The Democratic Party of Wisconsin
has a new leader.
At last week's state convention,
members elected Devin Remicker as
chair of the party after he
previously served as the party's
political director and he joins us
now. Thanks for being here.
Thanks for having me, appreciate it.
So Ben Wickler is a name that a lot
of people recognize from democratic
politics.
He was a chair of the party the last
six years, oversaw a lot a very
successful elections.
What will change, what will be
different from, in the transition
from Ben to you?
Yeah, absolutely. Well, I think we
have a fantastic opportunity to be
able to build on the success that
Ben Wickler has laid down.
And what he built on the successes
of Chair Martha Lanning before him,
we have a fantastic year
round organizing program.
We have a robust donor strategy
for large, medium, small donors
across this country.
And we also have an opportunity to
do more in twenty twenty six.
So I'm really excited to get to work
expanding our 72
county strategy to make sure that we
have robust infrastructure in every
corner of the state, above and
beyond just organizing and knocking
on doors, improving our messaging
and communications with localized
messaging in each and every
community in the state to make that
we can authentically connect with
voters and keep
our eye on the prize with
the chance for a trifecta next year.
So we've seen party chairs in the
past keep a lower profile in the
public sphere.
And obviously Ben became the face of
the party in a lot of ways.
What's your style?
Well, I think that we have
a really unique opportunity to
change the way that we communicate
and to reach voters in places that
we haven't been able to before.
One thing I'm really excited about
coming into this role, obviously
as a 32-year-old, I'm a little bit
younger than a lot of folks may
otherwise be in politics.
And I think that that can give me an
opportunity to connect, particularly
with younger voters that our parties
had some difficulty with in the last
election, to be able to reach them
in authentic, engaging ways.
In addition to all the traditional
media that Ben has done before,
I'm also really excited to partner
with First Vice Chair, Secretary of
State Sarah Godlewski, to
also maintain a lot of the
communications work that we've done.
And I think that we're going to get
out the gate pretty strong.
So you mentioned your donor network,
and the Democratic Party has
certainly outpaced the Republicans
in Wisconsin.
And one of the things that Wickler
seemed to excel at was convincing
people from around the country that
they should invest in Wisconsin
politics, even at the local level.
How do you keep convincing them that
Wisconsin assembly and state Senate
races are worth someone's attention
elsewhere?
Absolutely. So I think that there
is a, there's two reasons people
give to the Democratic Party of
Wisconsin. One, obviously, is
because we're a very important state
and every election can have big
implications for the state
and for the nation when it comes to
our presidential elections.
But at the same time, it's also
because they trust what we do at the
Democratic Party of Wisconsin,
donors have grown to really
believe in the team, our work, our
effectiveness and our efficiency.
And I think as someone who is part
of building that operation, it
really helps me be able to sort of
continue to maintain and then
build trust with additional folks
around this country.
We have one of the largest monthly
giving programs in the nation
amongst Democratic campaign
committees.
And that is also just built on
trust. It's not taking
small dollar grassroots donations
for granted, and instead
making sure that don't engage in
harmful practices like selling their
information.
To other campaign committees.
I think everyone's had the experience
of you sign up for a political list
and then you get all of a sudden
text from a congressional candidate
in some far-flung state.
We don't do that at the Democratic
Party of Wisconsin.
And I think treating people with
respect, making sure that we're
earning their dollar and not taking
it for granted and putting it to the
most effective use possible is
behind our success and something I
think I am primed to be able to
continue. My calls with donors have
been going really well this week.
I think they're excited to continue
to engage and figure out
how they can support our efforts to
win the trifecta next year.
So national polling shows the image
of Democrats.
It is not great right now in the
Trump era.
Do you expect that to change due to
national events?
Or is that something that you have
to change yourself?
Well, I don't think we should take
for granted that, you know,
someone's going to come over the
hill as Calvary and be able to
change what we're doing here in
Wisconsin. I think we have to build
the plan to win and advance our
candidates here in the state
ourselves. And if we can get help
with that, that is fantastic.
But at the end of the day...
I think that we have had a
very distinct sort of set of
outcomes in Wisconsin that is
different than national Democrats
across the country.
I mean, in 2024, not many
people would have put money on
Wisconsin being the closest out of
all the battleground states to
the left of Michigan and
Pennsylvania, even when that just
hasn't been the case in 2020 or
2022.
So I think that the The way
that we've done that is by making
sure that we are supporting our
candidates year round, every spring
special fall election,
connecting with folks authentically
on the issues that they care most
about. And really what I'm trying to
do is just take that work to the
next level and build the plan
that we need here.
Now you've mentioned Wisconsin being
to the left of Michigan and some of
those other traditional blue wall
states.
Over the last 15 years, we've seen a
political realignment with rural
working class voters shifting more
towards Donald Trump and the
Republican Party, and Democrats
doing better in suburban areas with
college educated voters.
There are people that think that
Wisconsin is actually more ripe for
Republicans to do well, because
there are more traditional
Democratic voters that have not
swung to the Republican party.
And that is why Wisconsin is still
to the Left to a slight degree.
What do you do to keep those voters?
You talked about your youth.
How do you connect with some of
those people that are coming up that
may be disengaged from that party?
Absolutely. Well, I think that my
background also helps a lot.
I was born in Two Rivers, Wisconsin,
and I think that the story of Two
Rivers and neighboring Manitowoc
mirrors a lot of communities around
this state.
There was a factory in Two River
named Hamilton's.
They closed up in the
mid to late 2000s, and
the jobs went to Mexico to
a new factory there, which then
promptly got overrun by a drug
cartel. Uh, but...
What happened was thousands,
I think at its peak, it employed
3,000 people in the city and I think
when it left around 800, these were
good paying union jobs with
great benefits.
It was hollowed out and all that was
left was basically an empty lot of
land contaminated with chemicals
that are basically stuck in the
ground and they're trying to mitigate
right now.
And it kind of ripped the heart out
of this community, right, and this
was a community that took pride
in being working class, in making
something.
And once that was gone.
It really lost a little sense of
soul. And I think that you see that
all over the state.
And I that is something that
Democrats haven't been as effective
in speaking to, is that sort of
lost sense of self and identity to
working class voters.
And I thinks that is where
Republicans have had some success
filling that void.
So something I wanna do is just be
more attentive and attuned because
it's my lived experience.
Of how to connect with people and
talk about a positive optimistic
vision of the future that they can
actually connect with and speaks to
sort of that identity as working
class people that want to work
hard and earn a fair wage and
don't necessarily just want to be
given something.
You've mentioned a couple of times
about the possibility of a trifecta
of Democrats winning control of the
legislature in 26.
How closely are you watching those
GOP potential targets, and
especially as they're struggling to
pass a budget right now?
Incredibly closely, and I think
that they are making a grave mistake
by not coming to the table and
finishing out the budget process
with Governor Reifers.
I mean, candidly, they're also
fighting with themselves at this
moment in time, which I don't think
is good for their party in the long
term. But I mean you have folks like
Howard Marklein who didn't
even bother to consider the fact
that Medicaid cuts could be coming
from the federal government when
they originally were thinking about
this budget.
I mean it's ridiculous, it's hard
to take that seriously.
And I think we're gonna be very
aggressive and making sure that
voters this summer know
about what their representatives and
senators are doing, or rather
not doing. I mean, they need to get
back to work, negotiate with the
governor, and get a deal done to
move the state forward.
Obviously, there was a
national tragedy in Minnesota with
the shooting of legislators there.
Does that impact your ability to
recruit candidates, especially since
there were Wisconsin Democratic
names on the list of the shooter?
Yeah, well, we haven't seen any
impact as to this point in time, but
I think that for myself personally
and many people, it was a terrifying
moment. I'm glad that we could
put politics aside and as human
beings see Democrats and Republicans
put out a strong statement
condemning that.
Obviously, it happened during our
convention weekend and one
of the first conversations I had
with my wife after being allotted a
chair was about.
Do we need to adjust our own sort of
security measures or precautions?
Is this something we need worry
about? And I don't think anybody in
politics should have to worry about
their livelihood be taken away from
them.
And I, although I won't get any
details of procedures or anything
like that, I do think we
need find ways to take down the
temperature and the rhetoric a
little bit, which is also why I'm so
disappointed to see Representative
Derek Van Orden right
after sort of making a...
His performative statement just lean
right back into vitriol and
conspiracy theories as he has
throughout a lot of his tenure in
office.
I mean, I think he might be, you
know, a little bit scared about his
own prospects for reelection and
lashing out a little because of
that, but I think that sort of
behavior is exactly what we need
less of in politics and
from my experience working for
Congressman Ron Kaine for four
years, something that voters in
western Wisconsin really don't
respond well to.
Devon Romaker, thanks for your time.
Thank you, really appreciate it.