Thread by @benwikler

NEW ARTICLE: The most important vehicle for saving democracy might just be… state Democratic parties. Read it on @newrepublic for sure—or scroll down for some highlights.
newrepublic.com/article/165444…

State Democratic parties take outsize blame when things go wrong and, typically, no credit when they go right. They're legal entities, charged by law with duties like nominating poll workers—& they're grassroots political organizations that mobilize volunteers to turn out voters.

Usually, state parties inflate like a balloon for a few months every other year, taking in funds from candidates’ campaigns to hire staff for the final election push—before deflating promptly after Election Day, generally to fewer than 10 full-time staff.

(For some state parties, the fact that the number doesn’t dip to zero is made possible in part by the Democratic National Committee, which provides critical funds to each state to keep things going even in lean years.)

Volunteer leaders and rank-and-file party members at the state & county level move heaven and earth with often shoestring resources, but the boom-bust nature of campaign funding & staff makes it difficult for state parties to engage at scale with voters and candidates year-round.

This makes it particularly hard to systematically move the needle on the thousands of local races—including city councils, county clerks, and county auditors who oversee election administration (every state’s system is different).
boltsmag.org/whats-on-the-b…

But it doesn’t have to be this way. With sufficient resources, leadership, and partnerships, state parties can be a bulwark against attacks on democracy, with dozens of year-round staff running organizing, voter protection, comms, digital, data, & coalitions operations.

I speak from personal experience: Since June 2019, I’ve served as the chair of @WisDems—the Democratic Party of Wisconsin—where we do all of the above, and much more.

This is in a state that, particularly since 2010, has served as a petri dish for authoritarian GOP tactics and policies, and in which a gerrymandered GOP-run state legislature and GOP-dominated state Supreme Court never stop looking for ways to obstruct Democratic victories.

Despite harsh conditions, we’ve won 11 of the 12 statewide elections since 2017. Wisconsin is far from alone. States like Minnesota, Georgia, Michigan, and Colorado all illustrate the possibilities in places where Democratic state parties are a force.

With funds, leadership, and effective strategies, state parties can anchor a state’s Democratic ecosystem—which also includes independent groups, such as unions, and candidates’ campaigns—and transform politics up and down the ballot.

With a solid infrastructure, individual candidates don’t have to invent every piece of a winning campaign apparatus from whole cloth. They just have to be great candidates—and trust parties & independent groups to do the rest.

Parties, unlike independent organizations, can fully coordinate with the candidates’ campaigns—and unlike candidates’ campaigns, parties never go out of existence.

One metaphor that state party chairs often offer is that we build the roads that candidates drive on. Who are the voters a candidate needs to win? The party has the list. Who will knock on those voters’ doors? The party has the volunteers—& organizers to organize them.

That infrastructure benefits city council & school board candidates just as it benefits gov's & senators. They might drive different vehicles for different distances on those roads, but they’re the same roads. It’s the party’s job to smooth the asphalt long before the polls open.

Let’s be clear: Even when working in parallel with fully resourced independent groups & great candidate campaigns, Herculean party efforts can’t reliably overcome underlying political math. If 70% of an electorate is Republican, Dems can’t organize & message their way to victory.

Moreover, Democrats generally lack one ingredient for success that plays a huge role in GOP victories: a network of media institutions dedicated to advancing their political fortunes. In Wisconsin, there are 81 right-wing talk stations across the state. Progressive? 3.

But party infrastructure can make a critical difference, especially when elections are close or low-profile, and even more when buttressed by enormous efforts by independent groups—as we are in Wisconsin.

Our year-round organizing program was launched by my predecessor chair, Martha Laning @laningforwi. It joined years of extraordinary work by brilliant Black, Latino, Hmong, and white organizers, including faith & labor, in Wisconsin’s urban, suburban, & rural communities.

To win, and to sustain the win, the work must begin early, and never stop.

Fortunately, the Democratic National Committee, led by Chair @harrisonjaime—himself a former state party chair in South Carolina—is prioritizing state party support and early investment in year-round organizing, voter protection, and coalitions work.

Battleground states like Wisconsin are crucial, of course. But it’s worth investing in states across the board—because even in the reddest states, unexpected opportunities arise. Ask @DougJones, @laurakellyks, and @AndyBeshearKY in AL, KS, KY.

Maximizing our chance to win now will require dedicating more money, talent, and time to building state party infrastructure, every precious day between now and when the polls close on November 8—and then through the inevitable recounts and court battles that will follow.

And if we’re serious about forestalling authoritarianism, we have to invest everywhere—not just in the battlegrounds. And not just this year. For the next decade. Build to win, build to last. Let’s get going.

MUCH more if you read the op-ed: newrepublic.com/article/165444…