If, in 54 days, Republicans win supermajorities in Wisconsin’s legislature, they’ll have the power to sabotage democracy in 2024.
Ultra-gerrymandered maps + ultra-MAGA Republicans = danger.
Read on—and help us raise $3,000 so we can beat them back.
Last week, I raised the alarm about the threat of GOP legislative supermajorities in Wisconsin with Chris Hayes on MSNBC. Here’s that interview—if you have a sec, turn on sound and check it out:
Chris pointed out the obvious: Wisconsin is a 50/50 state. Biden won in 2020. We have a Democratic governor. How is it possible that Republicans are on the cusp of 2/3 supermajorities in the state legislature?
The answer: gerrymandering—helped by right-wing judges.
You can read the whole back story in this Twitter thread. The summary: Democratic Governor Tony Evers vetoed GOP ultra-gerrymandered maps. U.S. Supreme Court nixed better maps. So GOP-majority state Supreme Court chose… ultra-gerrymandered maps.
As it stands, Republicans are just ONE seat short of a supermajority in the 33-member state Senate, and just five seats short in the 99-member Assembly. If the GOP had won 3,500 more votes in the right districts, they’d have the power to override vetoes at this moment.
Under the old maps, Republicans in Wisconsin could (and did) win huge majorities of legislative seats even while losing the popular vote for the state legislature. Under the new maps, it’s… at least as grim.
The result: international observers describe Wisconsin, when it comes to our state legislature, as a “democracy desert.”
But as bad as it is now, it could get far worse. Because right now, we’ve got a Democratic governor, Tony Evers, who now is our state’s record-holder for vetoes. He’s vetoed 128 bad GOP bills. And Democrats in the legislature have sustained those vetoes.
We’re going to reelect Governor Evers. But if the GOP wins supermajorities in the legislature, they’ll override his vetoes over the next four years—which means they’ll have the power to mangle our democracy.
If the GOP can rewrite election laws before 2024, it threatens American democracy as a whole—because Wisconsin was the tipping-point state in both of the last two presidential elections. Four of the last six presidential elections here came down to less than 1%.
In other words, if you don’t want the 2024 presidential election stolen, you’ve got to care about defeating MAGA Republicans in key Wisconsin state legislative elections.
Running for state legislature as a Democrat in a purple district in Wisconsin is an act of political bravery. And our candidates have guts to spare. They’re leading with values—freedom, common sense, and doing the right thing. Here are a few:
- Kelly Westlund is a proud progressive running in State Senate District 25 so she can fight for infrastructure investment and fully-funded public schools. She’s no stranger to the challenges facing rural communities. Put Kelly in.
- State Senator Jeff Smith represents SD31, in Western Wisconsin. He’s been a tireless advocate for voting rights and broadband internet expansion and led the fight against gerrymandering in Wisconsin for two redistricting cycles—and will never stop fighting.
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On the Assembly side, we’ve got Clinton Anderson, who has served as president of the Beloit City Council and, in his day job, works with kids in need. He’s 28 and full of energy and ideas. Let’s elect him into the State Legislature.
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We have to reelect WisDems 2nd Vice Chair—and my friend—State Rep Lee Snodgrass in AD57. She’s passionate about health care, reproductive freedom, LGBTQ equality, access to the ballot, supporting the paper industry—and all things Fox Valley. Go Lee!
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And there are community advocates like Laura Gapske in AD73 in the North. She has 17+ years of experience working to end violence against women and children, knows health care is a human right, and knows public schools make our state strong.
These are a few of the terrific state legislative candidates we’re supporting—whose victory is critical to ensuring that when second-term Governor Evers vetoes the next GOP election sabotage bill, it stays vetoed.
As a state party, we can work directly with state legislative candidates to ensure their victory in November. They’re on the front lines. Let’s have their backs.
Our candidates represent our values and values shared by the vast majority of Wisconsinites. And they’ve got a tall task: to prevent GOP supermajorities in the state legislature and ensure that politicians here don’t become 100% voter-proof.
The Republican Assembly speaker, Robin Vos, has shown that he’ll do almost anything to stay in Donald Trump’s good graces. If he has the power to throw 2024 to Trump, we have to expect him to do it. So we can’t grant him that power.
Our goal by midnight tonight is to raise $3,000. That may not seem like much, but meeting this goal today, right at mid-month, will help us stay on track to hit our end-of-quarter goal to ensure we can stop a Republican takeover of our democracy.
This fight will be intense and it will be close. 54 days isn’t very long, and the one thing we can’t get more of is time. Let’s make the most of every second, and let’s win.
Chip in here: wisdems.org/stop-gop