Make Milwaukee Democrats Democratic Again

Last year, Ben Wikler, the faux progressive, actual big-money-dependent chair of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin ran for chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC). He lost to Ken Martin, an even more centrist choice. This, and the campaigns to replace him got us, and many other Democratic voters more interested in the internal politics of our state party. 

That’s when we learned how incredibly weak and inactive the Milwaukee County Democratic Party (MCDP) is. Milwaukee comes second to last in proportional membership. The current MCDP Chair, Chris Sinicki, claims membership doubled during her tenure so, it must have been truly abysmal before that. Some of the recent membership boost came from left organizers recruiting people to challenge Wikler’s heir in 2025, or to pass a ceasefire resolution denouncing genocide in 2024.

Now, Sinicki and her treasurer Dawn Martin are leaving. They clearly hand-picked some successors, who will likely maintain the ineffective, donor-and-business friendly status quo. Fortunately, since we first complained about this a few weeks ago, we found that some challengers have come forward.

Why does it matter?

The MCDP’s mission is to bolster and support the Democratic Party, its platform, and values in a variety of ways. Milwaukee is the most populous county in Wisconsin. We are also relentlessly villainized by state and national Republicans. Despite this, in 2024, many wards in the city shifted toward Republicans relative to 2020. This city has a long socialist and working class history. It should be a bastion of strength for a left liberal party. Instead, the Democratic establishment takes us for granted, and makes us pay for bipartisan compromises they strike in hopes of peeling off a few moderate Republicans across the state. Milwaukee voters are tired of it. Winning them back requires not just a change in leadership, but a change in direction. 

A new executive board could provide platforms or forums for members to meet with all candidates (something the current DPMC refuses to do even for their own board race). Currently, fundraising events and volunteer shifts feel like a social club or social obligation. The county party could also host political events that inspire nonmembers to join the party and members to deepen their involvement.

A more active, and activist, executive board could re-energize people who have become disillusioned with electoral politics. From Occupy, to Ferguson, to the 2020 rebellion, from Standing Rock, Sunrise, #metoo, Black Lives Matter, the Women’s March, Día Sin Latinos marches, and growing labor radicalization, to recent Palestinian solidarity mobilizations, this country has been seeing massive left mobilization in the last 15 years, but the left keeps losing elections. That’s because the Democratic Party tries to co-opt and absorb these movements, then rejects or undermines them when they refuse appropriation. This causes a growing trust gap between the party and its base. Activists on the executive board could start to shrink that gap. 

It's going to take more than voting to bring the change we need, but if we don’t start winning elections, activists will remain stuck responding to dumb crises manufactured by the extreme right, rather than addressing real crises like mass incarceration, climate change, and yawning inequality. 

The institution and its challengers

The members of the DPMC executive board doesn’t match between the website, constitution, and actual practice at meetings. The slate Sinicki is pushing includes three members of the current board and will be run under the leadership of a rich real estate developer named Brett Timmermann. The descriptions on their Facebook group read like the consultant vaguespeak centrists seem to love asking chatGPT to write for them. So far, three people have stepped up to challenge this establishment slate. 

Deiadra Queary, running for chair, announced in June. Queary is not the kind of left populist we would ideally support. She comes from a military and business background, is currently the vice-chair of the WISDEMS Veteran’s Caucus, and her political experience seems to be primarily in the party, not in organizing. She does promise action, and change, whereas Timmermann’s focus is money and superficial polite vibes.

Amy Donahue is running for treasurer. They announced the night of a very frustrating and restrictive county party meeting, which we’ll get into below. Amy is a genetic counselor and organizer with Healthcare Workers for Palestine, as well as a member of the Riverwest Coop board. They were treasurer for the Midwest Chapter of the Medical Library Association and have a math degree. They are ready to do the work, and are coming from a place of organizing and unequivocal support for the whole party platform, including the Gaza ceasefire resolution.

Deisy España, an organizer with Comite sin Fronteras (a committee of Voces de la Frontera), is running for Corresponding Secretary. We know España from her run for State Assembly, where she received very poor treatment from conservative Democrats like Sylvia Ortiz-Velez and Chris Sinicki for not asking permission to run for a seat that Ortiz-Velez had picked for her friend Priscilla Prado (who was also backed by the ultra conservative Milwaukee Police Association and the Wisconsin Realtor’s Association). Since then, Ortiz-Velez has been threatening to shoot other Democrats and no longer caucuses with the party, and Prado has done little in office. Despite her youth, España was a more serious choice for assembly, and will be an asset on the DPMC board.

We sent a few questions to all these candidates, and will post any responses we get, but, barring any new information, we definitely encourage voting for Queary, Donahue, and España.

How to vote, and the fuckery

The election will be Monday, November 17 at the monthly MCDP meeting. Only people who are in attendance in person and who are dues paying members by November 7 can vote. So, if you want to join us in bringing the fight back to Democratic Party at every level, sign up now, and ask your friends to. It costs $25 for the year, $35 for a household, and $10 for students and people with limited income. You sign up online by joining the state party. 

The sooner you sign up, the less likely someone will mess up your membership and prevent you from voting. Unfortunately, fuckery like this is not outside the realm of possibility. 

County supervisor Jack Eckblad started off the August DPMC meeting by heaping baseless praise on the establishment slate. Then, at the very end Deiadra Queary found a space to speak about her candidacy for the chair and how unfair it feels to be up against a slate, which is clearly backed by current leadership. Sinicki told her it’s against the rules for her to speak at that time, and the meeting disintegrated into establishment members tone policing her and trying to end the meeting as quickly as possible. Meanwhile, other party members attempted to find solutions. Someone from the Black caucus suggested a candidate forum at a future meeting. Ann Jacobs, Milwaukee’s most prominent genocide denier practically shouted that the meeting be adjourned! 

Then, September’s meeting was conducted via zoom because Republicans were calling for blood to avenge a martyred white supremacy propagandist. This zoom meeting was incredibly tightly controlled, no one was allowed to speak without Sinicki’s express permission and she didn’t want to unmute anyone but state caucus chairs. A few people managed to get questions about the forum and election process in at the end, which Sinicki refused to answer, saying that the elections committee-which appeared to be inactive or maybe nonexistent before the meeting-would issue rules. Those rules came out a few days later, and do not include the proposed candidate forum. 

Later that night, Donahue announced their and with España’s intention to run on Facebook. Sinicki likely saw this coming and effectively prevented any opportunity for this announcement to be made before party membership at the meeting. 

The biggest, most widespread public criticism of the Democratic Party is that they don’t seem to like democracy very much. Institutional power always puts its finger-or sometimes its full fist- on the primaries and internal elections, making the process seem rigged. Sinicki’s shenanigans suggest this antidemocratic tendency runs all the way from the national down to the county level. Putting a stop to it is an essential step toward making the Democratic Party win again.