The long, dark night of ultra-partisan gerrymandering is over, and a new
day for democracy now dawns in the Badger State.
On Monday morning, a new set of state legislative maps were signed into
law for Wisconsin. These maps are graded "A" for fairness by the head of
the nonpartisan Princeton Gerrymandering Project. The current
Republican-drawn maps scored an F.
With the stroke of a pen, Wisconsin went from a "democracy desert" to,
well, a democracy. This was all possible because of you.
[ [link removed] ]I’m going to ask you to split a donation between the Democratic Party
of Wisconsin and the Progressive Change Campaign Committee so we can fight
to win these new, fairly drawn districts, but I want to tell you how we
got here:
Wisconsin’s gerrymandering crisis began in 2011, when Republican lawmakers
drew legislative lines that guaranteed even landslide election losses
wouldn’t cost them their majorities. The result was one of the most
egregious, extreme partisan gerrymanders in American political history.
In 2012 and 2018, Wisconsin voters overwhelmingly voted for Democratic
majorities in the legislature but Republicans won huge majorities of the
seats. In 2020 and 2022, Democrats won major statewide victories, but
Republicans won near-supermajorities in the legislature.
All the while, Republican politicians in Wisconsin have used their power
to restrict access to the ballot, remove authorities that voters had
entrusted to statewide elected officials like the Governor and Attorney
General, and smash the freedoms of workers to organize and advocate for
themselves.
For thirteen years, the democracy-proof legislature has been laying siege
to democracy itself.
But those statewide victories added up. In 2018, 2020, and 2023, voters
built a new progressive majority on the State Supreme Court. By electing
Governor Evers and preventing GOP supermajorities, they stopped even more
lopsided, hard-right maps from being signed into law. And last year, a
civic uprising prevented Republicans from impeaching Janet Protasiewicz –
our newest Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice. In December, that court ruled
that Wisconsin’s legislative maps were unconstitutional.
This wasn’t easy. Whether in Wisconsin or across the country, people have
had to knock on doors, call phones, chip in, share our views with friends
and online—year after year, election after election, never giving up even
when it felt like all was lost.
But we did it.
Today, the work doesn’t end. The candidate recruitment process now goes
into overdrive. Immediately after that, we have a lot of newly competitive
races to win. And at the same time, we remain vigilant in case Republican
politicians in Madison and their allies once again, through the courts or
any other strategy, attempt to thwart majority rule.
Today, we commit to doing the work, ending the malignant speakership of
Robin Vos, breaking the GOP supermajority in the State Senate, and paving
the way towards a Democratic state Senate majority in 2026.
There is a reason I call the PCCC a political force of nature, so I’d be
remiss if I didn’t ask. The number of competitive legislative seats will
triple so we’ll need triple the support, John. [ [link removed] ]Can you make
a split donation between the Wisconsin Democratic Party and the PCCC to
help us organize voters in every corner of Wisconsin where Democrats have
the chance to win?
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This is a story with millions of heroes. Supporters like you and the PCCC
are some of them. From all of us at the Democratic Party of Wisconsin,
please know you have our boundless gratitude.
In solidarity,
– Ben Wikler, WisDems Chair
Paid for by the Progressive Change Campaign Committee PAC (www.BoldProgressives.org) and not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee. Contributions to the PCCC are not deductible as charitable contributions for federal income tax purposes.Have you moved? Want to update your email address? Click below.
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