Ben Wikler wanted to lead the Democratic Party after his party’s disastrous 2024. But Wikler, the former Wisconsin Democratic chair, may ultimately help Democrats even more with his new book: This Is the Plan: How to End America’s Meltdown and Save Democracy. Equal parts memoir, political history and how-to guide, Wikler does what Democrats desperately need — he grabs them by the proverbial lapels and demands they pay as much attention to their structural and long-term challenges as they do Donald Trump’s latest outburst. He also has some fun along the way. You may not agree with all his proposals. Some run the risk of deepening the cynicism he wants to thwart. But Wikler, who as a youthful Democrat was shaped by the 2010 Republican wave and subsequent effort by Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker to neutralize public unions, grasps what too many of the hobbyist class in his party miss. Namely that while presidential elections and the biennial battle for Congress matter, Democrats will not attain enduring power unless they get serious about down-ballot elections. In our conversation, Wikler and I discussed what about his party literally makes him nauseous, how “trifecta” is slowly moving from a horseracing term to a staple of the political nerd lexicon and how 2030 is the year that Democrats should actually be worried about. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Your book talks about Wisconsin history and the Wisconsin present a great deal. What does this governor's primary in Wisconsin tell us about your party — and your party in this cycle? The Democratic Party of Wisconsin is neutral in primaries resolutely; it doesn't put its thumb on the scale. It works to prepare the general election grassroots organizing army for whoever becomes the nominee, and then it locks in with the nominee to fight through the finish. And right now, we have this playing out in a very vivid way. There's a highly contested five-way primary for governor. There are big differences in message and approach between different candidates. We don't know how it's going to play out. What we do know is that the day after the primary, we're going to have a network of neighbor-to-neighbor organizers in every community in Wisconsin, in every county, in every small town, in every big city and suburb that are going to be ready to go to ensure that the nominee can… [TheTopNews] Read More.
3 weeks ago
