What's Happening in Assembly District 21?

On January 12, Jessica Seawright suspended her campaign for district 21 in the State Assembly. By announcing early, knocking hundreds of doors, talking to neighbors, and winning endorsements of local Democrats and unions, she raised over $36,000 (with an average donation of $143) to start a strong campaign. On January 12, State Senator Chris Larson also made a Facebook post accusing Mike Tate and other big money interests of bullying Seawright out. The next day, Dale Nook, a longtime party member and avid volunteer posted another angry reaction, saying: “this is why some people wonder about the Democratic Party.” 

What is happening? 

Seawright’s statement offered no explanation at all for why she suspended her campaign. Naturally, we reached out and met with her two days later. She gave us a letter committing to tell her story, but needs more time before she feels able to. Which makes sense. Her letter said “as a nontraditional candidate there is much to learn from my candidacy. I remain committed and available to candidates who wish to use my experience to inform and strengthen their own.” She asked us to share her contact info and encourage candidates to reach out. Here it is: 414-220-0472, hello@jessicaseawright.com. 

We look forward to seeing Seawright’s story in her own words, but as we said to her, it is also important that everyone stand up to bullies, and that we do so collectively. If she was pushed out, and the people doing the pushing do not lose political or social capital, then they will do it again, to other good, unique, passionate candidates. We also believe that a Democratic Party who quietly accepts and enables rich centrist bullies, that avoids open primary contests, and otherwise runs based on backroom influence rather than open processes will continue losing to the extreme right. 

Addressing this situation cannot fall only on Seawright or her team’s shoulders, and it also cannot wait for her to recover from the draining experience of running and prematurely suspending a campaign. We do not want to engage in rumor-mongering, or speculation, but we also won’t let the Democratic Party be controlled from the shadows. We spoke with two volunteers on Seawright’s campaign who were willing to go on the record: Dale Nook, and Steven Daw. They are both long-experienced progressive organizers who have put in a lot of time with the Democratic Party. They are committed to winning in AD21, and races across the state. 

Both Daw and Nook expressed great disappointment in the Assembly Democratic Campaign Committee (ADCC). They heard that Assembly Minority Leader Greta Neubauer (who runs ADCC) and the aforementioned Mike Tate told Seawright to “not waste her time running” because they were going to dump money into an opponent they were recruiting, namely Dan Bukiewicz, the mayor of Oak Creek. Nook and Daw also heard that Seawright’s campaign manager, Brady Coulthard was told to leave the campaign if he ever wanted to work in Democratic politics again. 

Both Nook and Daw admitted their knowledge of these exchanges is second-hand, but that’s all we have for now. Coulthard responded briefly and professionally to our inquiry, saying: “thank you for your empathetic words. I respect Jessica’s decision.” We also attempted to contact Tate, Larson, and Neubauer, but got no response. Rather than letting this go, we will provide what background and context for these claims we can, and let readers decide. 

The Where and the Who

Assembly District 21 includes Oak Creek and a southern bit of the City of Milwaukee. With new maps shifting the district blue, Democrats could have won there last cycle. AD21 voters went +4 for Kamala Harris and +7 for Senator Tammy Baldwin, but the ADCC-supported Democrat, David Marsteller, lost to Jessie Rodriguez by nearly 3 points. Both Daw and Nook were involved in that race, and they both told me they were disappointed by ADCC support and by Marsteller as a candidate. Nook recounted one example where he and Swing Left brought many canvassers up from Illinois to help win the district, but Marsteller didn’t turn up to knock doors or even meet them, because he was cutting his grass. 

Jessica Seawright is a mother, social worker, a native american, and disability rights advocate. We’ve seen her at every Milwaukee County Democratic Party meeting for months. She ran on public education, accessibility, and better government. She was passionate about community involvement, thinking critically, and shifting state priorities toward caring for people. 

Mike Tate runs Wavecrest Consulting and Analytics, a shady firm we’ll have to look into more.  He was the chair of WISDEMS from 2009 to 2015. Those are some years when Wisconsin Democrats were on a hot losing streak. Tate ran the party when Scott Walker won his first election, when Ron Johnson replaced Russ Feingold in our US Senate delegation, and when the Democrats attempted and failed to recall Walker. During that recall, Tate also worked for Kathleen Falk, who lost the primary against Tom Barrett by 24 points. He also supports genocide, as many losers do. Tate commented on Senator Larson’s accusation, denying involvement, and urging Larson to keep such thoughts private. Whatever role Tate had in AD21 or elections elsewhere, it’s likely too big a role. This repeat career loser really does not seem like an asset or good influence on the Democratic Party in our state. 

Greta Neubauer is the Minority Leader in the Assembly. She represents AD66 in Racine, and is an establishment Democrat to her roots. Remember a few weeks ago we wrote about how liberals won 5 of the last 7 State Supreme Court races? Well, Neubauer’s mother, Lisa was one of the two who lost. Her father is also a former Assembly Representative and state party chair. Wisconsin Examiner recently interviewed Neubauer, and all her statements point to vague, careful, centrism. She mused, “How can we work across the aisle… to get things done?” and named centrist victories in New Jersey and Virginia, not Mamdani’s upset or the socialist  wave.

Oak Creek Mayor Dan Bukiewicz entered the race with Neubauer’s endorsement just three days after Seawright suspended her campaign. Bukiewicz is very conservative for a Democrat. He’s been President of the Milwaukee Building and Construction Trades Council since 2014. Construction unions are often right wing. They support building projects that give their members short term income, even if in the long term it costs other union workers their jobs, projects like data centers, which Bukiewicz supports. If he wins the primary, and (unlikely) beats Rodriguez, he could be the Wisconsin Assembly’s Joe Manchin, voting with Republicans on many issues, and stalling our progressive agenda.  

The Why

A hypothetical that won’t be tested: Seawright would easily beat Bukiewicz in the primary, but might then lose the general. There’s a lot of academic debate about the slant of primary vs general electorates, and how these trends are shifting. If Neubauer, Tate, and the ADCC pushed Seawright out, if Bukiewicz waited for her to leave before announcing, it is probably because they think most Democrats in AD21 will vote for someone like her in the primary, but she’ll lose moderates and not be able to win independents or any Republicans in the general. 

This reasoning is wrong, deeply and fundamentally. 

It undercounts the value of enthusiasm and candidate effort and overvalues money. It gulps down bullshit copaganda about progressive and social work approaches to public safety being unpopular (they fucking aren’t!). It relies on shitty assumptions that the people of Oak Creek are too sexist and racist to elect anyone but a white man. It sucks. This kind of thinking sucks! 

I really hope that Greta Neubauer responds to our email with some other explanation for what happened, because otherwise, Democrats might need to find a new assembly leader after we win the trifecta. This is not good leadership.

In the meantime, we have heard that someone is going to pick up Seawright’s mantle. I don’t want to jump the gun on their announcement, but rest assured, Bukiewicz isn’t going to get a free and easy primary.