Thread by @benwikler

Congratulations to @JoeBiden on becoming our presumptive nominee, and to @BernieSanders for running a noble campaign that raises issues of urgent importance. He has made our party and nation stronger.

We now have 209 days until November 3. Let's come together and defeat Trump.

At the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, we've described our mission—alongside winning critical state & local races and building long-term infrastructure—as building a presidential scale campaign without a nominee. Now, we've got a presumptive nominee. We're ready.

The chair who preceded me, Martha Laning, vowed to never repeat the crushing experience of 2016—and launched a visionary field organizing program that spring. By the fall of 2018, Wisconsinites knocked on a stunning number of doors and powered a clean sweep of statewide races.

I was elected chair of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin last June, and took the baton. We kept scaling up. Last November, in a year-out rev-up for the general election, we knocked on 60,000 Wisconsinites' doors in a single #1Year2Win weekend—with no election on the ballot.

The core of our organizing strategy has been neighbor-to-neighbor conversations. We've invested in building neighborhood action teams & supporting county parties in every corner of the state. When coronavirus hit, we went virtual—but kept our teams intact, still sprinting.

As the saying goes, it's not about timing the field, it's about time in the field.

The Trump team started early. They hired their state director here last July. But by the time we get to November 3, we Democrats will have run a continuous organizing operation for 44 months.

We've built our capacity to organize and communicate across race, class, geography, and language. We've worked in cities, suburbs, and rural Wisconsin alike. We've massively extended our online reach. We've hired extraordinary people. We're still hiring! wisdems.org/careers

Now, this operation of unprecedented strength and reach will become a purpose-built on-the-ground campaign operation to help @JoeBiden turn Wisconsin blue and end the Trump presidency.

We are grateful to @BernieSanders for his impossible-to-ignore clarion call for justice, and for everyone who worked mightily to support the cause of #NotMeUs. You have changed our country's politics.

And we are grateful to everyone who worked day and night for the many other candidates in this race—an extraordinary group of extraordinary people. We know that all of those who ran for president will continue to champion the causes and values we hold dear.

As I write this, midnight is arriving in Wisconsin. Yesterday, we held the final contested Democratic primary of 2020—an election that should have been delayed, and would have been, had the GOP chosen public health instead of partisan power. The stakes, at least, are now vivid.

Now, we begin the next phase of our fight. It will take every one of us—every single person who does not want for more years of Trump. We will dedicate and rededicate ourselves, commit and recommit, no matter how bleak the world gets.

They will try to divide us. We will unite.

The Trump team said "If we win Wisconsin, we win the election; if we lose Wisconsin, we lose the election."

Let's usher them through Door #2.

Be a part of this fight. No matter where you live, you're an honorary cheesehead now.

wisdems.org/volunteer
wisdems.org/donate