What Would It Take for Virginia to Copy Wisconsin Democrats’ Year-Round Organizing Strategy?

By William Driscoll

Year-round organizing by Wisconsin Democrats was instrumental in electing a new state supreme court justice last year, which led to an end to gerrymandering. The redistricting that followed enabled Democratic gains last week in Wisconsin’s Senate and Assembly, and helped re-elect U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D).

Blue Virginia last year flagged the significance of Wisconsin Democrats’ victory in the state supreme court election, in an article focusing on the winning issues in that campaign.

Also worth considering here in Virginia is what it would take to adopt the year-round organizing strategy of Wisconsin Democrats, as described in reporting from The Atlantic magazine, Politico and Bloomberg Opinion. That year-round work, and the campaign structure that supports it, has several elements:

• Inspirational leadership: Ben Wikler, state party chair for the Wisconsin Democrats since 2019, has “turned around” the party’s fortunes, said The Atlantic’s Elaine Godfrey.
• Contesting nearly every seat: Democratic gains in Wisconsin’s Assembly came after contesting 97 of 99 Assembly districts, Politico’s Tyler Katzenberger reported—a feat that requires robust candidate recruitment.
• Year-round organizing: Wisconsin Democrats made “a switch to year-round organizing,” Bloomberg Opinion’s Patricia Lopez reported.
• Increased staffing: Wikler expanded the state party’s staff from 30 to 70, The Atlantic reported, adding that a typical state party staffing level is a half-dozen staff members.
• Empowered volunteers: Wisconsin Democrats “rely on volunteers for neighbor-to-neighbor persuasion,” Bloomberg Opinion reported.
• Volunteer teams: Volunteers in Wisconsin are organized into local teams, as reported by both The Atlantic and Bloomberg Opinion. That differs from experiences I’ve had of being handed a door-knocking list and asked to do my best, without any sense of camaraderie, let alone ongoing engagement with a volunteer team.
• Fundraising: Wikler has used his connections in national politics, reports The Atlantic, to raise more than $110 million since 2019, or about $20 million per year, “an astoundingly high amount for a state party.”

While Virginia Democrats may not seek to match Wisconsin Democrats in raising $20 million per year for year-round organizing, Democrats in Virginia collectively gave something in that ballpark to the Harris-Walz campaign, and could collectively give some reasonable portion of that amount to the state party each year. We have the fundraising opportunity to pursue year-round organizing. All that’s needed is ambition.