Ben Wikler Profile picture
Sep 24, 2020 10 tweets 3 min read Read on X
NEWS: The GOP is pouring $2 million in dark money to defeat Ron Kind in Wisconsin’s swingiest Congressional district. They know Trump will lose Wisconsin if @KindforCongress wins big. So let’s make sure that Kind soars to victory: secure.actblue.com/donate/dpw-kin…
Why is the GOP pouring so much money into Wisconsin’s 3rd District, a gerrymandered masterpiece that covers western and central Wisconsin? Simple: Because whoever wins here wins Wisconsin. politico.com/news/2020/09/2…
The GOP is freaking out because the Supreme Court vacancy has driven home for everyone that healthcare is on the ballot. Dems won every 2018 statewide election on the promise to protect people with pre-existing conditions. The 2020 stakes: even higher.
As many as 2.4 million Wisconsinites have pre-existing conditions; their right to healthcare is threatened if Trump & the GOP prevail. The stakes in WI03 are intensely personal for voters. The GOP knows Ron Kind will protect & expand care, not take it away.wisdems.org/news/on-day-of…
Ron Kind represents a purple district—and regularly condemns the Trump administration’s repeated attacks on the Affordable Care Act, while fighting for COVID support. That’s an enormous electoral strength. But it also infuriates the GOP. So they’re targeting him.
Meanwhile, the GOP’s Derrick Van Orden moved to the district a year ago & says he decided to run against Kind as payback for Kind’s opposition to Trump. He’s an anti-science, anti-choice extremist—even when the life of the mother is at stake.
Derrick Van Orden has made crystal clear that he would vote to take away the Affordable Care Act, striking down protections for people with pre-existing conditions. Making sure voters know this can help shut down the GOP’s play for votes here.
Obama won WI-03 by 11 points in 2012. Trump won it by 5 points in 2016. Now, in 2020, the right-wing dark money group behind the attacks on Ron Kind claims Trump is ahead there. Having Ron Kind’s back now builds support for Dems at every level.
The GOP has glaring weaknesses. They’re a disaster on COVID. They’ve driven the economy off a cliff—and are still pushing tax cuts for big corporations and the rich, at the expense of Medicare & Social Security. Let’s make sure voters know it.
And in full partnership with Ron Kind’s powerhouse campaign, the @WisDems team will be organizing voters county by county, neighborhood team by neighborhood team.

If you want to help with that kind of work—from wherever you live!—sign up here: wisdems.org/act-now

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More from @benwikler

Nov 20
The first critical election of the new Trump era is just 132 days from now: Wisconsin’s state Supreme Court race. 🧵
This week, the Democratic Party of Wisconsin endorsed Judge Susan Crawford, the one pro-freedom, pro-democracy candidate. We’re in the fight. Join us. Image
With Wisconsin still at the white-hot center of American politics, our state Supreme Court remains one of the most crucial judicial bodies in America. Decisions by this court shape national outcomes. Image
Read 26 tweets
Nov 15
As we enter a harrowing new chapter in American life, remember this: we are stronger than we think. 🧵
Before I dig in here, let me flag: donating to WisDems funds our year-round organizing and communication work—critical for elections here, including the state Supreme Court, in less than six months. Can you chip in?
secure.actblue.com/donate/octeom_…
Trump is doing exactly what he promised to do: making the worst possible choices about who should run the federal government.

Or perhaps that’s not their job—their job is to dismantle it, to break it, to ensure that it can’t carry out the will of the American people.
Read 23 tweets
Nov 9
Here’s what happened in Wisconsin. And a note of gratitude. 🧵
On Election Day, I thought we were winning the presidential race.

We came up short. Losing was a gut punch. Enormous peril lies ahead.

As we prepare for what’s next, we also have to find space for curiosity about what just happened.
We’re beginning to see the outlines: a red wave. A nationwide shift toward Trump of 6%.

But in Wisconsin, we nearly defeated that wave.

The shift here was just one quarter the size: 1.5%. Not because Trump was weaker here than elsewhere, but because we were stronger.
Read 107 tweets
Nov 8
Just crunched some numbers.

Turnout generally dropped nationwide. But battleground states had slightly *higher* turnout among eligible voters than 2020—and a smaller-than-avg swing towards Trump.

Wisconsin had the highest turnout rise in the nation: +1.3% of eligible voters.🧵
The data here come from @ElectProject: election.lab.ufl.edu/2024-general-e…

Crunched in this spreadsheet: docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d…

Some big states are still counting ballots, so left CA, WA, DC, MD, and OR out of this calculation.

Included AZ and NV even though they're still counting.
@ElectProject Here's the table: the change in turnout (relative to the voting-eligible population) from 2020 to 2024 in the seven battlegrounds vs the rest of the country.

A pretty clear case that the campaign + party + allies turned out Dems in states they focused on. Image
Read 6 tweets
Nov 7
The red wave hit this year: a ~6% national swing to Trump, from 2020 margins.

In Wisconsin, thousands of heroes pulled the swing down to 1.5%. More D votes statewide & in 46 counties. Tammy Baldwin won. Huge wins in the state legislature.

Deeply grateful to all—it mattered.
🧵
This is a perilous moment, and a frightening one. Especially for the people in communities whose freedoms, livelihoods, and safety are now threatened by an emboldened, unfettered Trump and the extremists around him.

We fought to prevent this. We came up short.
We will need to focus soon on somehow containing the damage of the second Trump term, standing in solidarity with one another, and fighting back.

But now, let's thank Harris and Walz for their 107-day sprint—and the countless people who poured themselves into the work.
Read 27 tweets
Nov 5
Before Walz took the stage in Milwaukee tonight, I got a call from a number unlike any I'd ever seen. It ended with four zeroes. I picked it up.

It was Joe Biden. 🧵 Image
The President was calling to say thanks—to all of us in Wisconsin who've been working our hearts out to make this moment possible.

If you're reading this, that might very well include you.
I told him how honored I felt to receive his call, on behalf of thousands of people here who worked to elect him—and then never stopped organizing.

"God bless ya," he said, 100% himself.

What an extraordinary human being he is. Let's do him proud. Let's win tomorrow.
Read 4 tweets

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