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ACTION: Stop Elon Musk From Buying Wisconsin's Government [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2025-02-20

Elon Musk donated $1.6 million to the Republican candidate in the Wisconsin Supreme Court race. The election is in April. As the New York Times put it in this podcast (How Democracy Itself Ended Up on the Ballot in Wisconsin gift link), democracy itself is on the ballot. I will explain, but first - my ask to you is to donate $5-10 to Democrat Susan Crawford if you are able, phone bank, or plan to canvass immediately before the election.

Here are the details:

Wisconsin is a purple state. The voters are about 50/50 Democrat and Republican. Republicans gerrymandered the place up so that approximately 70% of Wisconsinites were represented by Republicans in both the state and federal legislatures.

Source: Ballotpedia

As you can see, after Republicans gained control of the state legislature in 2010, they gerrymandered state senate districts until they held a veto proof two-thirds majority in 2022.

In the state assembly, gerrymandering ultimately resulted in a 35-64 Republican majority.

Source: 538

And they did the same in U.S. congressional districts. They packed all of the Democrats into two districts in Milwaukee and Dane county, so that the rest of the state would elect Republicans.

Princeton's gerrymandering project gives Wisconsin a failing grade.

In 2018, after eight years of Republican Governor Scott Walker, Democrat Tony Evers won for governor. With such a large Republican majority in the state legislature, Republicans welcomed Evers into office by voting to take away some of the governor's power.

If you looked at the tables of state senate and state assembly seats, you will notice a change in 2024. Instead of a vetoproof two thirds majority, State Senate Republicans now only hold a majority by 3 seats. In the State Assembly, ten seats changed hands from Republicans to Democrats in 2024. How did that happen? In a word, the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

Prior to 2023, Republicans held the majority on the state supreme court. Officially, supreme court seats are nonpartisan - but that is, of course, a thinly veiled fiction. State supreme court elections occur in off-year April elections for I don't know what reason. As a result, the electorate is small, and it does not take too many people to swing it. While Republicans held the supreme court, they upheld the gerrymandering that gave Republicans a legislative advantage.

In 2023, when the state was still reeling from Dobbs, a Democrat was able to win a seat from a Republican. This flipped the majority on the state supreme court, and the newly constituted supreme court forced redistricting in a state legislative districts. That is why so many state leg seats flipped from red to blue in 2024 even as the majority in Wisconsin voted for Trump. Republicans held majority's in both the state senate and assembly, but they did so more in proportion to the number of voters who actually wanted to elect Republicans.

Obviously Republicans do not like the even playing field they are now stuck with in Wisconsin. This April, they have another opportunity to win a Supreme Court seat. The world's richest man is now pouring money in to the state to put his thumb on the scale for the Republican. If we each kick in a few dollars, we can help give the Democrat the fighting chance she deserves to preserve democracy in the state. If you can't contribute financially - or even if you can - phone bank and/or canvass and spread the word.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/2/20/2304987/-ACTION-Stop-Elon-Musk-From-Buying-Wisconsin-s-Government?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=community_groups_Badger+State+Progressive&pm_medium=web

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