Thread by @benwikler

Dems: This moment is a test. And the answer is to ORGANIZE. @WisDems have a massive push to contact 100k voters by 11/8—exactly 1 year from the midterms—& add 200 new monthly donors. With VA in the rearview, read & amplify my #1Year2Win thread, & chip in: wisdems.org/1year2win

While national attention was on Virginia on Tuesday night, we had good news here in Wisconsin: The GOP machine (and @RebeccaforReal) went all-in on divisive school board recall campaigns… and fell flat on its face on election day.

https://twitter.com/bnuckels/status/1455733581888868356

We knew there would be challenges. We know Wisconsin elections are always close. 2022 will be no different. That’s exactly why, in Wisconsin, we’ve been obsessively prepping for a tough fight.

We’ve got dozens of organizers on the ground across WI at this very moment, working with 100s of neighbor-to-neighbor voter contact teams. We’re ready to put your time and treasure to work to keep WI blue. Let this week light a fire under you. Get to work. wisdems.org/1y2w

Why Wisconsin, though? Why obsess about Wisconsin even if you don’t live here? The truth is, Wisconsin isn’t just important because it’s the best state (although it is!)—it’s also the key to preventing a GOP takeover in 2024.

The key thing to hold in your mind is that, for the GOP to steal the Electoral College, the offices they need to control are, first and foremost, *battleground state governorships.* And Wisconsin is on the top of that list.

https://twitter.com/benwikler/status/1416140650123255810

The GOP has already passed voter suppression laws in all the close states that Trump won that have Republican governors. But those states added together aren’t enough to win the electoral college. They need to flip a close state Biden won.

… and the closest 2020 state with a Democratic governor? You guessed it. Wisconsin.

Gov. Evers won in '18 by 1.1% against Scott Walker. Walker, among many other terrible acts, signed voter suppression bills that helped Trump win WI in '16. It took a massive grassroots uprising to defeat Walker & his Lt Gov Rebecca Kleefisch & elect Evers. madison.com/ct/news/local/…

Gov. Tony Evers is already delivering on his promises to Wisconsin. He’s restored the state’s 2/3rds funding commitment to public schools for the first time in two decades, fixed 1,000 miles of roads & 800 bridges, and he’s delivered $4 billion in tax relief to working people.

And he’s supporting our economic growth by helping small businesses and expanding access to broadband in every corner of the state. usnews.com/news/best-stat…

On top of all of this, his steady leadership during the pandemic secured PPE and testing supplies, and he empowered health care professionals to get vaccines in arms. wpr.org/wisconsins-vac…

Governor Evers is democracy’s last line of defense. This summer, Gov. Evers vetoed a series of anti-voting legislation. The Wisconsin GOP is relentless in suppressing our freedom to vote. If Scott Walker had won in 2018, those bills would be law now.

https://twitter.com/benwikler/status/1426287149247311879

We now have a Scott Walker lookalike, his very own former Lt Gov, Rebecca Kleefisch, running against @Tony4WI in '22. She’s not only promised to sign voter suppression legislation, but has not ruled out overturning the results of the 2020 election in WI.
wkow.com/townnews/polit…

Over the past year, we’ve seen just what we can achieve with a Democrat in the White House and with a strong partnership between Washington and Wisconsin. President Biden and Dems in Congress delivered the #AmericanRescuePlan, without the vote of a single Republican in Congress.

In partnership w/ @POTUS, @Tony4WI has allocated millions in federal funds to expand access to broadband, support small businesses in rural, suburban, & urban communities, & invest in infrastructure. The result: WI’s unusually strong economic bounceback.
jsonline.com/story/communit…

Evers’s success is a huge contrast w/ the way things went under the Walker-Kleefisch administration. In 2011, when a Dem president extended a helping hand to WI, they slapped it away, refusing to accept funds for railways, health care expansion, broadband. archive.jsonline.com/news/statepoli…

So, @Tony4WI is clearly good for Wisconsin—and, in the (painful) absence of national voting rights legislation, he’s democracy’s last line of defense. Not just for Wisconsinites. For the whole country. crooked.com/articles/wisco…

Then we’ve got Senator Ron Johnson—who this year alone has defended violent insurrectionists, pushed dangerous anti-vaccine conspiracy theories, & actively obstructed President Biden’s & the Democrats’ agenda to deliver for Americans through the pandemic. nytimes.com/2021/03/21/us/…

The Wisconsin Senate race is “one of the most competitive in the country” and Ron Johnson “is the most vulnerable GOP incumbent” according to the Cook Political Report and Inside Elections. His public support collapsed over the last year. And individual Senate seats? They matter.

We defeated Donald Trump in 2020 here in Wisconsin because of our presidential-scale organizing—which ramped up way, way in advance. Our #1Year2Win organizing push in 2019 set the stage for all that came in 2020. Read about it:

https://twitter.com/benwikler/status/1188873513937055744

Now we’re doing another all-hands-on-deck push in 2021—but we’re setting our goals twice as high. This weekend, we aim to reach out to *100,000* Wisconsin voters. That’s more than 4x Biden’s margin of victory, and 3x’s Tony Evers’. It’s ambitious. We’re up to it.

If you’re ready to take your reaction to Tuesday’s election and turn it into electoral energy, we need you. Help fuel our door-knocking, our phonebanking, our relational organizing. This week—and for the next year. Become a monthly donor now: wisdems.org/1year2win

If you’re in Wisconsin, come join us as we talk to voters. Sign up for canvass shift here: wisdems.org/1y2w

And if you’re not in Wisconsin, you can still volunteer from anywhere through one of our virtual phone banks.
wisdems.org/organize-every…

Some say 2021 is an “off-year.” That’s not how the @WisDems sees it. We have the biggest staff in an “off-year” cycle in WisDems history, across all of our programs: organizing, voter protection, digital, comms, coalition and party building.

That’s because as we fight our battles today, we’re building (way in advance) for 2022. It’s what our BADGER plan is all about—organizing in rural, suburban, and urban areas alike, across lines of race and ethnicity. #1Year2Win is part of that.

To make this work, we need you. We need your help to sustain our organizing program through the August 2022 primary, and then through the November 2022 midterm elections. Your monthly contributions (of any amount!) do just that. wisdems.org/1year2win

Once you’ve signed up to be a monthly donor, can you help spread the word about our #1Year2Win campaign? Retweet or quote-tweet this thread. Ask your friends to help you push it out far and wide.

This weekend, we’re reminding every voter that Democrats are delivering up & down the ballot while Republicans voted against critical relief and investments in infrastructure. That Republicans are out to shred our democracy, while Democrats are fighting for our freedom to vote.

We’re showing that the @WisDems organizing program is the strongest it's ever been. That’s what it will take to defeat Ron Johnson, reelect Gov. Evers next year, and pull American democracy back from the brink.

Our budget is built around expanding the ranks of sustaining monthly donors. These contributions make all the difference in the world. We’re counting on hitting the 200-new-donor mark by midnight on November 8. Can you help us get there? wisdems.org/1year2win

☎️ Throughout this critical #1Year2Win week, I'm making phone calls to supporters who become monthly donors to personally thank and hear from them.

So start a monthly donation today, and I might call you this evening!

Hear from our incredible @WisDems organizers & volunteers making #1Year2Win possible!

Andrea, Milwaukee area Organizer: “One of the biggest reasons that I’m involved in #1Year2Win is because I acknowledge that it’s the tip-off point for us to continue to build a blue Wisconsin!”

.@AydenRomer, WOW Counties Regional Organizing Director: “Taking action myself has given me a great opportunity to connect with my neighbors and my state and feel like I’m part of something really big.”

Tommy, Campus Organizer at Marquette University & @CollegeDemsWI: “We are still seeing Republicans push the big lies that they always campaign on. So it’s important that we push back on these by electing more Democrats into office.” #1Year2Win

Thank you Wausau Mayor @KatieRosenberg!

“Holy balls, Wisconsin! We are one year out from the 2022 midterms, and we need *your* help to get folks on the ground, knocking on doors, calling their neighbors, and talking to voters.”

Join us this weekend: wisdems.org/1y2w

GOOD MORNING WISCONSIN (and Twitter friends of Wisconsin)! We just kicked off the mega #1year2win organizing weekend. Governor Evers joined me and the Madtown Os to launch one of the first wave of canvasses—thanks, @Tony4WI!—and you can see it here:

https://twitter.com/benwikler/status/1456986453691539456

@Tony4WI This was one of dozens of kickoffs across the state this morning. Energy is high. Goals are huge: to reach out to 100,000 voters. And to start things off right, this being Wisconsin, we served ice cream.

twitter.com/i/broadcasts/1…

@Tony4WI Thank you, @GovEvers, for firing up so many volunteers this morning—and for barnstorming the state all day today!

Folks: if you're involved, use the hashtag #1Year2Win!

https://twitter.com/Tony4WI/status/1456992364518682625