THREAD: If, in 54 days, Republicans win supermajorities in Wisconsin’s legislature, they’ll have the power to sabotage democracy in 2024. Ultra-gerrymandered maps + ultra-MAGA Republicans = danger. Read on—and help us raise $3k so we can beat them back.
https://t.co/ujloUaTJBE
Last week, I raised the alarm about the threat of GOP legislative supermajorities in Wisconsin with @chrislhayes. Here’s that @allinwithchris interview—if you have a sec, turn on the sound and check it out: https://t.co/PIpDUeasuO
Chris pointed out the obvious: Wisconsin is a 50/50 state. Biden won in 2020. We have a Democratic governor. How is it possible that Republicans are on the cusp of 2/3 supermajorities in the state legislature?
The answer: gerrymandering—helped by right-wing judges.
You can read the whole back story in this thread. The summary: Dem Gov Evers vetoed GOP ultra-gerrymandered maps. U.S. Supreme Court nixed better maps. So GOP-majority state Supreme Court chose… ultra-gerrymandered maps.
https://twitter.com/benwikler/status/1516867425362448388
As it stands, Republicans are just ONE seat short of a supermajority in the 33-member state Senate, and just five seats short in the 99-member Assembly. If the GOP had won 3,500 more votes in the right districts, they’d have the power to override vetoes at this moment.
Under the old maps, Republicans in Wisconsin could (and did) win huge majorities of legislative seats even while losing the popular vote for the state legislature. Under the new maps, it’s… at least as grim.
https://twitter.com/benwikler/status/1318318225218768907
The result: international observers describe Wisconsin, when it comes to our state legislature, as a “democracy desert.”
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/aug/13/america-is-full-of-democracy-deserts-wisconsin-rivals-congo-on-some-metrics
But as bad as it is now, it could get far worse. Because right now, we’ve got a Democratic governor, Tony Evers @Tony4WI, who now is our state’s record-holder for vetoes. He’s vetoed 128 bad GOP bills. And Democrats in the legislature have sustained those vetoes.
We’re going to reelect Governor Evers. But if the GOP wins supermajorities in the legislature, they’ll override his vetoes over the next four years—which means they’ll have the power to mangle our democracy.
If the GOP can rewrite election laws before 2024, it threatens American democracy as a whole—because Wisconsin was the tipping-point state in both of the last two presidential elections. Four of the last six presidential elections here came down to less than 1%.
In other words, if you don’t want the 2024 presidential election stolen, you’ve got to care about defeating MAGA Republicans in key Wisconsin state legislative elections.
Running for state legislature as a Democrat in a purple district in Wisconsin is an act of political bravery. And our candidates have guts to spare. They’re leading with values—freedom, common sense, and doing the right thing. Here are a few:
Kelly Westlund @kellywestlundWI is a proud progressive running in State Senate District 25 so she can fight for infrastructure investment and fully-funded public schools. She’s no stranger to the challenges facing rural communities. Put Kelly in.
https://kellywestlundforsenate.com/
State Senator Jeff Smith @JeffSmithDem represents SD31 in Western Wisconsin. He’s a tireless advocate for voting rights & broadband internet expansion and led the fight against gerrymandering in WI for two redistricting cycles—and will never stop fighting. https://www.togetherwithjeff.com/
On the Assembly side, we’ve got Clinton Anderson, who has served as president of the Beloit City Council and, in his day job, works with kids in need. He’s 28 and full of energy and ideas. Let’s elect him into the State Legislature.
https://www.clintonforassembly.com/
We have to reelect @WisDems 2nd Vice Chair, my friend Rep Lee Snodgrass @SnodgrassforWI in AD57. She’s passionate about health care, reproductive freedom, LGBTQ equality, access to the ballot, supporting the paper industry—and all things Fox Valley. Go Lee!http://votesnodgrass.com/
And there are community advocates like Laura Gapske @laura4assembly in AD73 in the North. She has 17+ years of experience working to end violence against women & children, knows health care is a human right, and knows public schools make our state strong. https://www.gapskeforassembly.com/
These are a few of the terrific state legislative candidates we’re supporting—whose victory is critical to ensuring that when second-term Governor Evers vetoes the next GOP election sabotage bill, it stays vetoed.
As a state party, we can work directly with state legislative candidates to ensure their victory in November. They’re on the front lines. Let’s have their backs.
Our candidates represent our values and values shared by the vast majority of Wisconsinites. And they’ve got a tall task: to prevent GOP supermajorities in the state legislature and ensure that politicians here don’t become 100% voter-proof.
The Republican Assembly speaker, Robin Vos, has shown that he’ll do almost anything to stay in Donald Trump’s good graces. If he has the power to throw 2024 to Trump, we have to expect him to do it. So we can’t grant him that power.
Our goal by midnight tonight is to raise $3,000. That may not seem like much, but meeting this goal today, right at mid-month, will help us stay on track to hit our end-of-quarter goal to ensure we can stop a Republican takeover of our democracy.
https://secure.actblue.com/donate/wisgoptakeover-sep2022?refcode=digital-social-bwt&amount=27
This fight will be intense and it will be close. 54 days isn’t very long, and the one thing we can’t get more of is time. Let’s make the most of every second, and let’s win.
Chip in here:
https://secure.actblue.com/donate/wisgoptakeover-sep2022?refcode=digital-social-bwt&amount=27
WOW: With 11 hours left till our mid-month deadline, we’re already halfway to our $3,000 goal! Thank you everyone for chipping in and sharing my thread. Keep donating, keep sharing—it makes a HUGE difference.
If you haven’t joined us yet, start here: http://wisdems.org/stop-gop
AND WE DID IT! More than 9 hours till midnight and we hit our goal for mid-month. THANK YOU! So now, our team is doubling our goal—to $6,000. Can we do it?!
54 days left. Let’s make every hour count.
Read and share my thread, then chip in! http://wisdems.org/stop-gop
HUGE! Thanks to your help, we’ve hit our second goal! 🙌 When I posted the thread this morning, I had no idea the support we’d receive for our mid-month deadline. Let’s keep it up!
We’re upping our goal to $10k—big stretch goal—can we hit it by midnight?! http://wisdems.org/stop-gop
3 HOURS LEFT: Till our mid-month deadline to raise $10k. It’s a stretch goal. We’re already 73% there.
In 54 days, we’re stopping GOP supermajorities in Wisconsin’s legislature and electing democracy defenders downballot. Chip in to help us do it: http://wisdems.org/stop-gop
By the way—if you chipped in today, please let me know! I want to thank you for helping us fund our organizing efforts all across the state.
And if you haven’t yet, it’s not too late to join us at http://wisdems.org/stop-gop.
We just hit $8,000! 👏
TWO HOURS LEFT! And we just crossed the $9k mark.
Did you know the path to saving American democracy in 2024 goes through Wisconsin’s state legislature this November? I lay it all out in my thread.
Help us elect Democrats running to stop a GOP takeover: http://wisdems.org/stop-gop
🚨 STATUS UPDATE: We officially hit $10k!
This was a big stretch goal for our September mid-month deadline. But in these final weeks before the election, every dollar counts. Thank you for pitching in what you could today to help elect amazing Democrats to our legislature. 💪