Wisconsin Democrats are trying to learn from their 2016 mistakes.
After letting their usually blue state slip to President Trump in the last election, Democrats in Wisconsin announced Tuesday they raised $10 million in the second quarter of 2020. That's their biggest quarterly haul in history, but Gov. Tony Evers (D) says the party "cannot let down our guard" yet, he tells Politico.
Both Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden are considering Wisconsin a battleground this fall, with at least $35 million in ad spending from the two candidates and their proxies already dedicated to the state through November, per Advertising Analytics. Wisconsin Democrats, who now have $12 million in the bank, say getting their state to go for Biden this fall is "goal No. 1," Politico writes.
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But winning back the state legislature, or at least blocking Republicans from the three seats they need for a veto-proof majority in both houses, is also a big priority. The legislatures are in charge of redrawing the state's legislative and congressional maps in the next few years, with Evers saying Republicans will "likely draw them even worse than they are now," referring to gerrymandered districts.
Polling puts Biden safely over Trump so far, leading Evers to say he's "convinced" Biden will prevail. Evers' own election in 2018 and a big Democratic win in a state Supreme Court election earlier this year also points to "good momentum," he told Politico. But "I don't think there's a Democrat in Wisconsin that's going to take Donald Trump for granted. That was done once before," Evers added.
