>> The Democratic Party of Wisconsin has a new leader
at last week's state convention, members elected
Devin Remiker 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
Wikler is a name that a lot of people recognize from
Democratic politics. He was the chair of the party the
last six years, oversaw a lot of very successful
elections. What will change? What will be different from
in the transition from Ben to you?
think we have a fantastic opportunity to be able to
build on the success that Ben Wikler has laid down and
what he built on the successes of Chair Martha
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 2026. 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 sure 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 a party in a lot of ways. What's
your Steil? >> 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 party's 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 national polling shows
the image of Democrats is not great right now in the
Trump era. Do you expect that to change due to now
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 cavalry 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
ourselves. And we can 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
in 2024, not many people would have put money on
Wisconsin being the closest out of all the battleground
Michigan and Pennsylvania, even when that just hasn't
been the case in 2020 or 2022. So I think that the
way that we've done that is by making sure that we are
supporting our candidates 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 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 your youth. How do you connect
with some of those people that are coming up that may
be disengaged from that party?
that my background also helps a lot. I'm 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 there was
a factory in Two Rivers named Hamilton's. They
closed up in the mid to late 2000. 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 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 think that that is something that
Democrats haven't been as effective in speaking to.
Is, is that sort of lost sense of self and identity
to working class voters? And I think that is where
Republicans have had some success filling that void.
So something I want to 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 as working
class people that want to work hard and earn a fair
wage and don't necessarily just want to be given
something. times about the possibility
of a trifecta. Democrats legislature in 26. How
closely are you watching those GOP potential targets,
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 Evers. 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
it's ridiculous. It's hard to take that seriously. And
I think that we're going to be very aggressive in 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 is a
political and 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, you know, for myself personally and many people,
it was it was a terrifying moment, you know, and I'm
glad that we could sort of 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, you know, one
of the first conversations I had with my wife after being
elected chair was about, do we need to adjust our own
sort of security measures or precautions? Is this
something we need to worry about? And I don't think
anybody in politics should have to worry about their
livelihood being taken away from them. I do think we
need to find ways to take down the temperature and the
rhetoric a little bit, which is also why I'm so
disappointed to see Orden right after sort of
making a his performative statement, just lean right
back into vitriol, that sort of behavior is exactly what
we need less of in politics. And from my experience
working for Congressman Ron Kind for four years,
something that voters in western Wisconsin really
don't respond well to. don't respond well to.