDems stop them.
Wisconsin elections are administered hyper-locally—by 1850 municipal clerks, who are in turn chosen by mayors and city councils. County judges make quick decisions about disputes. Hundreds of these officials will be up for election this spring.
These are the kinds of low-profile contests that often fly completely under the radar. Most go uncontested. But after Trump lost, Steve Bannon and the ultra-MAGA crowd realized they might be able to swing elections by taking over the machinery of democracy.
In 2022, we saw a wave of ultra-MAGA candidates running for local office in Wisconsin and nationwide. Run For Something nationally, WisDems and allies in Wisconsin, and many other groups fought back.
We saw, for the first time, six-figure TV ad buys by mega-MAGA donors Rich and Liz Uihlein targeting City Council candidates with lies about election conspiracies. We saw slates of local candidates pushed by right-wing talk radio.
We didn’t win everything. But we won enough to prevent catastrophe—and went on to win the Governor’s race in 2022 and the Supreme Court majority in Wisconsin in 2023.
Now, we have to expect the same threat in Wisconsin—but it’s juiced by a new x-factor: the local general elections, set by law for April 2, 2024, are on the same date as the presidential primary… when Trump is on the ballot. Expect MAGA turnout to be high.
Our work on this started months ago. We’ve been working with Contest Every Race and others to recruit candidates and to train them, with a particular focus on diversity. We’ve been supporting our county parties and neighborhood teams. Now it snaps into high gear.
The calendar is unrelenting:
- December 1: Candidates start gathering signatures to qualify for the ballot
- January 2: Candidates turn in signatures. That’s the first key deadline.
- February 20: Primary elections. Top two candidates go to the general election.
- April 2: Election Day.
… in other words, no time to waste.
So many offices are on the ballot.
Dozens of mayors, from Kenosha to Wausau to Superior, and everything in between. Hundreds of common council and township board members. More than 50 circuit court judgeships.
These offices are critical for local governance and the direct effect they have on the lives of Wisconsinites. But even if you don’t live anywhere close to Wisconsin, you should care about them because of their potential effect on the administration and adjudication of elections.
Four of the last six presidential elections in Wisconsin have come down to less than one percentage point. Just two or three votes per precinct. Election denialists in positions of public power over Wisconsin are too big a risk.
Local leaders who believe in democracy are the front lines in the fight against authoritarianism. This December, January, February, and March, all the way to April 2, we'll be working to elect them. Share this post and join us by chipping in.
Your donations support our state-wide organizing team, helping our county parties and neighborhood teams. Our candidate services team, working directly with candidates’ campaigns. Voter Protection. Coalitions. Our whole operation, doing the work.
We’re coming up against our month-end deadline at midnight tonight. We’ve got ground to make up to reach our goal. Will you donate any amount to help us ramp up for the next wave of elections—the nearest statewide general elections in the country, in the must-win state?
We have a lot to be thankful for this year in this holiday season. And at the same time, deadlines loom. It’s time to ramp up work to win local races that can safeguard the future of American democracy in the tipping-point state. Join us.