As the saying goes, you can’t beat somebody with nobody.
It seems that Democrats are taking that to heart this election season and are even running candidates in districts that at first blush don’t seem to be friendly to their party.
It isn’t easy.
Following the 2010 U.S. Census, Wisconsin Republicans changed the legislative map to give their own party a whopping advantage in Congress and the state Legislature.
So even though President Barack Obama won 53% of the Wisconsin vote in 2012 and legislative Democrats garnered roughly 200,000 more votes in that election than Republican candidates, Democrats are in the minority in both chambers of the Legislature. Similarly, Democrats hold just three of the state’s eight congressional districts.
“Republicans like Scott Walker and Paul Ryan know they can’t win on the strength of their ideas—that’s why they have to rig the rules of the game in their favor with schemes like a radical redistricting plot and restrictions on access to the ballot,” said Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chair Mike Tate.
Despite these odds, Democrats are on the ballot in areas that seem hopelessly Republican. There’s a solid reason why, Tate said.
“It’s more important than ever that we run strong candidates, even in deeply red districts, to hold Republicans accountable at every level and build on our electoral progress all over the state,” Tate said.
Randy Bryce
That’s advice that Randy Bryce took to heart. Bryce is running in state Senate District 21, which Republicans drew to specifically favor Bryce’s opponent, former state Sen. Van Wanggaard. The GOP carved up Racine and Kenosha counties to put the two cities together in SD 22 (represented by Democrat Bob Wirch) and the more suburban and rural areas in SD 21, which is held by Sen. John Lehman, now Mary Burke’s running mate.
Despite the gerrymandered district seemingly tailor-made for Wanggaard, Bryce is upbeat about his chances.
“You can’t win a fight if you don’t get in the ring,” Bryce said. “This isn’t impossible. Looking at the numbers, there are literally thousands of people in the district that haven’t been involved in voting since the recall. Those are the people I’m trying to reach and get out. If it was impossible—well, I’ve got better things to do with my time.”
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Bryce, an ironworker and Army veteran, said that he’s trying to hold Wanggaard accountable for his record in office. The tea party Republican had rubber-stamped the Walker agenda for the short time he was in office before losing a recall to Lehman in 2012. Bryce, in contrast, was inspired to get involved in politics because he saw the destruction created by the Walker-Wanggaard agenda.
But Wanggaard is ducking debates, making any sort of accountability to voters difficult.
“He ran from a debate,” Bryce said. “He wants to claim to be an engineer for the train wreck that rolled into Wisconsin. He needs to answer for that and he’s not doing it.”
Beth Lueck
Beth Lueck is definitely in the minority in her district. The Whitefish Bay resident is running against Republican state Rep. Jim Ott in Assembly District 23. The North Shore was trending Democratic so the GOP made some big changes in the area during redistricting process, providing a solidly Republican Senate district for Alberta Darling of River Hills, as well as Assembly seats for Ott, Don Pridemore and Dan Knodl.
Lueck said she’s running to provide voters with an alternative to Ott on Nov. 4.
“It seemed to me undemocratic that someone could run unopposed and voters wouldn’t have a choice,” Lueck said. “And I also realized that I could raise issues that would otherwise not be raised or would be ignored in the campaign. And I can also bring out voters for other Democrats on the ticket.”
Lueck said that Ott’s good on one issue—drunken driving—but she didn’t think much of the rest of his record. Ott’s a conservative Republican and, incredibly for a former weatherman, is terrible on environmental issues and climate change. In contrast, Lueck, a UW-Whitewater English professor, supports public education, a full range of health care options for women, raising the minimum wage to $10.10, protecting the environment, implementing nonpartisan redistricting and improving mass transit. And she’s very excited by the possibilities raised by Mary Burke and attorney general candidate Susan Happ on the Democratic ticket.
Lueck said she’s getting great support from the party and Grassroots North Shore and doesn’t seem deterred by the GOP’s advantage in the district.
“In some ways it’s energizing,” Lueck said of her underdog status. “I think it would be easy if I were a Republican and I could just sit back and accept the votes as they come in. Whereas I have to get out there and knock on doors and talk to people and convince them that there is another way to do business.”
Perhaps that fighting spirit is genetic. Lueck’s younger son is serving in Afghanistan as a member of the Army National Guard.
“He’s out there fighting so that his mother can run for office,” Lueck said.
Chris Rockwood
Also facing tough odds—perhaps the toughest in the state—is Democrat Chris Rockwood of Wauwatosa, who’s taking on entrenched U.S. Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner in Congressional District 5, which the Republican has held for more than 30 years. Sensenbrenner has had such a lock on this district that no Democrat took him on in 2008, when Obama was on the ticket and won Wisconsin handily.
“Somebody has to run,” Rockwood said. “Some of us in this district aren’t being represented in Washington.”
Rockwood, an engineer who quit his job last week to devote all of his time to his campaign, says that Sensenbrenner doesn’t truly represent the district’s interests. He holds occasional town hall meetings and personally signs every letter sent to his constituents, but Rockwood couldn’t think of anything the congressman has delivered for them.
“He’s a wealthy man and he’s concerned about consolidating his power,” Rockwood said.
Although fundraising is a challenge, Rockwood said he’s getting solid support from the party, labor and progressive groups, including Grassroots Tosa.
If elected, Rockwood wants to address income inequality so that working families can share in the nation’s prosperity, get money out of politics and tackle climate change both for environmental and economic reasons.
He said it was important to field a full slate of candidates around the state to ensure high Democratic enthusiasm and turnout on Nov. 4.
“If we leave this seat unchallenged, fewer Democrats may vote,” Rockwood said. “Electing Mary Burke is very important to me.”
Mark Harris
If you paid attention to this summer’s Republican primary in Congressional District 6 in the Fox Valley, you’d think that it was as solidly red and wildly conservative as Sensenbrenner’s district. The four Republicans running for this open seat—longtime Republican Rep. Tom Petri is retiring—battled over who was the most extreme conservative in the race, with incendiary state Sen. Glenn Grothman of West Bend ultimately prevailing.
But the Democrat on the Nov. 4 ballot, Winnebago County Executive Mark Harris, says the Republican debate doesn’t reflect the true feelings of the district. Without a Republican incumbent, it’s probably the swingiest of Wisconsin’s congressional districts, with only a slight Republican advantage, and the Libertarian candidate could peel off some traditionally Republican voters who can’t stomach Grothman’s extremism.
“This district is far closer to the political center than the extreme right,” Harris said. “There’s a real opening for a moderate, especially when the Republican candidate has staked out such an extreme position.”
Harris said he disagreed with Grothman’s opposition to equal pay and his assertion that “money is more important for men,” as well as his out-of-touch ideas about sex ed and homosexuality. Like many of his fellow Republicans, Grothman has thus far ducked debates, although one is scheduled at the Oshkosh Chamber of Commerce, a GOP-friendly crowd.
Harris likes his chances with the district’s voters. He’s the first Democratic office-holder elected countywide in Winnebago County, with larger margins of the vote with each re-election. He calls himself a “fiscally conservative progressive” who’s tackled tough budgets in office, invested in classrooms for engineering students at UW-Fox Valley and built a new nursing home. Harris said he wants to address Social Security and highway funding as well as make college more affordable for students.
“If elected, I’ll work hard to find solutions for the problems we face,” Harris said.
Rob Zerban
Democrat Rob Zerban knows what it’s like to take on a seemingly insurmountable challenge. Zerban ran against Republican Congressman Paul Ryan in 2012, the year Ryan was also running as Mitt Romney’s running mate. The race was the most expensive congressional race in Wisconsin’s history and Ryan benefited from huge national and local media attention.
This year’s race for Congressional District 1 is quieter, but Zerban, a Kenosha entrepreneur, likes the odds this fall. The district trends Republican, and Ryan is a champion fundraiser who’s beloved by the state’s leading media outlet, but Zerban is convinced that he, and other Democrats, can win on Republican turf.
“If the Democrats ever have a hope in hell of winning back the House, they actually need to focus on districts like this,” Zerban said.
Zerban said it was important to highlight Republicans’ failures in office.
“The #1 issue I hear from people is finding good-paying jobs,” Zerban said. “The economy, they say, is moving along and humming along, but not everybody is benefiting from it. Wisconsin has been lagging the nation and the First Congressional District is lagging in Wisconsin for a couple of reasons—because of Scott Walker’s shenanigans and in the First CD because Paul Ryan has never fought for the district.”
Zerban said he was encouraged by the Democrats running in swing and deeply red districts all over the state.
“You have to have everybody in every race,” Zerban said. “You never know what’s going to happen.”
