The best defense is a good offense.
That idea is central to our strategy for making a difference in this year's elections. With the stakes being so high in a presidential election year, it's easy to overlook the many other crucial races whose outcomes will do so much to determine the direction of our government and the future of our state and country.
We're in the midst of a pandemic and infections are surging in Wisconsin, but the state legislature hasn't lifted a finger in over five months. It hasn't even met, much less done anything about this public health crisis. Republicans control both houses, with a 5-member majority in the state senate and a whopping 29-seat majority in the assembly.
You know how Republicans have done everything in their power to block every step Governor Tony Evers has sought to take to deal with the pandemic, how they've obstructed pretty much everything else he's tried to accomplish, and actively sought to strip him of his powers. The governor still has his veto power. They want to nullify that too. Republicans are three wins away in each house from having veto-proof supermajorities in Wisconsin. That's their goal. Democratic legislative leaders and the party establishment are responding by playing defense. They are focusing their election efforts on protecting the few seats they already hold in the legislature instead of going on the offensive and aiming to flip seats currently held by Republicans. They call it their Save the Veto campaign.
That's all well and good. But like I said, the best defense is a good offense. While the party establishment prioritizes defending their own incumbents even though they are deeply in the minority in both houses, Our Wisconsin Revolution is emphasizing efforts to unseat Republican legislators, with a particular focus on key pivot regions of our state where Barack Obama won in 2008 and 2012 but Donald Trump won in 2016. Not a single one of our endorsed candidates currently holds the seat they are seeking to win. Between now and November 3, there is a great deal you can do to help us help them. Please sign up to help give these candidates a boost.
Insiders scoff at the chances of these challengers upsetting Republican incumbents. They say the radical gerrymandering of legislative districts done by Republicans in 2011 all but guarantees GOP victories in these elections. It's true, partisan redistricting makes these races extremely difficult to win. Difficult, but not impossible. Instead of writing off these elections as the Democratic establishment has done, we went all in and are doing everything we can to support these candidates. Many of them haven't been getting support from their own party. But they have our full support. Help us help them.
We like their chances much better than the insiders do. As Election Day fast approaches, Republican leaders are now conceding that their hopes for winning veto-proof majorities in the legislature are fading. Some of the races that were considered all but guaranteed GOP victories are now seen as toss-ups. The surest sign is the big money being poured into races for what the political establishment thought were safe Republican seats to savagely attack our endorsed candidates. I think there are going to be some surprises in legislative elections around the state.
Help us make the final push that can make these surprises happen.
We've got our shoulder to the wheel, pushing as hard as we can to the finish line on November 3rd. On Tuesday we held an online get-out-the-vote rally. People from every part of the state and from several other states around the country were on this Zoom call. More than 2,400 people attended via the livestream of the event on Facebook.
But making this final push to influence the outcome of the elections is not all we're doing. The candidates we're backing are bold progressives who are not afraid to raise their voices in support of needed policies like Medicare for All, a Green New Deal, a $15 an hour minimum wage, cannabis legalization, and much more. Every day we add our voices to theirs. The online news site Urban Milwaukee just published an op-ed of mine about Amy Coney Barrett's nomination to the Supreme Court, and the Janesville Gazette published another about signs of rising fascism in our country.
We're also busy making plans for after the election. We've got a Climate Action Town Hall coming up on November 21 and hope you will join us for that.
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