Nathan Kalmoe, the write-in candidate who challenged pro-business and pro-genocide Democratic Senate Leader Dianne Hesselbein posted his thoughts about the election and results on his website. We’re reposting it here.
Election Results & What's Next!
What a great election for our progressive movement!
I’ll share a few updates on our write-in campaign for state Senate & talk about what Phase 2 will look like for our efforts.
First, the big picture. I’m still stunned by the victories in WI & beyond that we had over the fascist Republican Party, and there may still be a few more. That will be a sea change for Wisconsin & many other states, and a big step toward dismantling the Trump regime. And some extraordinary victories for real progressive champions who defeated establishment Democrats in the primaries.
We’ve always known our collective people-power is stronger than money, stronger than election corruption, & stronger than authoritarian thugs in our streets. When we connect with each other as a community, grounded in care, we are extraordinarily strong.
We also know that getting Democrats into office is a START to making better government, not the end. After some well-deserved rest & recovery after winning these victories, we need to help our progressive allies in government AND pressure establishment Democrats who might be persuadable. More on that shortly.
OK, let’s talk about our campaign!
The votes are in! Nearly 2,000 write-in votes were cast against Sen. Hesselbein in our district! Wow! “Write-in” totaled 1,861 votes, most of which are probably for our campaign, but we’ll need to wait at least a few weeks to confirm the exact count for us.
That’s incredible for a write-in campaign against an entrenched establishment incumbent. And it’s a huge demonstration of our demand for a better choice against the extraordinary odds.
We had to get the word out to progressives who didn’t know they had a choice, who had to remember my name to write it down, the challenges of having progressive leaders & groups unable to publicly support us because of retribution from the establishment, & the sharply limited resources we had in campaign infrastructure & capacity.
I’m so proud of what we accomplished together, and my heart is full from hearing how meaningful our campaign was to so many of you. And we’ll continue building our momentum in the next phase to make a freer & fairer Wisconsin for everybody.
I’ve congratulated Sen. Hesselbein on her election win & I reminded her that we’ll be pushing her hard to do much better, & that we’ll launch a full-on primary against her in 4 years if she doesn’t.
Thanks to all of you who supported our campaign in so many ways – with your votes, with your advice, telling others about our campaign, yard signs & stickers, knocking on doors, reposting social media videos, & donating funds to get our message. And all the encouragement you gave me along the way. I can’t thank you enough.
Thank you to my wife and kids for bearing with all the extra campaign demands on my time & attention, even as we tried to minimize those impacts with limited weekly schedules & trading off time. And thank you to poll workers & officials whose work made the election possible.
What’s next?
The election was NOT the end of our efforts…just the end of the first phase. Now we’ll leverage the electoral pressure we built up to pressure the new Democratic trifecta in WI state government when they take power in January.
I’ll be working with allies in progressive groups in Dane County & beyond to coordinate our efforts. We’ll also be in touch with allies and potential coalition members in the state legislature as we push to get our agenda on their agenda, as we shine a spotlight on legislative activity, & as we organize pressure inside & outside the Capitol. In all of that, the successes of our campaign will push Democratic legislators to respond to our people-centered values & policies.
I’m excited to share more details about what that will look like in the next few months, & I hope you’ll help continue our fight to make everyday life decent for everyone.
We’re strong & getting stronger. We’ve had a big impact with our campaign, and it’s about to get much bigger.
Let’s go make the world we see in our dreams!
Forward,
Nathan