#ben wikler

Wisconsin is a state which elects its Supreme Court justices. An election for a seat on Wisconsin's highest court is being held on Tuesday April 1st. Despite the date, it's no joke.

Unelected foreign bureaucrat Elon Musk is pouring millions of dollars into the campaign of MAGA judge Brad Schimel. Democrats in Wisconsin are supporting pro-America and pro-democracy Judge Susan Crawford.

Wisconsin Democratic Chair Ben Wikler explains in the video above (recorded over a week ago) why this election is crucial.

Technically this is a non-partisan election, but only in the sense that the candidates don't have party labels on the ballots. This election is essentially Elon Putz vs. Democracy.

Signs like these are popping up in Wisconsin.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court has made key rulings on abortion, gerrymandering, and LGBTQ rights. A MAGA Brad Schimel on the court could reverse years of progress.

If you live in or near Wisconsin, your help in electing Susan Crawford is essential. Don't let Elon Musk buy the courts of Wisconsin.

Judge Susan Crawford for Wisconsin Supreme Court

Early voting starts on Tuesday March 18th and Election Day is exactly two weeks later. There's no time to waste.

There is no such thing as an unimportant election and this one is more important than most state elections.

BONUS HISTORY: Democrats won the last Wisconsin Supreme Court election in 2023. With a good turnout, Democrats win in Wisconsin.

Joan E. Greve at The Guardian:

Ken Martin, chair of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor party, won the crowded race to become the next chair of the Democratic National Committee on Saturday. The move provides Martin with a powerful perch to determine the messaging and trajectory of a party that is still reeling from its extensive losses in the November election and confronting four more years of Donald Trump’s leadership. Martin managed to win a majority of support from the committee’s voting members, who convened in National Harbor, Maryland, on Saturday to fill several key leadership roles. Martin won outright on the first ballot, capturing 246.5 votes of the 428 ballots cast; his closest competitor – Ben Wikler, chair of the Wisconsin Democratic party – won 134.5 votes on the first ballot. “Thank you to the DNC members who have put their faith in my vision for our party,” Martin said in his victory speech. “We’re going to get to work. We’re going to fight; we’re going to go out there and take this fight to Donald Trump and the Republicans, and we’re going to fight for working people again in this party.” A longtime state leader with extensive ties within the Democratic National Committee, Martin inherits a party that appears disillusioned and despondent in the wake of Trump’s victory. The outgoing chair, Jaime Harrison of South Carolina, chose not to seek re-election after the party lost not only the White House but both chambers of Congress in the November elections. Martin emerged victorious from a crowded field of candidates that largely agreed on the major structural and reputational challenges facing the Democratic party as Trump begins his second term in the White House. Most chair candidates emphasized the need to reconnect with the working-class Americans who have moved sharply to the right and to find more effective means of communicating their values to voters. Martin’s supporters touted his victory as a promising first step to rebuilding the party and winning back young and working-class communities, where Trump made strong inroads in November. Martin’s first major test will come next year, as Democrats attempt to regain control of the House of Representatives, where Republicans currently hold a narrow advantage. “Ken Martin leading the DNC is a big step to building a party that can energize young voters and working-class voters so that we can defeat the far-right,” said Stevie O’Hanlon, political director of the youth climate group Sunrise Movement. “Under Ken Martin, the Minnesota DFL won a trifecta and immediately pursued a populist agenda that should have set a model for Democrats nationally.” But Wikler’s supporters expressed severe disappointment over his loss, framing Martin’s victory as the perpetuation of a dangerous status quo that would further damage the Democratic party’s brand with voters.

Vote tally, via Steve Morris (stevemorris__):

Ken Martin - 246.5 🥇 Ben Wikler - 134.5 Martin O'Malley - 44 Abstain - 4 Faiz Shakir - 2 Jason Paul - 1

Ken Martin of Minnesota has been elected to be the next chair of the DNC, besting Ben Wikler of Wisconsin and Martin O’Malley of Maryland.

Martin got 246.5 votes, enough to snag the DNC Chair spot. Coming in 2nd is Wikler with 134.5, and coming in 3rd, reprising his distant 3rd placed finish in the 2016 primaries, is O’Malley with 44. #DNCChair

See Also:

Ben Wikler is one of the most effective Democrats in the US. He is an engineer of undoing the political rigging of Wisconsin by Republicans.

Thanks in great part to Ben's leadership, Wisconsin has a Democratic governor, a Democratic majority on the state's supreme court, and a legislature which has been de-gerrymandered and now has a 50-50 chance of flipping to Dems this year.

Ben talked with Jon Stewart about how this turnabout in his state took place.

When that turnabout was being threatened by the world's only trillionaire, Wisconsin Dems took on Elon Musk and kicked his apartheid butt bigtime. Musk's defeat was so brutal that the 2025 Wisconsin Supreme Court election marked the beginning of the end of DOGE in the Trump administration.

Share this video with people who are serious about doing in their states what happened in Wisconsin.

To take back America, we need to un-rig the system. That starts with taking a much greater interest in state politics – regardless of state.

Successful politics starts with talking with people one on one. Old school urban political machines worked because they centered around networks of precinct workers. More recently, Zohran Mamdani got elected mayor largely because he had thousands of campaign workers who went out and interacted with neighbors one at a time. TV commercials and social media ads won't save us – but you can.

We also need to devote MUCH more attention to the process of politics. Republicans are laser-focused on process while Dems obsess over policy. The late Democratic Rep. John Dingell of Michigan was successful because he understood the power of process. He famously declared...

“If I let you write the substance and you let me write the procedure, I’ll screw you every time.”

To repeatedly win at politics, become more of a process nerd.

If you are interested in emulating Ben Wikler's Wisconsin success, check out his book just out today (July 21st).

This Is The Plan: How to End America's Meltdown and Save Democracy

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer has endorsed Wisconsin Democrat Ben Wikler to become head of the Democratic National Committee.

Wikler is head of the Wisconsin Democratic Party. Together with Gov. Tony Evers he has reinvigorated the state party over the past 6+ years.

As he vies to lead the Democratic National Committee, Wisconsin Democratic Party Chair Ben Wikler has gained an endorsement from the top Democrat in the U.S. Senate. In a statement Thursday morning, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York, hailed Wikler as “one of the best state party chairs in the country” and said he’s “what Democrats need right now” on a national level. “Ben possesses all the qualities Democrats across the country are looking for in our next DNC Chair,” Schumer said. “He’s a tenacious organizer — one of the best organizers in the country — a proven fundraiser, a sharp communicator, and able to reach out to all segments of the Democratic Party. Most importantly, he knows how to win.” Wikler has chaired the Democratic Party of Wisconsin since 2019. Before that he worked as a senior advisor and Washington director at the progressive advocacy group MoveOn.org.

I'm a big fan of Wikler and so is Jon Stewart. In case you missed Jon's conversation with Ben a few weeks ago...

In a somewhat unusual move, Ben has a site for his DNC campaign. If any candidates in previous contests have had similar sites then I'm unaware of it.

Ben Wikler for DNC Chair

He even has a campaign slogan: UNITE. FIGHT. WIN.

The DNC chair is elected by the 400+ members of the Democratic National Committee. To support Ben, look up who the chairs of your state party are and contact them. You can also contact Jaime Harrison, the outgoing DNC chair, who has a major say in who succeeds him.

Ben Wikler should be the next head of the Democratic National Committee. He is currently head of the party in Wisconsin where Dems have turned things around in the past six years by getting back to basics.

Watching the vid above will be one of the most pleasant political things you have done in the past few weeks. Wikler even impressed Jon Stewart who was almost getting orgasmic from his guest's comments.

Democrats have relied way too much on virtual things like online ads and analytics and have badly neglected in-person, on the ground reachout to voters. We need to stop talking at people and start listening to people – and not just those in deep blue bunkers.

Robert Tait at The Guardian:

As Republicans prepare to seize the reins of power in Washington, a low-profile race to head the Democrats’ national governing body is being flagged up as the first milestone on the party’s agonising road to electoral recovery.

Two middle-aged men from the northern midwest have been tipped as frontrunners to succeed the outgoing Jaime Harrison as chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), a post from which the groundwork for the recapture of Congress and the White House is expected to be undertaken. They are Ken Martin, 51, of Minnesota and Ben Wikler, 43, of Wisconsin, both leaders of the Democrats in their respective states. The DNC will elect its new leader on 1 February. Neither appears to have generated widespread excitement, according to party elders, and only Wikler has attracted the endorsement of a leading Democrat. Chuck Schumer, the Democratic minority leader in the Senate, has thrown his support behind Wikler. “Had Kamala [Harris] or [Joe] Biden made a call and said, ‘Look, we want to rally around X, Y and Z,’ I may have taken an interest in someone,” Donna Brazile, a veteran DNC member and previous interim party chair, told the New York Times. “Other than giving state parties more resources, which is as old as the Republic itself, I haven’t heard anything new.”

Her comment was an apparent reference to Martin’s campaign platform of returning power to the state parties. Martin’s supporters have assailed Wikler as a representative of wealthy Democratic donors and party consultants in Washington. Schumer has called Wikler as a “tenacious organiser”, “proven fundraiser” and “sharp communicator. “Ben has what Democrats need right now – proven results – and that’s why I’m backing Ben,” Schumer said. Wikler’s state, Wisconsin, was one of seven key battlegrounds that Harris narrowly lost to Trump in November’s election, despite a concerted push to capture its 10 electoral votes. One of the new chair’s roles will be to set rules for the 2028 presidential primary contest, when the Democrats will chose a nominee to try and recapture the White House.