Democratic-endorsed candidate Jill Karofsky – running for a seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court – DEFEATED Scott Walker appointee Dan Kelly, bringing progressives just 1 seat away from the majority on that court!
Republicans in the legislature tried EVERYTHING to prevent this, including shamelessly exploiting the coronavirus pandemic to crater turnout and force local officials to discard thousands of absentee ballots – all to give their candidate an advantage.
But voters responded emphatically, risking their health and practically crawling over broken glass to go cast ballots, and they rightfully demanded leaders who take this crisis seriously instead of using it as an excuse to grab power.
Trump, the conservatives on the U.S. Supreme Court, and national GOP groups have all signaled they’ll repeat their coronavirus voter suppression strategy nationwide in a few months. Wisconsin proves they can be stopped, but ONLY when Democrats mobilize urgently to fight back.
This Wisconsin race was a BIG victory for progressives, but it was only a trial run for Trump’s plans to exploit this crisis to give himself and thousands of state GOP candidates an advantage this fall.
They’ve already run the numbers. Politico reports that top Republicans have concluded that voting disruptions caused by the crisis “could sway the election.”
To take advantage of the situation, “Trump’s political operation is launching a multimillion-dollar legal campaign aimed at blocking Democrats from drastically changing voting rules in response to the coronavirus outbreak.”
No matter what happens, we CANNOT let Republicans exploit a national crisis to block millions of voters from casting ballots. We only have a few weeks to fight back in some cases, and it’s crucial that Democrats mobilize IMMEDIATELY.
