STATEHOUSE ELECTIONS ALSO IN NATIONAL SPOTLIGHT

 By Dominique Paul Noth

In Wisconsin, we don’t have a statewide election on Nov. 3, just a series of littler ones, county by county and district by district.  Sen.  Ron Johnson should go to bed every night thanking his corporate gods that he is not on the ballot this year. Imagine how quickly he would be gone.  

I know there are still national worries that the state won’t go for Biden. I'm beyond that.  I’m even holding out hope that the Democrats may pick up a seat in the US House, knowing I’m mainly alone on that one. 

There’s a simple reason.  I know many who live in Wisconsin District 5.  They’re sort of neighbors if you live in Milwaukee County.  Many families moved into that district 40 or 50 years ago out of white flight from the city! Horrible reason. 

But some  families have grown up beyond that.  Certainly their children, some of them, have set bigotry aside.   I know many today who worry about their own children, about the environment, about basic fair treatment.

I just can’t believe in this age of covid-19 and a moderate Democratic governor, Tony Evers, trying to do  a few basic things to protect the people,  that ANYONE SANE would be voting for Scott Fitzgerald! Yes, even in a district that clung stubbornly to Jim Sensenbrenner, but he at least  could cough  up a few hairballs now and then  about civic rights. He was not quite the one-man blockade on the state social highway that Fitzgerald has become. 

Fitz is also a coward, hoping others will do his dirty work. He runs half of the GOP legislature as senate majority leader and has openly defied Evers, but he also knows that health care and pandemic protection are important to voters.  So rather than openly oppose Evers’ 60-day emergency mask mandate, which the governor can renew, he tried to get a right wing legal stalking horse to strike it down.  A state judge in October saw through the deception.

Tom Palzewicz

But common wisdom says the Fitz will beat Tom Palzewicz, a moderate Democrat and business guy with true empathy for residents. I just can’t understand how a 5th District voter can put Tom and Scott side by side and not leap into Palzewicz’s camp . . . but in a hyper partisan age, it takes all kinds to doom their district for the next two years!

I digress. What I wanted to emphasize was how,  despite Biden and Trump on the top, Wisconsin voters need to work down the Wisconsin ballot as well as look at other state races, too, and there are national movements to help do that.

It’s among the aspects of  Internet freedom at everyone’s fingertips. No race is too far away to get financial, computer and telephone help.

One such group is openly dedicated  to underwrite  Biden by changing the nature of the state legislative chambers lined up against him, looking at the local issues as well as the national ones and weighing  who will approach those intelligently.  Few people know the names or abilities of people running for the statehouses in Michigan, Florida or states far and wide.

In fact, few people in one Wisconsin district know the name or the issues of those running next door or a few county highways down the road.  Everyone needs help to figure out those races.

Now meet EveryDistrict. It has set out to vet state legislative candidates around the nation, the ones that don’t have the money or the reach of US House and Senate candidates.  It’s blunt about what it does: “We have tabulated the latest competitiveness, demographic, polling, and fundraising data to chart out which of our candidates would most benefit from your hard-earned dollars in these final weeks. These candidates don’t represent everyone we would like to win – that’s all of them – nor do they represent the people most likely to win. These are the on the bubble candidates where that next dollar will make the most difference.”

EveryDistrict offers direct links for choices to Act Blue.  It is one-step fund-raising.

Not every state and not every race, though, as would be expected from the Democratic Party’s own activist groups.  EveryDistrict remains cautious that their choices also have the active  grassroots campaigns to succeed.  They don’t dump the book of state houses on visitors but select out the chambers they believe that voters can impact.  Right now they’re big on Kansas.

Wisconsin is likely to emerge as a state that goes whole hog for Biden in the electoral college but remain in Republican hands in the state legislature, causing more migraines for Evers. Our state’s difficult situation also causes headaches for the folks behind EveryDistrict (who include some well known government experts in the state).

One reason the GOP expects to remain in state control is the lopsided gerrymandered GOP majority in the Assembly, 63-36, built up over years of jiggling the demarcation lines.  EveryDistrict reminds voters they have to flip 14 (!) seats to take  back the Assembly but they identify every Democrat running  and pick the most likely  in the Assembly (using yellow Endorsed and pink codes) and ways to contribute to everyone, always emphasizing those they think have a chance.  Even lowering the margin of GOP control could pay enormous dividends, restoring the power of the Democratic vote throughout the state.

On working through the website, I noted of the 16 in the Assembly they had endorsed I agreed with every one – and had actually written about several. EveryDistrict is also hosting online sessions with Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley and city of Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett.

Individuals can also use the site to directly donate to the Wisconsin Fund on Act Blue, which will split donations evenly among 7 different Democratic campaigns whose data and polling shows they can win, but are candidates who need resources in the final weeks of the campaign. As usual, 100% of proceeds will benefit campaigns.

EveryDistrict is not optimistic about the Wisconsin Senate, though the Democrats are much closer, needing only to flip three seats. But only half the Senate is up for election in 2020 and  EveryDistrict has just two senate seats high in its likely flippable list.  The Wisconsin Democrats have more.  But EveryDistrict admits bluntly that “the Wisconsin Senate is not a target chamber in 2020,” while “the Wisconsin Assembly is one of EveryDistrict’s priority chambers.” One reason is that the organization wants to see action on the ground and if more senate districts get organized that  could change.  

Certainly the mood of the state is changing, largely as positive covid-19 tests climb to epidemic proportions. Many in northern, western and rural communities that thought they would be untouched are being touched harshly – grandparents, kids, money earners, essential workers. After going blithely along and allowing politics to intrude on safety precautions, they and their children are facing some ugly droppings.  Yet  the Republicans in the state legislature continue to attack the Democratic governor’s health-based instructions to wear masks and follow social distance protocols. 

The GOP legislature out of vicious politics is resisting common sense, it seems to me, and more and more rural voters and educators I contact feel the same way. It’s even producing stories throughout Wisconsin like this one in the Journal Sentinel. That disappointment and anger are  filtering  through communities that once never thought of voting Democrat.

I don’t know how that will affect the final vote, but one thing is clear. The lingering pandemic has changed the bloc voting expectations of the political parties.

About the author: Noth has been  a professional journalist since the 1960s, first as national, international and local news copy editor at The Milwaukee Journal, then as an editor for its original Green Sheet, also  for almost two decades the paper’s film and drama critic. He became the newspaper’s senior feature editor. He was tapped by the publishers of the combining Milwaukee Journal Sentinel for special projects and as first online news producer before voluntarily departing in the mid-1990s to run online news seminars and write on public affairs. From 2002 to 2013 he ran the Milwaukee Labor Press as editor. It served as the Midwest’s largest home-delivered labor newspaper, with archives at milwaukeelabor.org.  In that role he won top awards yearly until the paper stopped publishing in 2013. His investigative pieces and extensive commentaries are now published by several news outlets as well as his DomsDomain dual culture and politics outlets.  A member of the American Theatre Critics Association at its inception, he also reviews theater for Urban Milwaukee. 

ELECTION COMES DOWN TO WHO BIDEN CARRIES WITH HIM

 By Dominique Paul Noth

Trump turns down a virtual debate because he can’t throw his arms around a computer screen and slobber his voters to death.   Biden says he’ll debate anywhere anytime as long as he is not locked in a room with a slob shedding virus.  And so the debate to debate goes, canceling the second and leaving the third in limbo. But it won’t matter because we will count the votes Nov. 3 (and maybe a few days longer) and realize the real results are not just a Biden victory, which seems assured.

But who will he carry with him across the finish line, particularly in the Senate? 

Suddenly national media is starting to explore those other names, even offering profiles here and there.  These largely are names unknown to most national voters – and more names than ever   because of a staggeringly expanded map unlike anything the pollsters guessed a few weeks ago.

If Biden does hold town halls with voters, despite the push of his advisers to make all such appearances about national issues, he would be well advised to indicate his hopes state by state. With seven million already having voted, it  is high time to start introducing to the public the Senate hopefuls he is counting on, and thus encourage voters back in their home states to fill in more than his name on the ballot:

Barbara Bollier

Barbara Bollier  of Kansas, a former Republican and respected doctor who is running ahead of her senate opponent in the weeks before the finish line, a closing kick that is scaring Republican money to death in a state long put in the GOP column.

Sara Gideon, a Maine legislative leader who is several poll points ahead of  Susan (“maybe I will be independent , or maybe not”) Collins. I  have described Collins as so wishy-washy she is likely to test both positive and negative in the covid sweepstakes.  She surely is in  peril of surviving.

Mark Kelly, former astronaut and well known spouse of Gabrielle Giffords, a national spokesman on sensible gun control who in Arizona polls is destroying an existing GOP senator appointed by her own party.  This is another win the Democrats long to lock up.

Theresa Greenfield

Theresa Greenfield, now slightly ahead in Iowa polls against Joni Ernst – in a state that no longer seems happy that it went for Trump after twice supporting Obama. Greenfield is a fascinating life story, a farm kid who went to college, was widowed young and now is in a second marriage with grown children and a progressive agenda. She’s got a deeper broader home-spun appeal than Ernst ever had.

Cal Cunningham, a retired military officer and state politician who is beating Trump enabler Thom Tillis in North Carolina. He ran into some headwinds with some sex banter he had long distance but  even with that cross – exploitable in the South – he is out-raising and out-arguing Tillis.

John Hickenlooper, a former Democratic presidential candidate and popular Colorado governor noted for posing with a beer and a banjo.  He is slightly ahead in a tight race against incumbent Cory Gardner.

Steve Bullock, again a former presidential candidate and popular governor who may turn the usually red Montana blue in his seesaw race against incumbent GOP unknown backbencher Steve Daines.

Jaime Harrison

Jaime Harrison of South Carolina, a veteran Democratic leader who is tied or  ahead of GOP’s Lindsey Graham (depending on which poll you credit). It’s  a turnaround in a state that many thought would remain red.  But thanks to Graham’s constant flip-flops he is in deep trouble in a flurry of ads using his own words to confirm his foolishness!

Amy McGrath, running tight against Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell in Kentucky. No one fully believes a former military pilot with scant political experience can beat the canny Mitch, but she has raised considerable money on the Internet and has shown experience in campaigning while he struggles to hold his troops together.  Will his  push for a new conservative justice please voters or stir the opposition?  How long can his turtle-like conservativism keep him in the game?  Or is his likely loss of the majority a growing factor  driving voters to McGrath?

Jon Ossoff, a former investigative journalist and security analyst is leading GOP’s David Perdue, a sitting senator fighting corruption accusations in Georgia polls.  Georgia! A once Trump state where there is also another senate race the Democrats eye:

The Rev. Raphael Warnock, the senior pastor at Atlanta’s famed Ebenezer Church,  is ahead in a special Nov. 3 election against both  appointed senator Kelly Loeffler (another corruption accused) and her internal GOP challenger, fast-talking Rep. Doug Collins (they are both trying to cling to Trump’s backside).  The top two finishers face off in January if neither gets 50% on Nov. 3, and did I mention Warnock has the edge? In Georgia?

MJ Heger

And now Texas, too!  MJ Heger, another retired female military pilot,  is making muscular inroads  against Sen. John Cornyn who has been flailing trying to explain his negative health care votes and allegiance to Trump.  It’s another race that no one had on their charts until the last few weeks.

These are the most likely victories or close contests in an expanded election map, but Trump’s continuing failure and weakening threats have actually raised hopes even in  the states the Democrats didn’t consider.  The list keeps growing. Among the Democratic Senate candidates behind but charging hard are:

Alaska!  Yes, commercial fisherman and physician Al Gross (not the best name for a candidate but easy to remember) is creeping within percentage points of his Republican opposition for Senate.

Al Gross

Mississippi!  A state once assured for Republicans sees former Clinton cabinet member Mike Espy, an African American, making inroads against Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith who has wrapped herself in Confederate glory at the same time as the state is trying to shed the mantle of its past. If Mississippi starts asking itself what power will their senator have if Biden is the president, Espy could jump higher and faster by Election Day.

Idaho!  Guaranteed Trump territory where noted tribal activist Paulette Jordan is fighting for attention from way behind and has been helped mightily by the health care issue and Emily’s List, an influential organization devoted to encouraging progressive Democratic women.

Adrian Perkins

Louisiana!  There are special election rules Nov. 3 putting GOP Sen. Bill Cassidy against a slew of Democrats, the two top vote-getters advancing to a January face-off if neither gets 50%.  But now the Democrats seem to have coalesced behind Adrian Perkins, the independent and forward looking mayor of Shreveport who is turning the Louisiana race into something worth noting. Fifty percent seems too high for any candidate, which means Perkins may face off against Cassidy in 2021 when a Democratic senator will be even more appealing.

Even West Virginia! It’s the longest of long shots. But Paula Jean Swearengin, the coal miner’s daughter and environmental activist who did poorly in the 2018 primary against very moderate Democrat  Joe Manchin, now is trying to make inroads against very right wing  GOP incumbent Shelley Moore Caputo.  She acts undaunted by Caputo’s 17% advantage as of Oct. 8.

One reason for optimism among the unlikely as well as the quite possible is the clear Biden surge. Campaign money flows toward the winning side.  Even a hundred to one shot like Swearingen is like a Las Vegas betting pool  – someone will buy a ticket! And Alaska, Louisiana and Mississippi are locations of fast moving change that confound traditional expectations.

Even most  Democrats trying to preserve their seats – Dick Durbin of Illinois, Jeff Merkley of Oregon and Chris Coons of Delaware – seem in solid shape.  Mitch McConnell and Betsy DeVos are raising big money against Gary Peters of Michigan. Tina Smith of Minnesota and Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire are also facing deep pockets but I think voters in those states won’t be fooled by the ad blitz.  Far more threatened is Doug Jones of Alabama given the enthusiasm but political ignorance surrounding the former football coach he faces.

The size of the Democratic senate takeover chances is  impressive and explains why third party GOP money, voting lawsuits and dirty tricks are on the climb.  So are Republicans trying to embarrass Biden by  ignoring their own insistence on packing the court system to demand Biden tell them now what he will do if Amy Coney Barrett makes it to high court (which would make her the third justice packed in  under the worst president in US history).

Trump and the GOP won’t climb down from the suicide ledge before the election, but progressives shouldn’t join them out there. They should welcome Biden holding his tongue, even making noises that he is not interested in expanding the supreme court.

There are practical and logical reasons to hold his fire.  He not only has to win the Senate but he has to look at – and talk to—those he wins the Senate with. Democrats are not the stoic  monolith party the Republicans have proven to be.

Look at the field! All in a general sense are progressive and support Democratic initiatives.  But they range from moderate to left, from former military officers to physicians, from commercial fisherman and other businesses  to community activists. Biden will need some time to hear what they want and will vote for. There are already some 400 bills Mitch has bottled up and a lot of clamoring voices to outline the important solutions.

Mitch and his fading sources may enjoy a few months of self-congratulations but it will be followed by a slate of new laws that could protect and expand the Affordable Care Act and other issues not directly on the SCOTUS calendar, like Roe v Wade.

And that ACA lawsuit only gets oral arguments November 10 and the right wing could itself be surprised since the Supreme Court may simply section off one part of the law and keep the rest even before Biden steps in with new expansion.

So let Trump enjoy his act of sounding deliberately  crazy – claiming  he  won’t leave office whatever the voters say.  He will fume and fuss (and the dutiful press will cover every tantrum) because he wants America to forget how  correctable are the levers of government he presumes to control and how entrenched are the forces that will make even Donald behave.

To give Biden the forces he needs to bring changes and corrections, voters around the nation, particularly those who don’t live in the states in question, had better charge up their phones and open their wallets. Even during a pandemic, the influence can reach across long distances to impact the results in other states.

And the future of the US Supreme Court? The election may remind SCOTUS of the danger of being far out of step with the public. For Biden to commit to what he will do before he knows what he can do would be foolish.

About the author: Noth has been  a professional journalist since the 1960s, first as national, international and local news copy editor at The Milwaukee Journal, then as an editor for its original Green Sheet, also  for almost two decades the paper’s film and drama critic. He became the newspaper’s senior feature editor. He was tapped by the publishers of the combining Milwaukee Journal Sentinel for special projects and as first online news producer before voluntarily departing in the mid-1990s to run online news seminars and write on public affairs. From 2002 to 2013 he ran the Milwaukee Labor Press as editor. It served as the Midwest’s largest home-delivered labor newspaper, with archives at milwaukeelabor.org.  In that role he won top awards yearly until the paper stopped publishing in 2013. His investigative pieces and extensive commentaries are now published by several news outlets as well as his DomsDomain dual culture and politics outlets.  A member of the American Theatre Critics Association at its inception, he also reviews theater for Urban Milwaukee.