What Victory in Wisconsin Means for America
Dave, a reader in North Carolina, emailed me just after the midterms. I had written about the importance of enjoying and savoring a win, but Dave pointed out that, as a North Carolinian, it was difficult to celebrate. He wrote, “Our Senate candidate lost, as did all six Dem judges up for re-election. Thanks to redrawn maps, we are 7–7 in Congress, but we lost more state General Assembly seats and are now 1 seat from a Republican supermajority.” Dave is active politically and a super volunteer. I could feel the discouragement as I read his email. I tried to be encouraging in my response, but I understood exactly where he was coming from.
I thought about Dave’s email on Tuesday night as Janet Protasiewicz won her race for the Wisconsin Supreme Court by 11 points, flipping the court’s majority from right to left. I’ve been trying to put into words how much that victory means to me, for Wisconsin, and for the country, and days later, I still can’t. I lived and worked in Wisconsin politics from 2008–2011 and consulted on a few elections there in cycles since. It gave me a front-row seat to Scott Walker’s carnage as he turned the state into a laboratory for eroding rights and freedoms. For years my Wisconsin friends and former colleagues had similar feelings as Dave. They always kept fighting, but I know there were long stretches where they felt discouraged as well.
