Dear Indivisibles,
It’s been two days since the Wisconsin Supreme Court primary, and now that
most of the votes have been counted, we want to dive into the results and
talk about what comes next for the general election in April.
For starters, Tuesday was a huge night. Voter turnout was over 20%,
beating the February primary record set in 2020 (a presidential election
year!). Janet Protasiewicz came out on top, winning over 46% of the vote
in a four-way race. Indivisibles played a huge role in delivering these
results. You knocked on thousands of doors, sent nearly 150,000 texts, and
now we’re one step closer to flipping the court for the first time in
fifteen years.
Who we’re up against
MAGA candidate Dan Kelly came in second place on Tuesday and will also
advance to the general election. He’s a former state supreme court justice
with a laundry list of extremist positions and offensive statements. He’s
been a vocal opponent of marriage equality and has even compared
affirmative action and social security to slavery.
Kelly has been endorsed by the most extreme anti-abortion groups in the
state, including the Pro-Life Wisconsin PAC which wants to ban abortion
with zero exceptions and also ban contraception.
Kelly also poses a serious threat to voting rights and democracy. He
defended the gerrymandered districts passed by the Republican legislature
and would almost certainly uphold the rigged maps put in place by the
current conservative court majority. After the 2020 election, he was paid
by the Republican National Committee to advise on the MAGA fake elector
scheme to overthrow the presidential election results.
With key cases coming before the Supreme Court on abortion rights and
election integrity, it’s crucial we keep him as far away from the bench as
possible.
What happens next
The general election is on April 4, and while Judge Protasiewicz pulled
off a huge overperformance on Tuesday, we’re not taking anything for
granted. In the last 20 years, multiple Supreme Court candidates have won
the primary and gone on to lose the general election. In one case, liberal
candidates collectively won the primary by 21 points, and then a
conservative candidate ended up winning the general by 2 points. That’s a
23-point swing that we cannot allow to repeat in this race.
MAGA Republicans in Wisconsin have relied on the state Supreme Court to
uphold their extreme agenda, and they won't let go of their majority
without a fight. Dan Kelly already has the backing of billionaire
megadonors who are pouring millions of dollars into this race, putting it
on track to become the most expensive judicial election in US history.
Thanks to the support of our grassroots donors, we’re hitting the ground
running and rolling out new programs to mobilize voters for the general
election, including peer-to-peer texting, radio ads, thousands of
postcards, and more. (You can find more details on our plans for the
general election in the email below).
[ [link removed] ]And if you haven’t donated
yet, please consider pitching in here[ [link removed] ]. Plenty of groups have signed up
to send postcards and help flip the court -- more groups than we have
postcards for! Your contribution will help us match the energy of
volunteers and ensure they have everything they need to get out the vote.
There’s just six weeks before the general election, and we’ve already
shown our grassroots organizing can have a huge impact in this race. Let’s
keep this momentum going and flip the court in Wisconsin!
In solidarity,
Indivisible Team
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Indivisible Team
Date: Tue, Feb 21, 2023
Subject: ✅ Judge Janet Protasiewicz WINS! Now let’s flip the Wisconsin
Supreme Court.
Dear Indivisibles,
Great news: Judge Janet Protasiewicz just WON HER PRIMARY in Wisconsin and
is headed to the general where she’ll have a chance to flip the Supreme
Court in the “most important election in America in 2023.”^[1]
[ [link removed] ]GIF of Judge Janet Protasiewicz
Indivisibles like you played a huge role in this victory, doing something
almost no other group in the country did: We had thousands of
conversations with Wisconsin voters about why they should vote for Judge
Protasiewicz. Wisconsin Indivisibles knocked doors while volunteers across
the country sent nearly 150,000 texts.
All of it was funded by generous support from members of this movement who
understand just what’s at stake in this election: the future of abortion
rights in Wisconsin, voting rights in a key battleground state heading in
2024, the fate of gerrymandered maps that virtually guarantee perpetual
Republican control of the legislature. And oh yeah -- in the event of a
contested election next year, this court could determine the winner of the
presidential election.
Whether those decisions are made by a court with an activist, MAGA
majority or a liberal, pro-democracy majority comes down to the result of
the April election. It comes down to whether Janet Protasiewicz wins or
loses.
[ [link removed] ]That’s why we’re not wasting a second in getting back to work. That’s
why we’re asking you to chip in, right now, to help us flip the Wisconsin
Supreme Court this April.
If you haven’t donated yet because you didn’t want to take a side between
the liberal judges in the primary, we understand -- and we’re asking you
to make your first donation today. If you’ve already chipped in to help
secure this primary victory, we thank you. And we’re asking you to donate
once more, if you can, to get our general election programs up and
running.
[ [link removed] ]DONATE >>
We take no pleasure in telling you that this race is expected to be the
most expensive judicial contest in US history. Right-wing groups have
already spent millions trying to lock out liberal candidates and secure a
total victory in the primary.
Thanks in part to our grassroots efforts, they failed. And it’ll be
grassroots organizing that helps us overcome all that right-wing spending
in April.
Because this work is volunteer-driven, we don’t need to raise millions
over the next few months. But we DO need your help to get these programs
fully funded:
📱 IndivisiTexting - For about $6,000, we can text 170,000 Wisconsin voters
with messages persuading them to turn out for Janet Protasiewicz. And
we’re trying something unique this election -- we’re targeting likely
voters and asking them to have conversations with other members of their
households. One text could equal 5 or more votes!
📬 Postcards - For $10,000 we can get about 11,000 postcards into the hands
of Indivisible groups to send to voters in Wisconsin.
📻 Radio Ad - In our last email, we asked you to vote on our next tactic,
and Indivisibles resoundingly said that -- if we can raise $10,000 to fund
it -- we should run radio ads aimed at turning out votes and recruiting
new Indivisible volunteers across Wisconsin.
💸 And finally, we want to provide direct financial support to Indivisible
groups in Wisconsin. These groups are putting in long hours to secure
victory in April and build local power that can help us win crucial races
in 2024 (with implications for the House, Senate and Presidency).
We’re celebrating tonight, but tomorrow we want to get to work starting up
as many of these programs as we can.
[ [link removed] ]If you have the capacity to chip in (or chip in again) to help win the
most important election of 2023, please make a donation here.
If you've saved your information with ActBlue Express Lane, your donation
to Indivisible Action will go through immediately:
[ [link removed] ]Donate $7 >>
[ [link removed] ]Donate $25 >>
[ [link removed] ]Donate $50 >>
[ [link removed] ]Donate $75 >>
[ [link removed] ]Donate another amount >>
We’re so grateful to everyone in this movement for making tonight
possible. And with your help, we look forward to celebrating the even
bigger victory when we flip the court this April.
In solidarity,
Indivisible Team
^[1] [ [link removed] ]A Colossal Off-Year Election in Wisconsin, by Reid J. Epstein.
New York Times, 1/16/23.
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