As if the primaries weren’t enough, the members of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin now have a race for their next chair. After two terms, Martha Laning is retiring with an incredible victory under her belt, with Democrats sweeping all statewide races for the first time since 1982 and reelecting Tammy Baldwin to the U.S. Senate. Plus, she can lay claim to being the chair that helped secure the Democratic National Convention for Milwaukee—all of this coming after what was potentially one of the most devastating elections in the state’s history, with Donald Trump turning Wisconsin red for the first time in 28 years.
Now the question falls to us Wisconsin Democrats: Who do we want to lead our party? I’m glad you asked me. As chair of the Democratic Party of Milwaukee County, I have an opinion on the matter, but not an endorsement. What I have for the next chair are a few recommendations I think would make the party stronger, more effective and ready to ride into the general election with the wind at its back—and at the back of our presidential nominee—at the Fiserv Forum in July 2020.
The smoke-filled room has always been the “place where decisions get made.” We need to open those doors and let the smoke out. We need to make sure that those smoke-filled rooms include women, racial and ethnic minorities and members of the LGBTQ community. Make it so they have a seat at the decision-making table, because, as it’s sometimes said, if you’re not at the table, you might be on the menu.
If you look at the staff on the website of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, no matter how you strain, you will not easily find a person of color in any position higher than that of the party’s regional organizers. The next chair must be purposeful in making a concerted effort to change that. Hiring more than one senior staff person of color is needed. That would help to change the perspective of the transactional nature of our racial politics.
The Democratic Party of Wisconsin and its new chair must have a presence in Milwaukee. Milwaukee is the largest, most diverse county in the state. Imagine what it would say if the Democratic parties of Wisconsin and Milwaukee County opened up a storefront office in the Sherman Park area and had staff working in the office year round rather than for six months only during election years. This would be a catalyst for political-community outreach into parts of the city that need it the most.
I would like to see the regional organizing program begun by Laning continue with the next chair. Before I became county chairman, I was the Southeast Regional Organizer for the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, overseeing Waukesha, Milwaukee, Racine and Kenosha. Laning expanded the program to its current levels. Milwaukee alone has two separate regional organizers who are interested and capable of pushing the program to the next level. This program helped us build teams of volunteers going into the 2018 election cycle, which helped us elect Democratic candidates across all the statewide races.
We have one job in 2020, and that is to see to it that Wisconsin returns to its proud progressive tradition. From 1988 to 2012, Wisconsin was a proud brick of the “Blue Wall” of states that every Democratic won on his road to the White House. The choice of our state leader will help lay the groundwork for the next nominee and whether he or she will have Wisconsin’s 10 electoral votes with them or in the small hands of our mercurial current White House occupant.
