Wikler Wants Entire Country to be a Political Battleground Like Wisconsin

Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chair Ben Wikler wants to remake the national party in Wisconsin’s image, after what he considers to be an incredibly successful election cycle despite the state going for Trump. He announced his bid to become the next Chairman of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) on Sunday.

“We’ve been able to unite the party to fight in races down-ballot and up-ballot and to win beyond what a party should have been able to hope to win, even in some of the toughest conditions,” he told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Almost every state moved to the right during the election, but Wisconsin shifted less than most, for which Wikler wants to take credit. Wisconsin Democrats picked up 10 seats in the State Assembly, 2 seats in the State Senate, and held on to Tammy Baldwin’s US Senate seat. Of course, those gains in the state legislature were aided by gerrymandered maps that Gov. Evers and the liberal-controlled state supreme court pushed through. Republicans didn’t even run candidates in most of those races. Even with the Democrat gains, Republicans still control the Wisconsin Assembly and Senate, and they retained all six of their congressional races. As for Baldwin, Democrats won the Senate race in every battleground state except Pennsylvania, because of a highly coordinated and funded effort at the national level. Regardless, Wikler considers all of this to be personal wins.

Having been the state chair since 2019, Wikley also takes credit for Evers’ reelection win against Tim Michel’s phantom campaign and Janet Protasiewicz’s election to the state supreme court at a time when every pro-abortion candidate was surging. Timing has definitely been on Wikler’s side for years, and he never lets an opportunity slip without issuing a jarring statement. In 2022, when the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that absentee ballot drop boxes may be placed only in election offices and that no one other than the voter can return a ballot in person, Wikler called the move “a slap in the face of democracy itself.” Wikler has also placed the state party at the forefront of debates over social issues, including support for unprecedented LGBTQ+ rights and gender mutilation of children.

Wikler recognizes that political instability and disaffection is a winning combination for the Democrat Party. He not only wants the DNC to model itself after the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, but he also wants for the entire country to be in a perpetual campaign cycle just like in Wisconsin.

“That’s been our Wisconsin strategy,” Wikler told the Journal Sentinel. “I think that needs to be the national strategy, too.”

Wikler will face competition from former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley, Minnesota’s Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party Chairman Ken Martin, and New York State Senator James Skoufis, and likely a few more names. So far, he’s the only candidate that’s successfully led Democrats in a battleground state. That’s why many in Washington consider him a front-runner. As Fox News reported, his connections and organizational track record make him a leading candidate for the position.

The DNC is expected to elect its new chair on February 1 by 450 members at National Harbor, Maryland.