The Wisconsin State Senate is by far the best opportunity to put a check on Scott Walker this election, and while it’s not a sure-thing, we actually have a chance here.
Sorry to straight-up shill like this, but the WI State Senate Democratic Committee has a donation-matching deal going on thru 11:59pm Central tonight 9/30. Every dollar you kick in will be doubled. (Apologies to everybody who already got this in their inbox a dozen times; trying to bring attention to it for those not on the committee’s email list.)
Thanks to GOP gerrymandering “packing” blue districts full of Dems, all of our incumbent State Senators up for reelection are safe. We have strong candidates running in 4 targeted races, and if we win 3 of them, we take back the State Senate.
Even if we don’t get over the hump, any pick-up is something to build on (lord knows we need it). Senators elected this Nov will be up again in 2020… and these will be the folks doing redistricting. Any additional Democratic incumbent going into 2020 will be a huge help.
The 4 races to watch:
- SD18 — Mark Harris (D) vs Dan Feyen (R)
- Fond du Lac / Oshkosh area
- This is an open seat that was won by Republican Rick Gudex by just 600 votes in 2012. Harris is a long-time Winnebago County Executive, and has good name recognition and a very robust campaign operation overall. This is the most likely pick-up.
- SD 10 — Diane Odeen (D) vs Sheila Harsdof (R, incumbent)
- NW Wisconsin — includes UW-River Falls and UW-Stout; much of the district is in the Twin Cities media market, so comparisons to MN should resonate.
- Odeen is a lawyer and on the River Falls city council. GOP cuts to the UW system should really hit home here.
- Harsdorf has been directly implicated in the pay-to-play Lead Paint Immunity deal revealed in The Guardian Leaks.
- SD 12 — Bryan Van Stippen (D) vs “Taconite Tom” Tiffany (R, incumbent)
- Far NE Wisconsin — Includes Rhinelander and Eagle River
- Van Stippen is also a lawyer and is very strong on environmental issues, widely seen as Tiffany’s biggest weakness.
- This is the reddest of the 4 districts (Dems’ best showing lately was Sen Tammy Baldwin losing this district by 4-points), but Tiffany has a lot of egg on his face. He was the biggest booster of the proposed GTac Iron Mine that failed miserably and sharply divided the district.
- Even worse for Tiffany, we know know that GTac got to write its own mining laws in exchange for $1.2 Million to Walker’s dark money groups.
- SD 14 — Brian Smith (D) vs Luther Olsen (R, incumbent)
- Vast, very rural district in central WI; includes part of Wisconsin Dells, Waupaca, northern Dane County
- Smith is mayor of Waupaca, but it’s unclear if his name recognition carries to other parts of the district.
- This is the toughest race to figure. Olsen has a reputation of being the last (quasi?)moderate Republican in the legislature, and he strongly out-performed Romney in 2012 (Obama only lost this district by 2pts). Does that help or hurt him on the same ticket with Trump this year?
- Olsen is also tied into the same lead paint pay-to-play mess as Harsdorf, and hopefully Smith can make that stick.
Again, if you’re looking to make a big impact in Wisconsin, supporting these 4 candidates however you can is the way to go. Here’s the link again to the State Senate Dems contribution match available thru 11:59pm Central Time tonight, 9/30.