Jack, did you see David's email from earlier in the week?

Running a campaign is never easy. Campaigns are long, stressful, and expensive—and, right now, campaigns are having to rewrite their plans as the coronavirus pandemic upends American life.

Wisconsin has an election coming up for a state Supreme Court seat that pits an archconservative against a true progressive. Daily Kos has endorsed progressive Jill Karofsky in the race and we're raising money for the Democratic Party of Wisconsin to make sure they have everything they need to contact voters and get out the vote in the midst of this crisis. Can you chip in $5 right now to help them out?

Thank you,
Michael Langenmayr, Daily Kos

P.S. Check out David's email below to learn more about the race and the workload the Democratic Party of Wisconsin has to deal with right now.

Jack, we know this is a terribly difficult time for all Americans, but there's one thing that we absolutely cannot shut down: our democracy. That's why we're asking for your help with an extremely high-stakes election for the Wisconsin Supreme Court coming up on April 7.

The battle lines are clear: Progressive Judge Jill Karofsky, a longtime advocate for victims and the choice of top Wisconsin Democrats and Daily Kos, is facing off against ultra-conservative incumbent Dan Kelly, a conservative dreamboat who was hand-picked by none other than ex-Gov. Scott Walker. This race will determine whether we can shrink the wide 5-2 conservative majority on the state Supreme Court down to a narrow 4-3 edge—and set us up to flip the court down the line.

But running a campaign in the midst of a pandemic is, in a word, tough. And it just got a lot tougher: Wisconsin's governor recently issued a "stay at home" order for the entire state, meaning that the only realistic way for most people to vote will be by absentee ballot.

Can you give $3 to help with Get Out The Vote efforts via absentee ballot in Wisconsin? Click here now if you can.

The good news is that Wisconsin allows every voter to request an absentee ballot, no excuse required. The bad news is that waging a battle that's focused on absentee votes is putting a huge and unexpected burden on Karofsky and her allies. The usual Get Out The Vote tools, like door-knocking and giving voters rides to the polls, are completely unusable. Instead, Karofsky's supporters now have to:

Identify which voters—in a state with 3.3 million of them—are likely to support Karofsky
Contact each of them to encourage them to request absentee ballots
Follow up to make sure they've requested their ballots
Follow up again to make sure they've gotten their ballots
And follow up one more time to remind them to vote for Karofsky—and make sure they've filled out and returned their ballots

That's a ton of work, and time is very limited, since the deadline to request an absentee ballot is just a week away.

That's why we're asking if you can rush a $3 contribution to the Wisconsin Democratic Party, which is putting 100% of the money we raise for them toward their Supreme Court election efforts. You can help ASAP if you click here.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court has the power to put the brakes on the GOP's entire extremist agenda—everything from voter suppression to gerrymandering to attacks on LGBTQ rights to attacks on reproductive rights to ignoring climate change to you name it. With an unfettered conservative majority, it'll greenlight everything Republicans want to do. But Karofsky can help rein in the court and put us in a position to win a majority the next time another conservative justice's seat is up.

We know you have so many things to worry about right now. We do, too. That's why we're so grateful to you for taking the time to read this—and taking decisive action to keep our democracy working.

Sincerely,
David Nir
Political Director, Daily Kos

Daily Kos, PO Box 70036, Oakland, CA, 94612.