Thread by @benwikler

Thank you, Wisconsin Democrats. I'm humbled and honored to serve as your new state party chair. We've got the fight of our lives on our hands.

I ran for chair—and I intend to lead our state party—as part of a team. I'm thrilled that Felesia Martin, 1st Vice Chair, & Lee Snodgrass @SnodgrassforWI, 2nd Vice Chair, agreed to run with me, that we share a deep commitment to including & respecting all—& that we won together.

We won on the FIRE platform: Fight—on issues, between elections. Include & Respect everyone: communities of color; rural, suburbs, & cities. Empower the grassroots w better data, tech, & training. That's how we'll win. Now we have a mandate to do it.

I'm so grateful to @laningforwi, outgoing chair, for building a mighty operation that played critical role in ending the Scott Walker dark age & electing great Dems—@Tony4WI, @TheOtherMandela, @JoshKaulWI, & @SarahforWI—to every statewide office in 2018. Torch, passed!

I have enormous appreciation for @DavidFBowen, outgoing First Vice Chair, my fellow chair candidate, & Milwaukee State Rep—& for his running mates
@TammyJoyWood & @Alicia_Lorta. Follow them all. They'll do extraordinary things, and I'll be proud to support & cheer them on.

Our campaign launched on Feb 21. It's been a three-month sprint. We've crisscrossed the state; I've made more than 3000 phone calls to delegates; and were carried by dozens of volunteers calling, texting, & spreading the word. We believe in organizing, because we know it works.

A special shout-out to the tireless, relentless @austinjkieler, our campaign manager (and outgoing chair of the WI Dems LGBT Caucus), who juggled six jobs at once and should be snapped up immediately. Need to win an election? DM him (or me).

Here's what's next: a series of huge battles that shape not only the future of Wisconsin—Medicaid expansion now, Supreme Court race next spring—but the future of America, and the world. The Dem convention. Stopping Trump. Fixing our maps & winning the blue trifecta in 2022.

Friends across Wisconsin, prepare to work harder—for higher stakes—than you've ever thought possible. Friends who moved away: move home. Patriots everywhere: become a friend of Wisconsin. We need you now. Become a monthly donor: wisdems.org/donate

Wisconsin illustrates perfectly how Trump is a symptom of deeper rot in the GOP, our political economy, & democracy. To turn the tide on all of it, we have to go local & dig deep. It's all on the line. Let's work hand in hand to fight back—and build something worthy of our state.

Wisconsin is the birthplace of the progressive movement. Hotbed of abolitionism. Helped win the Civil War. Created public sector unions. Birthed worker's compensation, Social Security, Medicare. That glorious tradition still runs through our blood. Let's fight to revive it.