18 days.

18 days until polls close in the primary—and we know our Democratic Senate nominee, our 3rd CD nominee, the GOP’s nominee for Governor, and the candidates for so many other offices. 

It’s been intense for a long time. But it’s about to get even wilder.

The good news is that we’re ready. In the 548 days since Joe Biden was sworn in, we’ve never stopped organizing, we’ve never stopped communicating, and we’ve never stopped doing our utmost to protect the vote and defend our democracy. 

From the tremendous Democratic Party presence at Farm Tech Days in Clark County earlier this month to a constant string of events organized by our Coalitions team in partnership with our Caucuses, to county and CD parties and neighborhood teams hitting the gas, to an online presence that runs laps around the WisGOP’s, we’re making clear to voters across our state that we don’t write anyone—or anywhere—off, and we don’t take anyone for granted. 

 As a result, whoever comes out of the Senate and other primaries isn’t going to be trying to build the plane as they fly it—they’re going to be jumping into the cockpit of a fully-constructed spaceship ready to blast off the launchpad. 

 If you’ve been pouring yourself into this work full-tilt for this whole election cycle—thank you. 

 If you took a breather, now is the time to jump back in.

 If you’ve been working to help a candidate in a primary, good luck on August 9—and please get ready to ensure that, win or lose, all of the folks you’ve been working for are ready to pour just as much energy and determination into the general election.

We’ve got a lot to do in these 18 days—very much including the Weekend of Action over the next two days. Sign up for a door-knocking shift here! And then it’ll be time to come together as a party and blast off. The polls reflect what we’re all feeling: the Supreme Court’s attack on reproductive freedom, the January 6 Committee hearings, and all of the ultra-extreme right-wing attacks on our communities are raising the stakes. Turnout could be massive—on both sides. We’ve got work to do. We’re up to the job. 

In solidarity, 

Ben 

PS: Tons of national and in-state press are going to be covering elections up and down the ticket with a tremendous degree of scrutiny. If a reporter contacts you, please start by emailing press@wisdems.org so our party’s communications team can support you on next steps and has visibility on what stories are in the works. Flag it to our team before you talk to a reporter. Journalists understand that you’re busy; you can tell them you can’t talk right away, and fire off that email. Especially in the critical moments just before and after the primary, ensuring that we’re all singing from the same hymnbook is essential. Thanks for your mindfulness about this! 

FIGHT

Gov. Tony Evers and Attorney General Josh Kaul visited La Crosse this week to announce the filing of a new lawsuit against more than 15 PFAS polluters – including multinational conglomerates 3M, DuPont and Chemours. The new suit seeks reimbursement for the nearly $1 billion spent cleaning up PFAS in communities across the state, and alleges the defendant companies knew or should have known about the dangers of PFAS – also known as “forever chemicals.”

Read more from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Voters Rally Against Ron Johnson’s Attacks on Abortion During “Defend Choice” Week of Action

On Tuesday, as part of a national “Defend Choice” week of action, state Representatives Gordon Hintz and Kristina Shelton joined Wisconsin voters outside of Ron Johnson’s Oshkosh office to protest the senator’s attacks on abortion rights and Wisconsinites’ ability to make their own medical decisions.

Johnson has spent years undermining reproductive rights and last week bragged about his role in overturning Roe v. Wade and stripping abortion access from Wisconsinites.

Watch the full event online here.

Tim Michels and the GOP Look Backward on LGBTQ+ Rights

This week, the U.S. House of Representatives voted on the Respect for Marriage Act, which would codify same-sex marriage. If passed into law, the legislation would protect marriage equality for millions after the Supreme Court’s appalling Dobbs ruling. Nearly every Wisconsin Republican in Congress voted against this legislation.

In Wisconsin, radical Republican gubernatorial candidate Tim Michels has supported a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage and has reiterated his belief that “marriage should be between a man and a woman.” Michels has repeatedly dodged journalists and bent over backwards to avoid answering questions about his radical views on protecting marriage equality.

This isn’t Michels first rodeo — he ran for the U.S. Senate in 2004 touting the same discriminatory views about marriage equality and LGBTQ+ rights. In that run, Michels made inflammatory comments that he doesn’t believe LGTBQ+ people should “bring it out of [the] house” and that people shouldn’t have “gay values” imposed upon them.

Wisconsin Republicans are living in the past by supporting a constitutional ban on marriage equality. Support for marriage equality has steadily increased in recent years, and according to an April 2022 Marquette Law School poll, 72% of Wisconsinites support same-sex marriage. By partisan group, 82% of Independents and 58% of Republicans now support same-sex marriage.