Red alert: Wisconsin in 2026 determines what happens nationwide in 2028—and it’s in danger

Two multibillionaire pro-Trump mega-donors want election denialists to run Wisconsin. You can stop them.

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.

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.