Take Another Look At Wisconsin's Eric Wilson
I help with the endorsement process for several organizations— although I only get my way with one, Blue America. We’re small and we all agree with the criteria. It’s always about one thing: if they win will they be a great member of Congress? We want to know that they’re working hard enough to have a reasonable chance and that they’re smart enough and courageous enough to do both. I learned long ago that no one knows who’s going to win. And, in any case, our goal isn’t to look good because we picked so many winners. It’s to help people who are dedicated to the same goals we’re focused on: justice, peace, equity… better lives for working families.
That’s what Blue America is about. Here’s our Flip Congress page. And here’s our Senate page. And this is our page for state legislative candidates. The people on this 3 lists are going to make the difference whether Trump wins or loses. Please take a look and see if you can bring yourself to contributing to any of them,.
You know what pisses me off about politics? Organizations and people who say, “Well, they’re great but they have no chance so we’re not going to get involved.” It drives me up the wall. Isn’t its it our job to make sure the ones who are great have a fighting chance— rather than to sit around handicapping races we don’t really know much about? When we decided to do an independent expenditure for AOC’s first campaign, all the pros laughed at us. “You’re wasting your members’ money” and “that’s money that could go to winning a seat that could really be won” and “She has less chance of winning than my pet schnauzer.”
She was up against the supposed next Speaker of the House, Joe Crowley. He didn’t even take her seriously enough to show up for neighborhood forums or debates. She had no chance. Still, she beat him in the Bronx part of the district—her turf— 4,093 (53.62%) to 3,541 (46.38%) and in Queens— his turf, where he also controlled the party machine— 11,804 (58.95%) to 8,220 (41.05%). And he went off to be a lobbyist and she went on to be an inspiration to millions. That said, we also find many great candidates, invest in their campaigns and come up short. Many take more than one cycle to win, the way Cori Bush did. Others just don’t get over the hump. That doesn’t mean we regret helping them, especially not if they worked their asses off.
One of our best 2024 candidates is Eric Wilson in western and central Wisconsin’s swing district (CD-03). The establishment has rallied to a GOP-lite candidate, Rebecca Cooke, who’s exactly like the one who Derrick Van Orden, the GOP now-incumbent, beat in 2022. The DCCC thought it would be a good idea to get someone “moderate,” a conservaDem named Brad Pfaff. He was heavily backed by the Blue Dogs, just like Cooke is now. The Blue Dogs spent $600,000 on his race. But he inspired no one and the excitement around the race was nonexistent. He won the 3 blue counties, lost the half dozen swing counties and got absolutely wiped out in the rural red counties. “But he’s almost Republican” or “Yes, he’s a Democrat but look at how conservative he is,” doesn’t work. It never works. Maybe someone will explain to the DCCC someday in a way they can understand. Or maybe not.
Wilson is a stellar candidate. He’s also the only one running on strong progressive values including some that push the boundaries, like a fair deal for Israelis and Palestinians (including an immediate ceasefire) and on banning assault rifles, the Green New Deal, Medicare for All and student debt foregiveness. The two other candidates, Cooke and another one trying to be GOP-lite, Katrina Shankland, have each raised buckets of money. Wilson hasn’t. He needs to. The primary is August 13. People keep telling me they don’t want to give money because he doesn’t have any. That’s a bad way to look at it. How about, instead, “wow, if Eric gets into Congress, he’ll be one of the dozen most progressive members; I want to help.”
Yesterday, another local elected official, La Crosse County Supervisor Kelly Leibold, endorsed him. She endorsed him because he’s the best candidate, not because any local pundit told her he's the frontrunner. Or that people in the district who like corporate Democrats will split their votes between Shankland and Cooke. And, after all, Bernie won this district by a mile— 93,567 (57.48%) to 69,213 (42.52%). Bernie beat Hillary in every single county in the district— the blue ones, the purple ones and the red ones. And in most of the counties, he also beat Trump:
La Crosse
Bernie- 15,139
Trump- 8,271
Eau Claire
Bernie- 13,058
Trump- 6,505
Portage
Bernie- 9,348
Trump- 5,866
Grant
Bernie- 4,484
Trump- 3,462
Wood
Bernie- 6,747
Trump- 7,220
Dunn
Bernie- 4,272
Trump- 3,074
Pierce
Bernie- 3,199
Trump- 2,822
Chippewa
Bernie- 5,114
Trump- 5,832
Monroe
Bernie- 3,533
Trump- 3,613
Vernon
Bernie- 3,476
Trump- 2,437
Trempealeau
Bernie- 2,429
Trump- 2,414
Adams
Bernie- 1,501
Trump- 2,279
Juneau
Bernie- 1,843
Trump- 2,780
Jackson
Bernie- 1,845
Trump- 1,804
Crawford
Bernie- 1,582
Trump- 1,201
Richland
Bernie- 1,784
Trump- 1,434
Buffalo
Bernie- 1,148
Trump- 1,395
Pepin
Bernie- 560
Trump- 607
Sauk
Bernie- 7,195
Trump- 4,697
Eric needs to reach those voters with his very Bernie-friendly message, while Cooke and Shankland fight for conservatives voters.