County Party Implodes, Special Election Scheduled
Four of the six elected members of the executive board of the Democratic Party of Milwaukee County (DPMC) abruptly resigned in early July. The resigning members aren’t really talking to the media, but the broad story of what went down is available. We’ll get into that later. In this case, what happened is less important than what happens next.
What’s next is that DPMC will hold a special election at the August membership meeting. That is Thursday, August 20th, at 6PM. The location has not yet been announced, but please save the date and prepare to attend. Only members can vote, but yearly membership only costs $10-25. You can sign up now to make sure you’re on the rolls and able to vote on the 20th.
Signing up with DPMC also makes you a member of the state party, allowing you to vote at internal party conventions at the Congressional District and state level.
Why Join The Democratic Party?
We know many of our readers are among the 58% of registered voters who view the Democratic Party unfavorably. Democrats have been an obstruction to progress, they enabled the rise of Trump, tech-bro fascism, WI Republican dominance, and Ziofascism in the US. Many of our readers have good reason to despise this party, and to organize with third parties, or to eschew electoral politics entirely. I am sympathetic to this frustration and despair, but I encourage everyone to think more strategically.
The United States is hardwired as a two party system. Attempts to build a third party are doomed to run spoiler campaigns until this core structure changes. Elected officials are a necessary piece of the most viable pathway to enact that restructuring. Ironically, the best way to get rid of the unpopular two party system, is to first elect candidates under that system, ones who vow to restructure elections. Winning Democratic primaries and building power within the Democratic Party are necessary steps to make that happen quickly. Strategies involving third parties, protest votes, and election boycotts might have worthy long term goals or other benefits, but they also increase the likelihood of Republican victory and risk the elimination of democracy altogether.
Like it or not, all meaningful political power in the current electoral space flows through the two parties. As I wrote last September, electoral power is not the end-all be-all of politics, but it is an undeniable part of an ecosystem of political action. People also assert power through direct action, issue advocacy, mutual aid, community self defense, grassroots organizing, monkeywrenching, and paperwrenching. These methods are generally much more empowering for individuals and groups, and more effective at achieving specific goals or advancing tectonic shifts in political culture.
But, when elections degrade due to low participation, they become contests between two sets of elites. When the liberal elites lose to fascist elites, the landscape for all other organizing is dramatically worsened. Opportunities for direct action, policy fights, and community organizing become purely defensive and dangerously asymmetrical. Losing elections (both primaries to liberal elites and general elections to fascists) has left us fighting basement nazi chuds and domestic abusers, hired by ICE, armed to the teeth, given a huge budget, a racial profiling mandate, and a green light to kill.
We need to reinvigorate electoral politics if for no other reason than to make other forms of protest and organizing viable again. Reinvigorating electoral politics is no small task, and it has sucked up much of the left’s capacity with scant results in the past, but this year has been different. The Democratic Party is incredibly unpopular, with poll numbers below Republicans, MAGA, and the Democratic Socialists of America. This means establishment Democrats are incredibly vulnerable. They have also made the party a hollow shell of vapid self-interested consultants, corporate shills, and echo chamber pundits who are bad at their jobs.
There is an opportunity here. If we put effort into it, we can shift the priorities of the Democratic Party, marginalizing corporate centrists, Islamophobic bigots, and other regressive elites, turning the party closer to left populism or democratic socialism, and then actually delivering on campaign promises. We believe that an effective left populist Democratic Party will decimate the Republican elites for decades.
That will not be a solution to all of our problems, though. It will merely be a reshaping of the political landscape where direct action and community or issue-based organizing is no longer up against Donald Trump’s personal police force, but is instead driving a radical agenda, extracting concessions from liberals, progressives, and even socialists. We will still face adversity. Politicians we supported will still betray us. We will still need political education, agitation, and popular mobilization, but those activities will carry lower risk of death or imprisonment, and yield higher results with a left populist Democratic Party in office.
Milwaukee Specifically
The opportunity I just described is especially salient in Wisconsin. This year’s chaotic, messy primary shows how desperate and disintegrating the establishment wing of the party is, and also how robust and effective the insurgent socialist wing is. Socialists and progressives missed an opportunity to shape the WISDEMS platform and agenda at this year’s convention. Last year we failed to prevent the election of Devin Remiker as state chair. As we predicted, Remiker has failed to restructure and re-invigorate the party. He even fell short of recent fundraising goals despite his fundraising ability being the whole reason people supported him as chair. Next year’s convention offers an opportunity to replace Remiker.
With the recent collapse of DPMC leadership, the opportunity to forge a new direction is even more salient in Milwaukee. The last county party election, in November of 2025, saw outgoing chair Chris Sinicki and other establishment figures deter election challenges by recruiting a slate of candidates headed by wealthy realtor and fundraiser, Brett Timmerman. Despite this effort, 2025 became the first contested DPMC election in nearly a decade. When Amy Donahue, who uses rolling pronouns, announced their intention to run, the old guard first went out of their way to suppress his announcement, and then framed her as a scary democratic socialist attempting to take over. These tactics helped the establishment turn out more than 250 frightened members, and defeat Donahue.
Then, less than a year later, the slate they hand-picked imploded. They botched the process of attempting to endorse Ismael Luna over the fake Democrat and generally toxic individual, Sylvia Ortiz-Velez at the behest of the Assembly Democrats Campaign Committee (ADCC). This is a rare occasion where ADCC was on the right side of a primary, but it sounds like the state party went against ADCC, reversing DPMC’s endorsement decision at the behest of Zionists and conservative Latinos. Timmerman and others, who previously let Zionists bully them into fucking up the resolutions process, likely got sick of, or couldn’t handle all the conflicting backroom pressure, and quit. The two remaining members of the executive board, Kejuane Jennings, and Eddie Phanichkul did not seem to play a large role in any of these shenanigans. They didn’t resign in fear of Zionist bullies. They also have said they will not build a slate or endorse other candidates. They want an open election, welcoming any candidates to run. We are hopeful they will facilitate a fair process, and we expect less drama.
We also expect establishment types, especially Milwaukee’s loudest pro-genocide bigots Ann Jacobs and Dustin Klein, to be packing the room with as many conservative supporters as they can. That’s why we want everyone who cares about progressive change in Milwaukee County to pay attention, show up and vote. We also encourage more people to run. Internal elections are done by ranked choice, so there is little reason to fear splitting votes and letting the opposition win. As long as you’re a member of the party, a friend can nominate you from the floor on the day of. You are far more likely to win if you announce early and introduce yourself to members in advance, though. This is probably the lowest stakes, lowest barrier to entry race you can run for, give it a shot!
Mark Your Calendars.
Obviously, everyone is going to have more time to give this internal party election attention after we stop being busy with the primary on August 11. We expect candidates to emerge and actively campaign between August 12 and 20th, but we want this date to be on everyone’s calendar now. Milwaukee Beagle will publish an update and voters guide with whatever information we can gather.
If you intend to run for any position on the DPMC executive board, please send us an email. Its MilwaukeeBeagle@gmail.com. Let us know who you are, why you’re running, and what you hope to achieve! If you don’t suck, we will help boost your candidacy.
