Thread by @benwikler

END OF MONTH DEADLINE: As goes Wisconsin in 2022, so goes the nation in 2024. But our state is a jump ball—and in the Senate, Gov, and down-ballot races, the stakes are massive. It’s time to hit the gas. Help us reach our $6k target by midnight 5/31?
secure.actblue.com/donate/mayeom2…

There are two battles in Wisconsin that will shape politics nationwide—the race for Governor, with multiple Republicans squaring off to challenge Democratic Gov Tony Evers @Tony4WI, and the Senate race, where we have an opportunity to defeat self-serving Ron Johnson.

First, let’s talk about the race for Wisconsin governor. This is probably the most important race in the country for preventing a second Trump presidency—WI was razor-thin in ‘16 and ‘20. With elections this close and ongoing GOP attacks on our democracy, the Gov is key here.

Wisconsin’s governor certifies the presidential election. This is normally a formality: #votersdecide who wins. But ultra-MAGA extremists want a governor willing to overturn the voters’ choice. To avoid a Trump coup in 2024, elect a governor who believes in democracy in 2022.

Wisconsin is hyper-gerrymandered, which means the GOP controls the legislature. This means, in turn, that Governor Evers is the last line of defense against a GOP trifecta. His veto pen is our shield against horrendous policies—and his leadership has been significant.

During his first term, Gov Evers has consistently been doing the right thing for Wisconsin: improving our schools, lowering taxes for the middle class, and investing in our small businesses. Check out his first TV ad of the cycle featuring those highlights:

Meanwhile, Gov Evers has also vetoed extreme anti-abortion bills, bills allowing guns on school property, voter suppression bills and attacks on election administration, and much more. Without him, our laws would look like Texas’s.

https://twitter.com/benwikler/status/1529251772488990720

But Evers’s GOP opponents? Multiple radical candidates groveling for Trump’s endorsement and taking shots at each other. Their party convened this month for its convention—but nobody could rack up the 60% support needed to secure an endorsement.
lacrossetribune.com/news/state-and…

The four GOP candidates—Rebecca Kleefisch, Kevin Nicholson, Tim Ramthun, & Tim Michels—are in the race to the bottom, marked by violent rhetoric and division. While their game of leapfrog to the far right makes them less electable, it also makes them more dangerous if they win.

Every one of these four radical Republicans has embraced conspiracy theories about our elections, vowed to sign voter suppression laws, and threatened to ban access to abortion in Wisconsin. Their sole focus seems to be the approval of Trump.

Here’s a review:

#RadicalRebecca Kleefisch (@RebeccaforReal), Scott Walker’s former lieutenant governor, is the GOP front-runner—and echoed the idea that (trigger warning) rape survivors should not have access to abortion and should instead “turn lemons into lemonade.”
radicalrebecca.com

Kevin Nicholson (@KevinMNicholson) has branded himself the “anti-establishment” candidate, presumably because most Republicans oppose his candidacy. He’s notorious for supporting a total ban on abortion care, no exceptions. So we call him #AntiChoiceKevin: antichoicekevin.com

#TrumpyTim Ramthun entered the ring in February. He’s one of Wisconsin’s most infamous election conspiracy theorists. @Ramthunforgov not only wants to make it possible to nullify future elections—he’s pushing to decertify Biden’s 2020 win & reinstall Trump.trumpytim.com

The latest addition to this shambolic primary: Tim Michels. @michelsforgov ran in ‘98 and again in 2004, when he opposed marriage equality and abortion access. When he decided to run again, we asked—who even is Tim Michels? So we made a website for him: timmichels.com

That’s the cast of characters in the GOP primary. They’re constantly attacking each other, and flip-flopping to become more and more extreme in response to each other’s pressure, especially when it comes to plans to undermine our democracy.
madison.com/news/local/gov…

The Republican candidates in the race want to eliminate permit requirements for carrying a concealed firearm. 76% of Wisconsinites support concealed carry permit requirements. All of these candidates oppose them.
jsonline.com/story/news/pol…

The GOP primary in Wisconsin is on August 9. In the time between now and then, we want to make sure the Wisconsin public knows just how extreme all of them are. Wildly out of step with Wisconsin voters. We’re not sparing a minute.
cbs58.com/news/wisconsin…

Meanwhile, we’ve got a huge race for U.S. Senate. Our Wisconsin Senate race is one of the most important in the country. Because this year we can finally retire the disastrous, self-serving Ron Johnson.

Democrats nationwide know that we have to expand the Senate majority this November in order to pass legislation like the Women’s Health Protection Act (which would codify Roe v. Wade), the Freedom to Vote Act and John Lewis Voting Rights Act, and background checks.

Having one more Democrat in the Senate could make all the difference on the issues that touch every aspect of our lives and our communities. (Two more would be even better.)

And Ron Johnson is perhaps the most vulnerable incumbent from either party up this November.

Self-serving millionaire Ron Johnson has spent his time in the Senate enriching himself and his biggest donors—all while leaving everyday Wisconsinites (and the rest of America) to fend for themselves.

Ron Johnson has now admitted he and his biggest donors benefited from the provision he inserted into the Trump tax scam bill in 2017.

Johnson made sure that Trump’s corporate tax giveaway included a huge tax cut for owners of pass-through corporations—the type of business that Johnson and his biggest donors own.

The three mega-donors who funded his 2016 campaign got $215 million in tax deductions in 2018 thanks to Johnson. Now they’re pouring millions of dollars into a Super PAC so Johnson can keep doing their bidding in the Senate. jsonline.com/story/news/inv…

Meanwhile, Johnson approves the GOP plan to raise taxes on the working class—calling it a “positive thing.”
upnorthnewswi.com/2022/04/21/ron…

After years of Johnson serving himself in the Senate, Ron Johnson’s polling is atrocious. Wisconsinites see that the only person he wants to serve is himself.

https://twitter.com/MULawPoll/status/1519370683788427265

Just last week @DanielBice reported that Ron Johnson spent up to nearly $20,000 of taxpayer dollars to travel from his Florida vacation home. If there’s one thing Johnson loves as much as helping himself directly, it’s exploiting taxpayers in the process.
jsonline.com/story/news/pol…

Wisconsin is one of the best opportunities to pick up a Senate seat in the country, but the GOP is pouring millions into the state with TV ads propping up Ron Johnson. We need the resources to fight back and make sure voters know exactly who Ron Johnson is.

Those are the two most significant races. But there’s a lot more on the ballot. Another statewide race is becoming more and more critical: the fight to reelect our great Attorney General, Josh Kaul.

AG @JoshKaulWI has been a long-time champion of voting rights and reproductive rights—and if Roe v. Wade is overturned, has said he would not use any DOJ resources to enforce an abortion ban.
madison.com/news/local/gov…

Meanwhile, AG Kaul’s Republican opponents would gleefully enforce Wisconsin’s archaic abortion ban:

https://twitter.com/AJBayatpour/status/1522656256292495360

There are other statewide offices with primaries in August: Lieutenant Governor, State Treasurer, and Secretary of State.

There will be crucial Congressional races, with two swing districts.

And there’s the fight to prevent state legislative GOP supermajorities.

So it’s go time.

We’re spending this summer organizing, communicating, and building infrastructure statewide—but that’s only possible with your help to sustain our year-round work to elect Democrats up and down the ticket.
secure.actblue.com/donate/mayeom2…

In June, we’ll have our state convention, where we’ll gather Dems from across the state to conduct party business and hear from the terrific candidates and our Democratic leaders. We’ll continue our communications & digital operations to define right-wing radicalism in Wisconsin.

And of course, we’ll keep organizing all throughout the summer months—in fact, our superb statewide organizing team just had their Week of Action this month to activate new volunteers and engage voters in every corner of the state.

https://twitter.com/WisDems/status/1529100655893401600

All of this work sets us up perfectly to come out of our August primary strong, with our Democratic nominee for Senate—and find out the Republican challenger to Gov Evers. Help us get there by chipping in and meet our goal by midnight tonight:
secure.actblue.com/donate/mayeom2…

The brutality and extremism of the far right can feel exhausting and overwhelming. It’s vital for all of us, especially those most targeted by the right, to take care of ourselves and the communities that nourish us.

And it’s equally vital to carry the fight forward. The only way to curb this era of Republican extremism is to make it fail politically. As we head into summer, our goal is to keep pushing it to the limit—because this season is one stepping stone to victory in November & beyond.

So please chip in what you can to help us keep the fight going. Our goal is $6k by May end-of-month. That’s midnight TONIGHT!

And please help spread the word on what exactly we’re fighting for—by sharing this thread and donation link:
secure.actblue.com/donate/mayeom2…

If you’ve chipped in today (any amount!) before our midnight goal, will you please let me know below? I want to personally thank you.

Our teams are connecting with voters all across Wisconsin—well before November. This takes a lot of resources and we couldn’t do it without you.

This is true: Tomorrow’s the deadline for candidate nomination signatures here in Wisconsin.

Across the state, our organizers have been supporting candidates who are ready to fight for our families. Chip in before our midnight deadline to help keep it up!

https://twitter.com/AydenRomer/status/1531751541509611520

We just hit 63% to our goal!

We’re up against a big fundraising deadline in about 5 hours—with the November election in about 5 months. Help pump up our year-round, grassroots organizing program. Any amount makes a difference: wisdems.org/battleground

Self-serving millionaire Ron Johnson is in the U.S. Senate to help himself—not Wisconsinites.

@WisDems is ready to expose and fire jet-setting Johnson this November. Chip in here before our midnight $6k deadline to help us do it: wisdems.org/battleground

https://twitter.com/benwikler/status/1531685233497624578

🚨 4 HOURS TILL MIDNIGHT DEADLINE: Tomorrow is the deadline for candidates to submit their nomination signatures in Wisconsin. It’s all happening fast.

Early investment can make or break our chances. Help us hit our goal tonight to win in November: secure.actblue.com/donate/mayeom2…

If you’re not able to give today, please still share my thread that outlines two key races in Wisconsin that will shape the future of American democracy: (1) our gubernatorial race; and (2) our Senate race.

Retweets & quote-tweets really go a long way in sharing our mission.

Our program in 2020 relied on grassroots supporters chipping in $5, $20 at a time to hire organizers, build infrastructure & support inspiring candidates.

We need to do it again.

Chip in whatever you can:

https://twitter.com/mcc51/status/1531721029457952769

NEW GOAL ALERT:

HUGE thanks to grassroots supporters like you, reading this, we hit our initial goal about an hour ago! 👏

So we upped it to $7k. And we're just $302 shy of reaching it. Keep sharing and chipping in—we're almost there!

https://twitter.com/benwikler/status/1531825784297496581

The difference is clear: while the WisGOP is a dumpster fire in their primary for governor (see more in thread), Wisconsin Democrats are united to reelect Gov Evers.

Help keep the momentum (we hit our first goal of the day!)—Chip in here before midnight: wisdems.org/battleground

⏰ LESS THAN 1 HOUR TO MIDNIGHT: Our new goal is to raise $7k before the FEC deadline to put us in a great spot for this fall!

We’ve seen what we can do when we mobilize together. Can you chip in?

Then, RT/quote-tweet this thread to share! wisdems.org/battleground

WOW: I am so humbled to announce that we hit our “reach” goal of $7,000 before our midnight deadline— even surpassed it by 7%!

Thank you so much for chipping in to ensure that Wisconsin remains a firewall for American democracy. So grateful to be in this with you.

If you’re reading this now and didn’t get to chip in before midnight, it’s not too late to support our work to elect strong Democrats here in Wisconsin.

If you’d like to be one of our first donors in June to start the month off right, join us here! wisdems.org/battleground