Change is coming to Milwaukee County Democratic Party
Since our last article on the Democratic Party of Milwaukee County (DPMC) election, executive board chair candidate Deiadra Queary has left the race. She gave no public statement, and little explanation. Amy Donahue, who was previously running for treasurer, has stepped up to challenge Brett Timmerman for chair of the executive board.
The next DPMC membership meeting will be Monday October 20, 6pm at Oak Creek City Hall. We’ll hear from Democrats running for Congressional District 1 against the laughably unpopular Bryan Steil. It’s not often that incumbents are defeated in congress, so we’re excited to see who might pull it off! We’re also curious to see what new shenanigans current DPMC leadership will use to promote their clearly preferred successors or silence Donahue and Deisy España, who is running for corresponding secretary.
In August, the meeting started with tech-bro County Supervisor Jack Eckblad stumping for the establishment slate and ended with Ann Jacobs, Chris Sinicki, and Marissa Nowling silencing and tone policing Queary for speaking about her candidacy at all. Attendees suggested a candidate forum to make the election more fair. In September, the executive board moved the meeting to zoom, restricted comments and refused to answer questions about the elections. Back in February, they pulled a similar tricks to unsuccessfully obstruct a ceasefire resolution. A few days later, they issued election rules that exclude the candidate forum.
What will happen in October? Come out to find out!
Institutional Fuckery, Stagnation, and Losing
Those kind of control games are the worst, most unpopular thing about Democratic Party. For too long, and at every level, establishment figures in the Democratic Party have used institutional clout, machine politics, and procedural processes to prevent voters from determining the leadership or the direction of the party. This tendency trickles down from presidential races like Biden’s death grip in 2024, to establishment fuckery wielded against Bernie Sanders in the 2020 and 2016 primaries, to state party stonewalling in Nevada and Massachusetts, to Mamdani’s election in NYC, down to county level races like this one.
In Milwaukee County, the Democratic Party is currently led by two very conservative, stagnant, old guard figures: Chris Sinicki and Dawn Martin. Under their “leadership” our county clocked the second lowest ratio of party members to Democrat voters in Wisconsin. The county party is not supposed to endorse or promote Democrats against each other during primaries, it’s supposed to support all Milwaukee Democratic candidates in general elections. Party members can support their favorites as individuals, but Sinicki blurs these lines. She has gone hard after Democrats who don’t follow her rules. As we described in the last article, Sinicki piled on España for daring to run for assembly without asking permission of her very conservative (and no longer Democratic) friend Sylvia Ortiz-Velez. She also relentlessly criticized Democrats who hesitated to endorse Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, silencing dissent and bolstering a losing strategy of genocide support, collaboration with war criminals like Dick Cheney, and reinfocing an unpopular status quo.
Change is coming
In their campaign for chair, Amy Donahue emphasizes transparency, collective power, and the progressive values that exist in the WISDEMS platform, but are too often missing from the actions of Democratic politicians. Their organizing with Wisconsin Citizen Action and Healthcare Workers for Palestine underlines their alignment with Democratic voters who are sick of corporate control and genocide denial. Deisy España’s organizing with Voces De La Fontera and her 2024 run for assembly speak clearly to her priorities as she seeks the role of corresponding secretary.
We’re hoping more activist candidates join these two. Others may still get in this race up until the day of voting, November 17. However, anyone who wants their name on the official ballots needs to contact the party by 5PM on November 9, using the online form at the bottom of this page: http://www.milwaukeedems.org/mkedemselection2025.
With Queary out, Donahue and España are going to have a difficult time as only two challengers against a unified slate of candidates for every seat. The good news is, improvements are coming to the Milwaukee Dems even if Donahue and España are not successful. Chris Sinicki and Dawn Martin are resigning. They clearly prefer and likely recruited the slate, but no one on it is bad as them. Some, like Kejuane Jennings, even have a good reputation among local left organizers. Eddie Phanichkul and Brady Couthard, have low positions on the current, stagnant board, but they are friendly with folks from the WISDEMS Progressive Caucus. Couthard also has ambitions for public office, which means he might meet demands from Democratic membership with appeasement, rather than Sinicki’s stonewalling.
Change is coming. Power in the Democratic Party is definitely shifting from corporations and rich donors back to grassroots members and activists. The choice before Democratic voters in Milwaukee next month will be about how quickly. Electing Donahue, España and anyone who joins them will accelerate that shift. The establishment slate, and particularly chair candidate Brett Timmerman will slow it down. Timmerman is a very wealthy real estate developer and fundraiser. Unlike Chris Sinicki, he is at least a friendly guy who wants to be liked, so he probably won’t vindictively target and exclude the left. He will still likely instinctually prioritize money over people, though. Electing him, (like electing new state chair Devin Remiker) will prolong dependency on the donor class and corporate control, when the moment calls for grass roots energy and economic populism. Given the aggressive pace of Republican powergrabs, Democrats need to transform from status quo pets of the rich to energized activists, quickly.
If the huge block of voters who routinely cast ballots for Democrats as the lesser evil, but long for a party that actually represents their desires, shows up, we can make that happen!
The election will take place at the DPMC monthly meeting:
Monday, November 17, 6PM
at the Washington Park Senior center
4420 W Vliet Street.
The base of the Wisconsin Democratic Party is further left, more populist and progressive than its current leaders, and the current leaders are flailing and wallowing in disastrously low approval ratings. If we want to vote without holding our nose, if we want better than the lesser of two evils on the ballot, if we want an actual fighting left party in the USA, our best bet right now is to transform the Democratic Party. That transformation starts at the local level.
Vital actions:
Join the party before November 7.
Show up to vote for Donahue and España, and friends on November 17.
Extra credit:
Attend the October 20 Milwaukee Dems meeting, and agitate for change.
Extra extra credit:
Run for a position on the DPMC executive board! The best place to start is probably contacting Amy Donahue.
