You might think that, in a year when Democrats are seriously competing for U.S. Senate seats in typically-red states like Iowa, Alaska, and Texas, a purple state like Wisconsin should be a slam dunk for Democrats. Right?

Wrong.

In fact, Wisconsin—where Democrats have their first shot in a generation at winning unified control of state government—is a toss-up, from the race for governor to the contest for state legislative majorities.

In the latest public poll, David Crowley has a three-point advantage—within the margin of error, and narrower than the previous poll. The GOP has a 4:1 cash-on-hand advantage going into the final sprint and has been running more than twice as many ads as Democrats.

There are many reasons Wisconsin elections are so much closer than those in other states so often. But one of them is a state law passed in 2015—voted for by Tom Tiffany and signed by then-Governor Scott Walker—that allows unlimited donations to state parties, which can then donate unlimited amounts to state candidates. In Wisconsin, we call it the Scott Walker Loophole. It has turned into Tom Tiffany’s golden ticket.

To understand why the loophole matters, you have to know a quirk of federal campaign finance law: when candidates buy broadcast ads close to an election, they pay far lower prices than the prices paid by outside groups like Super PACs.

When Citizens United opened the door to unlimited donations to Super PACs and unlimited spending to help candidates, it opened the floodgates for giant ad campaigns sponsored by mega-donors—but because Super PACs don’t get the “candidate rate,” they often pay three or four times as much per ad. This year, the GOP has a huge advantage in Super PAC spending, but Democratic U.S. Senate candidates are raising much more in individual contributions—and money given to candidates goes much further. That’s why, despite Republicans’ huge overall financial advantage, Democrats are running almost as many ads, helping them hold their own in tough Senate races in red states.

Check out this chart: the darker-shaded part of each bar represents ads bought by candidates. The lighter-shade part represents ads from “issue groups.” As you can see, the GOP is far more reliant than Democrats on ads paid for by mega-donors via independent groups.

But in Wisconsin, it’s different.

Because of the Scott Walker loophole, the state parties can receive unlimited contributions and make unlimited donations to state candidates. And then the candidates can then use the low candidate rates.

This is a strategy Dems have used to counter GOP Super PAC funding, including when Dems helped beat Elon Musk in 2025. But in this fall’s race for Governor and the state legislative majorities, the GOP is using it at an unprecedented level.

Between August 10 and September 23, two GOP multibillionaire families gave $27.6 million to the state GOP, which transferred $24 million to Tom Tiffany. That transfer accounted for 92% of the total amount Tiffany raised during the period.

One family, Dick and Liz Uihlein, were the biggest funders of the groups that organized the Jan. 6 Stop the Steal protest. They donated $22 million to the WI GOP in this period. In other words, more than 3/4 of Tiffany’s total campaign receipts. That’s far beyond the role played by any Democratic donor in any Wisconsin campaign this century (which is as far back as I’ve looked).

Tom Tiffany, meanwhile, was part of the Jan. 6 effort to reject legitimate electoral college votes. Which might explain why Trump endorsed him, clearing the gubernatorial primary.

Those funds allowed Tiffany to run twice as many ads as the Democratic nominee, David Crowley, during that period—with a ton of money to spare. Tiffany had a 4:1 cash-on-hand advantage over Crowley going into the final stretch of the campaign.

And that’s just the latest infusion of money. The Uihleins and their fellow donor Diane Hendricks have funded Wisconsin Republican Party committees to the tune of $66 million over the last calendar year.

Yes, the so-called Scott Walker Loophole has been used by both parties. But there’s a difference: Democrats have been using it in order to win enough power to close it and reduce the rule of money in politics. This year is their first shot at a trifecta since the law was passed. Whereas the GOP has been resolute about keeping it open, even when they were being outspent.

Now we see why.

Help David Crowley beat Tom Tiffany. Help Dems win the state legislative majorities.

And then let’s close the Scott Walker Loophole.

This November, for the first time in a generation, Democrats have a clear shot at winning a trifecta in Wisconsin. David Crowley could win the governorship; Democrats could flip two seats to grab the state Senate majority; and, with five seat flips, Democrats could win control of the state Assembly.

With a Democratic trifecta could come a watershed period of policy change that could restore Wisconsin’s best tradition as a national progressive leader—and dramatically improve Democrats’ chances to win the White House, U.S. Senate, and U.S. House majorities in 2028.

Those stakes are exactly why the biggest funders of Trump’s Stop the Steal movement, Dick and Liz Uihlein, are pushing a huge pile of chips into a bet that they can buy Wisconsin’s state government. Those two donors have poured more than $30 million into Republican operations in Wisconsin this year, creating the biggest Republican funding advantage in any battleground state’s fights over governorships and state legislative chambers.

If the Uihleins succeed, democracy nationwide in 2028 enters a whole new level of peril.

Below, I review the danger, the opportunity, and what will make the difference between them. But in case you don’t have time to read all that: at this moment, money and time make all the difference. You can donate to the Democratic Party of Wisconsin here or sign up to volunteer here. Got that? Great. Here’s the story.

Three champions for democracy and working people against three far-right extremists

If Democrats sweep Wisconsin this year, David Crowley will become the state’s next governor; Dianne Hesselbein will become the Senate Majority Leader; and Greta Neubauer will be elected Speaker.

For the first time since the Tea Party wave of 2010, Democrats will have the power to pass laws. The result could be transformative. In the state that has suffered the most precipitious decline in union density this century, the Democratic trifecta could restore union organizing rights. In the fourth-hardest state to vote, the trifecta could pass a state-level voting rights act. In a 50-50 state with, at present, a Congressional delegation of six Republicans and two Democrats, the trifecta could end the era of GOP-skewed Congressional maps.

In the nation’s only state routinely decided by less than one percentage point in statewide races, voting laws can make the difference in 2028’s U.S. Senate contest and the presidential election. And amidst an expected wave of pre-2028 right-wing House gerrymanders expected in the wake of the gutting of the Voting Rights Act, Wisconsin’s House maps could wind up deciding the national majority.

But if the Uihleins succeed in buying victory for Republicans in Wisconsin, the danger isn’t merely that voter- and worker-hostile laws stay in place. The danger is a stolen election.

Tom Tiffany, Republican nominee for Governor, has drawn the Uihleins’ support by demonstrating his willingness to break democracy to advance GOP goals. As a state legislator, he was a loyal Scott Walker voter as the GOP passed voter suppression laws, smashed unions, and rigged Wisconsin maps. Elected to Congress in 2020, Tiffany was the only Wisconsin legislator to vote to throw out Electoral College votes as part of Trump’s attempted coup.

Tiffany’s 100% pro-Trump voting record ensured that he won Trump’s endorsement in his race for governor, which led his leading primary opponent to drop out. Now, the majority of his campaign’s funding comes from Dick and Liz Uihlein, via transfers from the Wisconsin GOP.

Wisconsin’s governor certifies the slate of presidential electors and the winner of the 2028 U.S. Senate race. Tom Tiffany has already shown us how he’ll answer Trump’s calls for accomplices in efforts to undermine democracy.

But the danger goes beyond an election denialist who would participate in another attempted coup.

That’s because the Uihleins are also funding a decisive financial advantage for Republicans in the state legislative fight. Both of the current GOP state legislative leaders are retiring this year. If Republicans hold their majorities, the new GOP leaders would be even worse than their predecessors.

In the Senate, the GOP is poised to elevate Sen. Pat Testin, who wrote in 2021 that there was “irrefutable evidence of fraud” in the 2020 election, whose staffer was responsible for giving access to the Capitol for the GOP fake electors, and who supported efforts to oust Wisconsin’s nonpartisan top election administrator. In the Assembly, meanwhile, Republicans are likely to choose Rep. Tyler August—who, after 2020, August called the nonpartisan Wisconsin Elections Commission a “rogue agency”—as their leader.

A Democratic trifecta could make major changes in Wisconsin to advance democracy. A GOP trifecta could redraw maps, rewrite election law, and subvert or interfere with elections themselves. And with a continuation of divided government, a once-in-a-generation opportunity for positive change would slip by.

A wall of GOP money, brought to you by a single ultra-Trumpy pro-Jan 6 couple

Dick and Elizabeth Uihlein, owners of Wisconsin-based Uline shipping supply company, poured $4.3 million into the Tea Party Patriots, becoming that group’s primary funders as the organization was organizing the January 6, 2021 “March to Save America.”

The January 6 plot failed. But now the Uihleins are putting far more money into a new strategy focused on November 3, 2026.

Over the last year, per the Wisconsin Ethics Commission, Elizabeth and Richard Uihlein have donated $22 million and $13 million dollars to Wisconsin Republican party committees and affiliated Super PACs, respectively. That’s more than $35 million combined. This one couple is responsible for the majority of the Wisconsin GOP state candidates’ fundraising in the 2026 election cycle. If Tom Tiffany, Patrick Testin, and Tyler August win, they will know exactly who was responsible for putting them in office: the same couple that spent the most to help Trump steal the 2020 election.

That flood of money has given Tiffany and the GOP state legislative committees a decisive financial edge. Without the Uihlein money, Democrats would be out-raising Republicans in Wisconsin. Instead, the GOP has raised more than double the amount raised by Democrats. That kind of funding edge doesn’t guarantee victory—but in a close race, it can absolutely tip the balance.

In fact, we’ve seen this exact story before: tens of millions of dollars from Dick and Liz Uihlein played a likely decisive role in Ron Johnson’s Senate campaign victories in both 2016 and 2022, as I write about in Chapter 8 of my book, This Is the Plan. But we’ve never seen them spend at this level in Wisconsin state elections. In fact, the only flood of money at a similar scale in Wisconsin history if Elon Musk’s $56 million spend in the 2025 state Supreme Court race here.

The many can beat the money—if many people donate what money and time they can

There’s no state other than Wisconsin with this dangerous combination: enormous stakes for 2028, a huge Republican financial advantage, and toss-up polling and race ratings in contests that will shape future House, Senate, and White House control.

This is a story with huge national implications—that almost nobody knows outside of Wisconsin. Few even know the situation within Wisconsin.

All of that needs to change. This is a red alert.

The good news: we’ve seen red-alert political emergencies before. And we’ve risen to them. Look no further than the 2025 state Supreme Court race for the most recent example. Across Wisconsin, with a boost from allies across the country, we fought back against the world’s richest man, with democracy on the line—and we won.

And this time, winning doesn’t just prevent catastrophe. It opens the door to dramatic positive change.

You can give to David Crowley, to the state Assembly and state Senate campaign committees—and also to the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, which can provide support to all of them without limits. (While you’re at it, support Attorney General Josh Kaul’s reelection—and the Democratic nominee for Secretary of State, JoCasta Zamarripa, and State Treasurer, Yee Leng Xiong.)

And then sign up to volunteer, from anywhere in Wisconsin or, via virtual phone banks, from across the country.

You can spread the word. Share this article—online and in your group chats. Think of the people you know who are yearning for a way to make a difference this election cycle, and tell them about the Badger State.

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What happens in Wisconsin this year won’t stay in Wisconsin. It will shape the country, and the world, in 2028. Do your future self (and your country) a favor: do everything you can, now.

If you’re helping out, hats off to you. This is the This Is the Plan plan.

The biggest way to make a difference right now? Post a review online. The more reviews, the more online booksellers recommend the book to other people. You can do this at the big online booksellers, independent shops at online book review sites, and sometimes with your local bookstore.

Send a link to buy the book to your group chat. We’ve got a ton of links to buy the book at thisistheplan.com. Or if you’re the posting type, post about the book online. Use the hashtag #thisistheplan and so I can find it and amplify it.

Already got your copy? Buy one for a friend. The all-important “first week sales” end at midnight on Saturday. If we have a great first week, it makes it more likely that the book will keep getting media attention in week two.

And if you want people to get a taste of the book—maybe send them one of the interviews I’ve done about it. Such as the interview with Jon Stewart on The Daily Show this Monday:

And the tour is still running. I’ll be all over Wisconsin this weekend, and then the West Coast next week. Find stops here. Huge thanks to everyone who has come out to tour events so far—they’ve been a thrill.

This Is the Plan is the story of thousands of people—very much including you—who have organized and fought back against authoritarianism, building a democracy that works for everyone. The book wouldn’t be possible without all you’ve done. And my goal with the book is to enlist many more people in the fight. Thanks for your help in sharing it, and most importantly, thanks for all the ways you’ll be rolling up your sleeves to win elections and make positive change at every level—this year and far beyond.

With gratitude,

Ben

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Pre-order the book!

We’re already finding a ton of early interest in the book’s message. I joined Chris Hayes last night on MS NOW; discussed the plan on The Bulwark’s YouTube show/podcast yesterday; and was delighted by a feature story in The Isthmus this morning. And the book tour starts on Friday! Hope to see you on the road. Until then, get a taste of the book here:

A Wisconsin-born plan to save democracy

By Ben Wikler, in The Capital Times, July 15 2026

“I feel like this is one of those things that may not seem that it’s going to affect the entire destiny of humanity,” Elon Musk told the crowd in Green Bay, Wisconsin, on March 30, 2025, shortly after taking off a cheesehead. “But I think it will.”

Musk was visiting the Badger State in an all-out push to help a right-wing candidate win a state supreme court election. Polls would close two days later. Thanks to Musk’s $56 million investment, the race had become — by far — the most expensive judicial election in American history.

Musk thought that the race was vital to his plan to keep the U.S. House in Republican control by locking in gerrymandered maps.

Meanwhile, it was a little bonus for him that he had a Tesla lawsuit working its way through the state’s courts. A guaranteed state supreme court vote in his favor would pad his bottom line and perhaps pay back his investment in the race.

But the election was also important for a very different reason: It was the first major election of the second Trump term.

It came at a moment when Democrats nationally were shell-shocked, terrified, and consumed by infighting. It was the first test of whether Trump, Musk, and their gang of MAGA billionaire buddies had figured out a way to permanently short-circuit American politics — or whether regular people could still fight back.

Musk knew that the race had enormous direct stakes: If his candidate, Brad Schimel, were to beat Judge Susan Crawford, who had been endorsed by Democrats, Schimel would tip the majority on the Wisconsin Supreme Court. He’d be set to cast the court’s decisive vote in cases that could rerig the political system in the most evenly divided state in the country, the state that could tip presidential elections, U.S. Senate majorities, and the fate of American democracy.

Two days after Musk’s visit, Schimel lost to Crawford in a ten-point landslide.

How? Three reasons. Musk and Trump had ignited a backlash. Crawford ran a spectacular campaign. And a state where Democrats and allies of democracy had been organizing nonstop for the previous eight years had demonstrated that it could get up off the mat and fight back.

“As a little girl growing up in Chippewa Falls,” Crawford told an ecstatic crowd at her victory celebration, “I never could have imagined that I’d be taking on the richest man in the world for justice in Wisconsin — and we won!”

* * *

What our country is going through now— a soul-ripping, mind-rending nightmare of corrupt authoritarianism in which a far-right candidate takes power on the back of economic discontent and culture wars and then uses his victory to claim a mandate for a sweeping, lawless assault on democracy itself — happened first in Wisconsin.

In Wisconsin, there was a time not too long ago when it seemed like all hope was lost. A time when every day brought a new avalanche of migraine-inducing headlines, when relatives broke off contact with each other because of the bitterness of their political disagreements, and when regular people felt powerless as far-right billionaires ripped the state apart and deposited the most valuable chunks in their offshore bank accounts.

Wisconsin circa 2011–2017 was the United States of America in the Trump era.

But we Wisconsinites fought back.

We. A big “we.” We, those who believed that government should be by, of, and for the people, not just ultra-rich insiders. We — Democrats, independents, and non-MAGA Republicans who think their party has gone off the deep end. We: thousands, ultimately hundreds of thousands, of people from all walks of life who made it their job to unshackle democracy in their state and end Wisconsin’s meltdown.

It took years. But we fought, and we fought, and we fought. And, in time, we won, and we won, and we won. That years-long struggle—the permanent grassroots campaign that we built together — was the backstory of how Wisconsinites beat the world’s richest man and kicked off the nationwide political uprising that has marked the second Trump term.

The strategy that worked in Wisconsin can work nationwide. And it’s urgent.

Fights for political power at every level of government are, in fact, interconnected. American political power is like the energy flowing through an electrical grid: short out one substation, and the lights flicker in the next neighborhood. The winners of races for local office oversee decisions about election administration that affect presidential campaigns. Senate filibusters block legislation that would end the gerrymandering of state legislatures. Governors and secretaries of state and state supreme courts make decisions that determine who controls the U.S. House and the Senate. The outcomes at every level depend on the outcomes at every other.

In a country where vast power hinges on tiny margins in seemingly obscure elections, understanding this underlying structure — a system glimpsed by the public, if at all, only briefly and rarely — is critical for anyone who wants to fight for real change.

For decades, the right has been playing on all of these levels at once. It’s time to fight back in kind.

If we’re serious about organizing and campaigning our way to a new birth of American democracy, this is the plan:

First, in 2026, win in the states. Elections are run by states, not by the federal government. Which means that, even if he dreams of doing so, Trump doesn’t have the power to cancel elections. And if we on Team Democracy win state and local offices in 2026, we can dictator-proof state and local government to ensure that the 2028 election is free and fair. While we’re at it, let’s also win majorities in the House and Senate in 2026, which would prevent any democracy-undermining legislation at a national level and enable us to initiate long-overdue oversight of this administration’s brazen corruption and lawlessness.

Then, in 2028, while expanding our hold in the states, we need to elect a president, House, and Senate ready to take action. Once they’re sworn in, it’s time to abolish the filibuster; reform the U.S. Supreme Court (via term limits and/or additional justices); and pass decisive democracy and anti-corruption reforms, from a national ban on partisan gerrymandering to proportional representation in the House to voting rights protections; enact (District of Columbia) statehood and invite Puerto Rico to conduct a statehood referendum; and establish national safeguards for union organizing that ensure no future Scott Walker acolyte can smash unions at a state level.

All of us will have a role to play — not just to elect the leaders who will pass these laws, but to ensure that they follow through on their promises. Even as you’re working on local, state, and federal elections, you’ve also got to push your elected officials at all levels to pass policies that protect democracy and deliver for regular people.

And then you should expect a backlash in 2030 — which we must work to blunt. But 2030 isn’t just an election year — it’s also the decennial census. Which means every state legislative and congressional district will be redrawn (and Electoral College votes reapportioned) before 2032. If we haven’t passed landmark democracy reforms in 2029, this could mean another decade of rigged government just like the one that followed the Tea Party wave of 2010. But if we’ve banned gerrymandering in 2029, we won’t have to fear a wave of nationwide gerrymandering after the 2030 census. In fact, 2031 could bring the most fair set of maps, at every level of government, of all time.

Along the way, via action at the state level, we can pass the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact in enough states to ensure that the winner of the national popular vote gets the keys to the White House.

Thus, by 2032, we’ll have the first small-d democratic elections in American history. A new dawn for American democracy rather than authoritarian breakthrough and doom.

Within a few years, we could conduct presidential elections in which every American’s vote counts the same, rather than Wisconsinites wielding vast power while New Yorkers, Texans, Wyomingites, and Vermonters wield none. We could see a U.S. Supreme Court that is no longer beholden to the far right. We could be represented by a House that actually represents us, with gerrymandering a thing of the past, and a U.S. Senate in which the majority actually rules. And the same could be true of every state legislature. Every state could have, as the Constitution requires, a republican form of government. A government that, as James Madison wrote in Federalist No. 39, “derives all its powers directly or indirectly from the great body of the people”—in other words, the majority.

And if we do all that — if we save democracy — then we’ll have an even bigger task ahead of us: to end America’s meltdown.

By “meltdown” I mean the overpowering sense that our country, and specifically our government, doesn’t work for regular people. That the American Dream is dead, that the system is rigged, that working hard won’t get you anywhere, and that we can no longer, as a nation, do hard things to create a better future. That too many can’t afford the things that everyone needs. The feeling, underscored by the news each day, that our government is now being weaponized against us, especially the most vulnerable, on behalf of a tiny and spectacularly wealthy few that want to lock up all the money and power for themselves.

We’re already living through an era in which vast affluence flows to a miniscule elite at the very top, an economy even more unbalanced than that of the Gilded Age over a century ago. Now change is accelerating, fueled most of all by artificial intelligence. Everything’s up for grabs. As we careen into the AI age, we need a government that works for all of us — not just for Elon Musk.

To pull the government back from Trump and his MAGA billionaire cabal, we can take a page from the Progressive Movement that Wisconsin first spearheaded in the early 20th century. We must become today’s Fighting Bobs and Fighting Barbaras. Or better yet, we can take a page from Susan Crawford and the Wisconsinites who stood beside her. We’ll need to fight our way through — out-organizing and out-communicating the other side, at every level of government, in every geography and every community, all the time. Exactly as Wisconsin has been doing, year by year.

This requires a permanent campaign. It might sound exhausting at first blush. But if enough of us get involved and add what little we can — if, say, millions of people take action, even just for a few hours a month — it’s enough to move mountains.

And here’s the thing: Taking action feels good.

Becoming part of something greater than yourself — living in service to your highest ideals — doesn’t just make you a hero. It also generates exuberance. Collective action fosters collective joy. Doing your part to defend democracy requires rebuilding community, connecting with people whom you would never have otherwise met, finding common cause with people whose paths you’d never have otherwise crossed. It’s like Facebook was supposed to be, twenty years ago, back before it became a giant sucking whirlpool of AI slop and human misery.

The secret at the heart of American politics is that the number of votes separating a future of crisis, unraveling, and tyranny from a future of democracy, opportunity, and freedom is agonizingly small. So small, in fact, you and I and a few of our closest friends have, together, the power to change it.

Let the pundits obsess over the margin of error in the polls. It’s time for friends of democracy and the working people who make our nation great to roll up our sleeves and fight to win by the margin of effort.

Ben Wikler is a Madison resident and former chair of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin.

The party will be 7:30 p.m. at National Sawdust, an amazing venue in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. New Yorker writer and Columbia Journalism School Dean Jelani Cobb will join me to discuss the book—and then a DJ will take over the sound system for those who, like me, think that a good way to celebrate a book release is with a dance party. Space is limited, but you can RSVP here (the promo code is SEEYOURSELFATSAWDUST).

This is in addition to the previously-announced events… some of which are now sold out (but have active wait lists)!

• Friday, July 17: Madison, Wisconsin, 6:30 p.m. at the Overture Center, in conversation with Pete Buttigieg, in partnership with A Room Of One’s Own bookstore. Due to overwhelming demand, this is now wold out—but RSVP to join the waitlist here!

• Saturday, July 18: New York, New York, 7:30 p.m. at National Sawdust in Brooklyn, in conversation with Jelani Cobb. This is a private party to celebrate with friends and family, including, dear reader, you. RSVP here!

• Tuesday, July 21: Washington, DC, 7:00 p.m. at the Politics and Prose bookstore, with Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi and senior correspondent of the PBS News Hour Judy Woodruff. First come, first seated; get details here!

• Wednesday, July 22: Boston, Massachusetts, 6:00 p.m. at the Cambridge Library with Professor and author Danielle Allen. Sold out, but RSVP to join the waitlist here!

• Thursday, July 23: Chicago, Illinois, 7:00 p.m. at Everybody’s Coffee with Governor JB Pritzker and former Georgia Democratic leader Stacey Abrams. Get your tickets here!

• Friday, July 24: Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 6:00 p.m. at the Turner Hall Ballroom with Civic Media host Earl Ingram, Jr. RSVP today!

• Saturday, July 25: Green Bay, Wisconsin, 11:30 a.m. at Tarlton Theatre with 620 WTMJ radio host Kristin Brey. Reserve your spot now!

• Saturday, July 25: Wausau, Wisconsin, 5:30 p.m. at the Wausau Labor Temple with former Wausau Mayor Katie Rosenberg. Get your free tickets here!

• Sunday, July 26: La Crosse, Wisconsin, 12:30 p.m. at the Capella Performing Arts Center with former Civic Media host Todd Allbaugh. RSVP now!

• Sunday, July 26: Eau Claire, Wisconsin, 6:30 p.m. at the Pablo Center with Recombobulation Area writer Dan Shafer. Reserve your spot here!

• Monday, July 27: Los Angeles, California, 7:30 p.m. at the Ebell Theatre in conversation with Pod Save America host Jon Favreau. Buy your tickets here!

• Tuesday, July 28: San Francisco, California, 6:00 p.m. at the Commonwealth Club with actor and producer Bradley Whitford. Purchase your tickets here!

• Wednesday, July 29: Seattle, Washington, 7:30 p.m. at Town Hall Seattle with Governor Jay Inslee. Buy your tickets now!

You can also find all of this information, (other than the New York event) and how to order a book, and more at ThisIsThePlan.com.

Hoping to see you soon!

Ben

This Is Wisconsin is a new initiative I’m launching in partnership with Civic Media, a network of 25 radio stations and media websites across Wisconsin that aims to foster civic engagement.

Civic’s mission is “to champion the practice of democracy through the power of honest and informative local voices.” That’s my goal, too!

In the coming months, I’ll be traveling Wisconsin and lifting up stories and people around the state to shine a spotlight on what we love about Wisconsin and how, together, we can fight to make it better for everyone. And it won’t just be me. It will also feature Pumpkin Wikler, my dog, whom you can see in our launch video.

Look for This Is Wisconsin videos on all your favorite social media platforms—on my own feed and Civic Media’s. And tune in to Civic stations, where I’ll visit their all-star roster of on-air hosts to share what I’m seeing and hearing around our state.

National news focuses so much on things that happen far away—but much less on how it is affecting us here, and what we can do about it. And the chaos and corruption of our national politics and economy can leave us feeling powerless and hopeless.

But when we look at what’s happening from the ground up, there are so many heroes, and so many reasons for hope.

We want to celebrate them. And we hope you’ll join us.

All the best,

Ben

PS: You can find our launch video on YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, BlueSky, Threads, Twitter (ugh), and even LinkedIn, because why not. I’ll also be sharing This Is Wisconsin content via this very newsletter, so if you’re not yet a subscriber, I’ve got a button here that you’re going to love!

Subscribe now

PPS: Also. We’re hiring! If you know the perfect digital director for this project, send them this job description and ask them to email their resume/LinkedIn and a brief note about why they’d be great to apply@benwikler.com.

Dear friends and allies,

I’m thrilled to share my New York Times op-ed today drawing on my forthcoming book, This Is the Plan: How to End America’s Meltdown and Save Democracy—and to pull back the curtain on my book tour. I hope to see you at an event!

As I wrote in the op-ed, “A Three-Step Plan to Undo Trump’s Assault on Democracy,” “there are things every one of us can do, right now, to ensure democracy’s survival—and even flourishing—in our country.” I’m hoping that the book and the tour can galvanize more people to do more of those things.

If you feel the same way, please read and share the op-ed, pre-order the book, and then RSVP for a ticket to a book tour event near you. And I’d be grateful if you could spread the word—to your group chats, social media platforms, fellow organizing group or union members, and other networks.

Here’s the lineup of cities we’ll be visiting:

• Friday, July 17: Madison, Wisconsin, 6:30 p.m. at the Overture Center, in conversation with Pete Buttigieg, in partnership with A Room Of One’s Own bookstore. RSVP for free here!

• Tuesday, July 21: Washington, DC, 7:00 p.m. at the Politics and Prose bookstore, with Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi and senior correspondent of the PBS News Hour Judy Woodruff. First come, first seated; get details here!

• Wednesday, July 22: Boston, Massachusetts, 6:00 p.m. at the Cambridge Library with Professor and author Danielle Allen. RSVP for free here!

• Thursday, July 23: Chicago, Illinois, 7:00 p.m. at Everybody’s Coffee with Governor JB Pritzker and former Georgia Democratic leader Stacey Abrams. Get your tickets here!

• Friday, July 24: Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 6:00 p.m. at the Turner Hall Ballroom with Civic Media host Earl Ingram, Jr. RSVP today!

• Saturday, July 25: Green Bay, Wisconsin, 11:30 a.m. at Tarlton Theatre with 620 WTMJ radio host Kristin Brey. Reserve your spot now!

• Saturday, July 25: Wausau, Wisconsin, 5:30 p.m. at the Wausau Labor Temple with former Wausau Mayor Katie Rosenberg. Get your free tickets here!

• Sunday, July 26: La Crosse, Wisconsin, 12:30 p.m. at the Capella Performing Arts Center with former Civic Media host Todd Allbaugh. RSVP now!

• Sunday, July 26: Eau Claire, Wisconsin, 6:30 p.m. at the Pablo Center with Civic Media host Dan Shafer. Reserve your spot here!

• Monday, July 27: Los Angeles, California, 7:30 p.m. at the Ebell Theatre in conversation with Pod Save America host Jon Favreau. Buy your tickets here!

• Tuesday, July 28: San Francisco, California, 6:00 p.m. at the Commonwealth Club with actor and producer Bradley Whitford. Purchase your tickets here!

• Wednesday, July 29: Seattle, Washington, 7:30 p.m. at Town Hall Seattle. Buy your tickets now!

If you don’t see your city listed here, or if none of those stops work for you, stay tuned for other ways to catch me—I’ll also be doing private events, online events, media interviews, and future stops in other places. And if you’d like to work with me to organize an event, please get in touch!

For updates as the book’s publication draws closer, check out the book’s new website, ThisIsthePlan.com, or stay tuned to this newsletter. Not yet a subscriber? Sign up:

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I’m so excited to get this out in the world. I just finished narrating the audiobook. The whole thing feels very timely.

If we want to save our democracy and end our country’s meltdown (which, if I know anything about you, is an interest that you and I share), we have a ton to do. Getting the message out is one key step. I hope you’ll join me on the journey.

Thanks so much,

Ben

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The result will be a wave of Republican-controlled states redrawing their maps to entrench Republican power by destroying majority-Black and Latino districts. This, in turn, might decide control of the House of Representatives in a future election.

The only high court forum that remains to challenge rigged maps is in state court. The same is true for protecting reproductive freedom or to stop future attempts to steal elections, as many fear Donald Trump will attempt this November or in 2028.

There is much to do, nationwide, to counter the damage that the court’s ruling will unleash. But there is one specific thing that everyone can do right now: We can help elect two champions of democracy to the Georgia Supreme Court, just three weeks away.

On May 19, Georgia voters will vote in two state Supreme Court races that have flown almost entirely under the national radar. These are among the most important elections for the future of the country this year.

Nobody is talking about this election. That needs to change.

For decades, in parallel with its drive to dominate the U.S. Supreme Court, the far right has run an intensive national effort to take control of state supreme courts. The consequences of this highly successful effort have been disastrous for the country. But over the past decade, democracy supporters, realizing that state supreme courts are key to protecting rights and securing democracy itself, have organized to flip courts in several key states.

After a year of Democratic wins in down-ballot races, the next big test is Georgia. This fight, in the home state of the great John Lewis, could not come at a more critical time.

The Stakes

If you want to see what we have to gain in Georgia with a victory next month, look to the Midwest. The pro-democracy coalition mobilized to elect majorities on the highest courts in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania.

The past decade has already shown us what these courts can achieve. When states passed partisan gerrymanders designed to lock one party in power for a decade, state courts struck down the maps and drew or demanded fair districts. When Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization took away Americans’ right to make their own healthcare decisions, state courts filled that gap by protecting reproductive freedom under state constitutions. Most critically, when Trump sought to undermine the results of the 2020 presidential election, state courts stopped him in his tracks.

But the reverse is also true. A MAGA-aligned state supreme court can uphold restrictive abortion laws. It can rubber-stamp partisan gerrymanders. It can collude with election-denying candidates to throw out lawful ballots. The choice of which of these roads the Peach State will go down is up to Georgia voters on May 19.

The Wisconsin Playbook

The playbook for winning progressive majorities on state supreme courts is now well-established. Look to Wisconsin. At the start of 2018, a 5-2 MAGA majority controlled the state’s highest court. Since then, through strong candidate recruitment, always-on communication and organizing infrastructure, and a well-funded campaign and coalition — all united around effective strategy — pro-democracy candidates have won five out of the last six Supreme Court races and flipped the court to a 5-2 pro-democracy majority.

Wisconsin’s winning candidates emphasized high-salience issues such as reproductive freedom, refused to cede the issue of public safety to bad-faith attacks by the other side, and disqualified their opponents as far-right MAGA hacks in judicial robes. The electoral results show the power of this approach: double-digit margins in every winning race, even up against unprecedented spending from GOP mega-donors like Elon Musk.

The results have had enormous national implications. In 2020, the court rejected, by a 4-3 margin, Trump’s attempt to throw out all of the votes in Milwaukee and essentially steal the state’s electors. In 2023, the court struck down the state’s gerrymandered state legislative districts, paving the way to, in 2024, the first fair maps in a generation. Also in 2024, the court struck down the state’s 1849 abortion ban.

The Battle for Georgia’s Future

In the May 19 state Supreme Court election, former state Sen. Jen Jordan and former chair of the Georgia Association of Black Women Attorneys Miracle Rankin — both respected advocates for consumers, women, and those who care about civil rights — are taking on right-wing incumbents Justices Sarah Warren and Charlie Bethel.

The current majority on the Georgia Supreme Court has proved itself incapable of standing up to authoritarians and protecting fundamental rights. Warren and Bethel sided with Trump when the court affirmed a lower court ruling halting the Fulton County District Attorney’s prosecution of Trump related to his attempts to interfere with the 2020 election. That decision came down to a narrow 4-3 majority; if Warren and Bethel had not been on the court, Trump might have faced real consequences for his alleged actions. Bethel and Warren likewise have failed to stand up for Georgians’ right to reproductive freedom, twice supporting interventions to reinstate Georgia’s near-total abortion ban after a lower court halted the law, though litigation is ongoing.

A two-seat gain on the court this spring would immediately change the dynamics of the court. Moreover, if Jordan and Rankin win, they would open a path to winning an outright pro-democracy majority on the Georgia Supreme Court in spring 2028, when three more GOP-aligned justices will have to run for reelection.

Here’s the math: Currently, the court has eight conservatives (five extremists, three center-right) and a single moderate. Two victories on May 19 would bring the conservative bloc to six members, with three moderate-to-liberal justices. Three more victories in 2028 would mean a 6-3 moderate/liberal majority that, potentially, could last through the post-census redistricting process and beyond. Conversely, a loss in both of these races would mean a certain conservative majority on Georgia’s court through the transfer of power after the 2028 presidential election.

In other words, winning on May 19 is the only way to make a pro-democracy majority on Georgia’s highest court possible before the Congress considers the electoral college votes from the 2028 presidential election.

Gerrymandering and Fair Maps

Because of its impact on redistricting questions, the May 19 election will affect the national House majority for years to come, especially after today.

Today’s disastrous decision from the U.S. Supreme Court in Louisiana v. Callais gives Georgia’s Republican legislature an unprecedented opportunity to break up Black and Latino-majority districts and make their already severely gerrymandered maps even less fair as soon as this year. The federal courts’ abdication of their role in policing gerrymandering makes state courts the only forum left for litigants seeking fair maps.

The possibility of divided government in Georgia after November’s election makes this court even more important. If the governor and state legislature cannot agree on maps, map drawing falls to the courts. If Democrats win the governorship this fall, such an impasse is nearly certain. Simply put, the composition of the Georgia Supreme Court is the difference between fair maps and rigged maps that systematically dilute the voting power of Black and other minority voters. This could decide control of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Moreover, the consequences will last beyond this decade.

After the 2030 census (in which Georgia could expand from 14 to 15 U.S. House members), every state will adopt new maps intended to last through 2042. A pro-democracy court majority in Georgia could block gerrymandered maps or draw fair ones that could shape the U.S. House majority for the next 16 years.

Election Subversion

The Trump administration’s attempts to seize ballots from the 2020 election in Fulton County show that Georgia will be ground zero for election subversion in 2026 and 2028. In the 2028 presidential election, Georgia may not enjoy the same democratic backstops it had in 2020, including a secretary of state unwilling to “find 11,780 votes.” We need a majority ready to stop future election subversion — like the Wisconsin Supreme Court did in 2020. Any other outcome could be catastrophic.

A victory this month could yield positive results as soon as this year’s elections. If the two incumbents lose, that will put the rest of the court on notice. With the cost of partisan rulings in favor of election deniers unmistakably high, there is a much stronger chance that the high court will side in favor of free and fair elections, if only out of a sense of electoral self-preservation.

Reproductive Freedom: An Oasis in the South

Finally, the importance of reproductive freedom in this race is not isolated to Georgia. Georgia, with its six-week abortion ban, is in a sea of deep-red states with laws that are similarly hostile to reproductive freedom. A theoretical favorable ruling on abortion in Georgia by a future court, therefore, would create a potential oasis within the Deep South for those who need reproductive healthcare from states like Alabama, Mississippi, South Carolina, Florida, Louisiana, and Texas.

Democrats are on a roll — but in this race, the GOP has a turnout machine

Last fall, Georgia voters astonished the nation by electing Democrats to their state’s Public Service Commission by a 20-point margin. Six months later, in equally purple Wisconsin, voters elected a former Democratic state legislator to their state Supreme Court by an equally massive landslide. But in Georgia this spring, we can’t expect Democratic turnout to take care of victory by itself. Republican voters are likely to turn out in droves for the GOP’s gubernatorial primary taking place on the same day.

Georgia has two candidates for the Republican nomination for governor who are spending tens of millions of dollars on ads to win their contest. This intensive investment is likely to drive up GOP turnout. No comparable level of spending can be found on the Democratic side. This gives the GOP an advantage in getting voters to the polls — and makes this state supreme court election, which will be voted on in the same ballots that are used in the partisan primaries, a potential tossup.

What You Can Do

The stakes are too high for Georgia voters — and for the rest of the country — to sit this one out.

• If you live in Georgia, make a plan to vote (and urge your friends and family to do the same). If you live in Georgia, check your registration status, find your polling place, and make sure everyone you know understands the importance of these down-ballot races. Early voting continues until May 15. You can find all the information you need to vote here.

• Donate to the candidates and other organizations supporting them. These races are expensive, and the opponents have deep-pocketed conservative backing. Your support helps get the pro-democracy message out.

• Spread the word. This race lacks the profile of a presidential or gubernatorial contest — but its importance is no less enormous. Share this piece and anything else you can about this race and help ensure that progressive and pro-democracy voters show up.

Given the public’s fury about the Trump administration’s disastrous policies — on everything from affordability to immigration to war — there is every possibility that 2026 and 2028 will be wave elections on par with 2006 and 2008. But we can already see that the Trump administration and its allies in the other branches of government hope to thwart the power of voters by sabotaging democracy itself. The question of whether any future plots succeed or fail won’t be determined only on November election days. That question will be determined by what each of us does when looking at elections like the Georgia race on May 19.

Let’s seize the moment — and start moving this critical court to the “pro democracy” side of the ledger.

Ben Wikler is the former chair of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin and author of the forthcoming This Is The Plan: How to End America’s Meltdown and Save Democracy. Lavora Barnes is the former chair of the Michigan Democratic Party. Spencer Klein is a senior political adviser and associate general counsel at Democracy Defenders Action.

This piece was originally published at The Contrarian.

The most important election since last November is taking place in Wisconsin today: the race for Wisconsin Supreme Court. If you’re in Wisconsin, polls are open until 8pm and you can same-day register at your polling place (find it here). Go! Vote for Chris Taylor!

It has gotten almost no national attention. Compared to the last two majority-determining races, it has barely even registered in the state of Wisconsin. But this election matters. Here’s why.

Wisconsin is the most evenly divided state in the country; the last three presidential races and the last two US Senate races had margins of 1% or less. Small shifts in voting rules—a topic frequently adjudicated by the Supreme Court—have major national consequences. The court has also played a critical role in determining district lines for the state legislature and may do so vis-a-vis the US House (a case is working its way through Wisconsin courts now). Moreover, in 2020, Wisconsin’s court came within a single vote of overturning the presidential election.

In other words, for the future of democracy in Wisconsin and for the country at large, the composition of the court has far-reaching consequences.

And, of course, the court rules on issues affecting daily life for the people of the state—including on issues like reproductive freedom and worker’s rights.

The reason why this year’s election has gotten so much less attention than the previous two such races is that, this year, the majority is not at stake.

But the reason why this race has far-reaching consequences is that it will affect the majority for years to come.

If Judge Chris Taylor beats Maria Lazar, then the pro-democracy bloc on the court will grow from 4-3 to 5-2.

There are Wisconsin Supreme Court elections coming up in 2027, 2028, 2029, and 2030. Of those four seats, two are currently held by conservatives and two are held by more progressive Justices. If Taylor wins, the far right won’t have any path to regaining the majority on the court before the 2028 presidential election—meaning, the race won’t be overturned in the ultimate purple state. And a Taylor victory also makes likely that MAGA won’t be able to seize the court’s majority before the post-2030 census, which will set maps for both the the state legislature and the US House all the way through 2042.

That’s why this race doesn’t just affect the year to come. It affects American democracy for the next 16 years.

Beyond the stakes for democracy, this is an election between two candidates. Chris Taylor is a brilliant judge. Before ascending to the bench, she was a pathbreaking state legislator who made national news by attending meetings of the officially-nonpartisan far-right network ALEC—and then going public about their nefarious special-interest plans. Prior to that, she was a leader at Planned Parenthood and an attorney in private practice. Small wonder, then, that she’s been endorsed by the court’s current pro-democracy majority, the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, unions, Senator Tammy Baldwin, and others. On the other hand, you’ve got Maria Lazar, backed by the GOP, who, over the years, has been endorsed by people actively involved in trying to overturn the 2020 election, groups trying to block abortion and emergency contraception, and her old boss Scott Walker.

Which brings us back to today. If you’re an eligible voter in Wisconsin, cast your ballot. Whether or not you can vote, if you know anyone who can, send them a friendly reminder. And if you have any free time to volunteer, consider finding a handy spot more than 100 feet from a polling place and asking people with “I Voted” stickers to text their friends and family and urge them to vote.

And if you happen to be near Library Mall on campus this afternoon from 3-4 PM, come meet me and my doggo Pumpkin at our Pet Out The Vote event! RSVP here. Bring your dog!

Winning matters. And winning big matters even more. Because a huge Taylor landslide today can provide a jolt of energy to people across Wisconsin and the country who want to believe democracy can survive this dark era—but whose feeling of hope has been flagging in the face of Trump’s unremitting assault. A landslide today can help propel us into victories this November.

Let’s send a beacon of hope across the country—by using every precious minute today.

One insidious undercurrent: the feeling of being powerless.

But there’s a way out of this accelerating disaster. It’s a long, hard path. It’s going to take all of us, working together, to walk it. But I know we can do it. And if we fight our way along that path—if we can join our power together, even as the far right tries to take that power away—we can build a new era of democracy that actually delivers for everyone.

I’ve spent the last few months furiously mapping out that path in my new book. In truth, I’m still in the middle of revising it, and my publisher, W.W. Norton & Company, is pulling out all the stops to get the book out to the country as quickly as possible. It will hit bookshelves (and phones, as an ebook and audiobook—narrated by me!) on July 21, 2026.

You can pre-order the book from your favorite bookseller via this link.

Reversing an authoritarian collapse is an enormous lift. But I’ve seen a state-sized version of it right where I live—in Wisconsin, the only state where five of the last seven presidential elections have had margins of victories of under 1%, and where I served as the state Democratic Party chair from 2019 to 2025.

Here, thousands of people—my heroes—have fought year-round for more than a decade, throwing their energy into organizing and communicating everywhere, to everyone, in contests for power at every level of government, despite a system rigged by the GOP to thwart majority rule. As a result, a state that was, just recently, categorized as a “democracy desert” is now a toss-up for a Democratic trifecta in the 2026 midterms. To hear Wisconsin’s story, told from the inside, is to realize that there’s a way out of this mess. The book shares that story—and then applies its formula to a national plan to win elections, remove democracy’s saboteurs from office, and make America work for all of us.

My goal in this book is to equip you to level up your role in the fight, or to join it for the first time. I’ll map out not just what we have to do, but how you personally can do it.

And I aim to have fun. Things are dark. But the people smashing the country to pieces have no sense of humor. They win when we cower. Most of all, they fear being mocked. But we win more when we’re having a blast. Our job is to—to quote The Princess Bride—have fun storming the castle. In a decidedly non-violent, non-January-6-y sort of way.

I don’t need to tell you that the fight for our country’s future isn’t waiting for the publication of this book. It’s underway, from the streets of Minneapolis to your own front door. We’ve all got a lot to do. But I wrote this book because, even as we’re organizing and protesting and trying to care for each other and survive, it’s worth looking beyond the daily howl to figure out how we’re going to get out of this mess.

I hope you’ll join me.

In solidarity,

Ben

P.S. Presale links to all your favorite booksellers can be found here. I’m grateful for your help in spreading the word—either through this post, or the version that appeared on The Contrarian this morning, or on BlueSky, Threads, X (ugh, I know), LinkedIn, TikTok, Facebook, or Instagram. And stay tuned for many more announcements this spring!

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Our country is in crisis, and the 2026 Wisconsin Governor’s race is essential to the path out.

Wisconsin was the closest state in 2024. The chance of a free, fair presidential election in 2028—and a peaceful transfer of power—is far better if our state’s next Governor believes in democracy.

Moreover, the 2026 elections offer a once-in-a-generation opportunity to unrig the state I love. Our goal must be not just to win the Governor’s race, but also to flip the state Assembly and state Senate majorities. Then we can finally pass the hugely popular, urgently-needed laws that would make Wisconsin work for regular people, not just well-heeled far-right special interests.

This summer, Governor Evers announced that, after two tremendously successful terms at the helm and a half-century of public service, he would be passing the torch. Since then, I’ve been honored that friends and allies across Wisconsin have urged me to put my own name on the ballot for Governor.

I’m determined to do all I can to ensure that a great Democrat wins in 2026, but I won’t be seeking the nomination myself.

The great Molly Beck at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel wrote a story about this news today that you can read here. From that piece:

“I know we have an extraordinary field of candidates and for me the chance to actually reconnect with my family after six years of constant, hyper-intense work as the state party chair is the kind of opportunity you only get a few times in a lifetime,” said Wikler, who noted his children were 1, 4 and 7 when he was first elected party chairman and are now 7, 10 and 13.

“The first big click of their lives has already happened. Now, being able to walk them to school and the bus stop and read before bed instead of being on the road all over the state — it’s the kind of thing that I know that I’ll look back on and be really glad I invested this time with them.”

I may not be running now, but I’m not leaving the fight.

One key way I’ll be helping: I’m joining Governor Evers, new WisDems chair Devin Remiker, and Evers campaign manager Cassi Fenili to support the Democratic Party of Wisconsin (WisDems) and its Governor Readiness Project.

Wisconsin’s primary in the governor’s race—which, on the Democratic side, has already drawn a field of great candidates that continues to grow—won’t take place until August 11, 2026. From there, the nominee will have only 84 days until the general election. I’m committed to helping Governor Evers ensure that WisDems has the resources and campaigning infrastructure ready to go on day one for the next Democratic nominee.

That race is just one of the many critical elections on the Wisconsin ballot.

• Next spring, Judge Chris Taylor will flip a state Supreme Court seat and ensure that MAGA has no path to regaining a majority in advance of 2028’s presidential election.

• In House races, starting with Wisconsin’s 3rd Congressional District, Wisconsin has a chance to ensure that Democrats end Mike Johnson’s disastrous Speakership.

• And in offices next November ranging from the state legislature to Attorney General Kaul’s reelection, voters have a chance to reject the extremism, tyranny, and economic carnage fomented by MAGA billionaires and choose, instead, a future for our state and our country where everyone can thrive.

I’ll be doing my part to assist on all of those fronts, both by supporting WisDems and through other projects that I will announce in the months to come.

In the meantime, after six intense years leading the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, I’m treasuring real time with my family. Kids are only young once. And, in the face of the daily onslaught of catastrophe, I’m taking the chance to think, write, and communicate more broadly about how our state and country can break free of today’s cascading emergencies and better deliver for everyone.

I’ll be speaking at this Saturday’s No Kings event in Madison. I’ll look for other ways to lend my voice to the fight—and I hope you will as well.

This is an all-hands-on-deck moment. There is a path out of the present darkness, but we can only travel its distance if we walk it together.

Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers just announced that he won’t be running for reelection in 2026:

Wisconsin owes a profound debt of gratitude to Governor Evers—one of the kindest, most decent, and most public-spirited people I've ever met, in or out of politics. He makes Wisconsin a better place, every single day, and will leave a legacy that touches all of our lives.

Kids can always tell whether adults are for real. My kids, and kids across the state, know what I've seen firsthand myself: Tony Evers is on their side. He got into politics for the right reason: to make things better for them. And because of that, he always does the right thing. He shows that kindness and conviction can go hand in hand, that empathy and integrity can be a form of strength, and that lifting people up makes us all grow. In a time of corrosive, cynical politics, Governor Evers—through the example of his life and his actions moment to moment—shows people that politics really can be about public service.

Anyone who defeated Scott Walker would have instantly become a hero for Wisconsin’s working people, its kids, and their families. It has always been gratifying that the person who defeated Walker was a teacher–a profession of everyday heroes that had been targeted by Walker most of all. As Wisconsin’s democracy was going over a cliff, he grabbed the wheel and steered us away from the brink.

But, year after year, Governor Evers has soared far beyond simply ending a dark time in our state’s governance. He has overseen the rebuilding of democracy in our state just as surely as he has fixed the roads, restored critical funding for our schools, protected reproductive freedom, cut taxes for the middle class, and refocused our priorities away from political games and towards delivering for regular families, no matter who they voted for—or whether they vote at all.

If you're a Wisconsinite, Governor Evers cares about you, and he's worked to ensure that our state’s government reflects that.

Wisconsin is the crucible of American politics, with a constant string of nailbiter elections. Governor Evers’s leadership of our state party has been transformative. As the party chair, I saw firsthand how Governor Evers worked to ensure that our party could show up for Democrats and public servants at every level of the ballot, setting a national standard for what a strong party led by a great governor could accomplish—winning 15 of the last 19 statewide elections, from his victory in 2018 through this spring’s Supreme Court election. At a personal level, I learned so much from his example and his leadership, and I’ll be forever grateful for the opportunity to support and partner with him.

Governor Evers’s legacy will be a better, more decent Wisconsin with a thriving democracy and a bright future. I'm profoundly grateful to him for his service, his character, and his steadfast commitment to building a politics that puts kids first.

Thank you, Governor Evers. We’re all lucky that you chose to lead—and that you’ve led us so well.

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Today is my final day at WisDems—my last day as Wisconsin’s Democratic Party chair.

To everyone who has helped us beat the odds, again and again, for the last six years—you have my deep gratitude.

There are a million things going wrong in the world. But our state party has been one of the things going right. And the fundamental reason for that is you.

This party works because of its people. The thousands of card-carrying party members. The tens of thousands of volunteers and grassroots donors. The dozens of professional staff—and hundreds who have worked here at some point over these last six years.

Our success—victories in 10 of 13 statewide elections, a new majority in the Supreme Court, fair maps—has come thanks not just to the party, but to our extraordinary candidates and their campaigns; our eternal partners in the labor movement; and our grassroots allies.

At every step, through 18 statewide primary and general election days, in battle after battle, you’ve persevered. You’ve kept the faith. You’ve shown up—in ways that have inspired others to show up as well.

The vision of WisDems is a state, country, and world that works for everyone—not just the few. Where every person has freedom, dignity, justice, and respect. Our mission—the way we move towards that vision—is to elect Democrats up and down the ballot. And our strategy to advance that mission has been to build a permanent campaign, organizing and communicating everywhere, year-round, across all of our communities, fighting for working families and against those who’d use their wealth and power to destroy the power of the people.

Perhaps all of that sounds obvious. But it doesn’t happen everywhere. It is, in a sense, Wisconsin’s secret sauce. Knowing our values. Knowing our goals. And putting in the work, day after day, to turn our vision into political reality.

The way we’ve done this, by fighting for our values, including and respecting everyone, and by empowering the grassroots, is only possible because you and so many other people have made the decision, over and over, that it’s not somebody else’s job. It’s yours.

By building up from the grassroots in every corner of Wisconsin, we’ve not only built up Democrats. We’ve built our democracy.

We’ve worked to re-weave the fabric of our communities, in a time when giant corporations make money by trapping people in their homes, alone, gazing at their phones.

We’ve gone outside and met each other, knock by knock, county fair by county fair, parade by parade.

And because we’ve rebuilt the muscle of civic life in our state, my confidence in our state’s future path is bright as day, even in this moment of political darkness.

I have faith in Devin Remiker, our next chair, and our extraordinary team. I have faith in our county parties, our caucuses, our youth wings, our neighborhood teams. I have faith in you.

I have loved this job. One of the hardest things I’ve ever done, and the most rewarding. Now, I’m excited to take a breath. Spend time with kids, and my wife, and our goofball dog, Pumpkin. Taking some space to reflect, and figure out how, down the road, I can best contribute to the fight of our lives.

Meanwhile, I’d love to stay in touch. Going forward, you can get updates from me at benwikler.com. I’m planning to continue writing a regular newsletter.

My tenure as WisDems chair may have ended, but my full support for their mission continues. The best way you can help get Democrats elected up and down the ballot is by fueling WisDems’ year-round grassroots organizing. Chip in here.

Thank you for six extraordinary years.

The fight continues.

Solidarity.

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