Trifecta? Try harder!
There is a good chance Wisconsin voters will elect a Democratic Governor and Democratic majorities in both houses of the state legislature in November 2026. Democrats have been holding up this “trifecta” as a holy grail and its absence as an excuse for their inaction and failures. Even when activists explicitly and repeatedly demand that Governor Tony Evers act through executive order, without participation from the legislature, he refuses, claiming (falsely) that his hands are tied. Instead, he and his administration direct us to elect more Democrats.
This raises a few questions. First, how do we win this trifecta? Second, how do we hold Democrats to their campaign promises afterward? The answer is: we need more left populists to run in primaries, and win. As we've argued before, a third party and outside pressure are too slow. If Wisconsin is going to free ourselves from fascist Republicans before they functionally cancel future elections, we need to elect Democrats now. If we’re also going to avoid a Wisconsin version of the Manchin-Sinema excuse, we need to elect a lot of them, and good ones.
A Trifecta should be easy
The Republican-controlled legislature is the least popular political institution in the state. Their power grabs, crooked legal adventures, obstruction, and overconfident spin doctoring have worn on the people of Wisconsin. The recent budget fight also hurt them. After years of Governor Evers signing Republican austerity budgets without a public fight or debate, tighter margins in the senate forced Republicans to negotiate with other, less collaborationist Democrats. The resulting public discussion raised awareness of how callous Republicans are, and how they maniacally focus on delivering tax cuts for the rich while their constituents suffer.
National trends also lean against Republicans. Incumbent Presidents typically struggle in midterm elections, and Donald Trump’s popularity is declining as his paradoxical coalition finally fractures, despite little effort from Democrats to drive wedges between them. Trump’s blatant attempts to undermine the midterm elections, and to ram through unpopular legislation before campaign season starts show his desperation. Wisconsin conservatives have put up with (or even embraced) a lot of underhanded bullshit from their party, but this kind of desperate cheating and covering for pedophiles may finally be too much.
The Republicans clearly should get whooped next fall. Unfortunately, at the same time they spectacularly and desperately fall apart, Democrats are quietly fizzling. Nationally, they somehow have even lower approval ratings. The Democratic establishment might be the only people unpopular and inept enough to blow this chance.
Democrats who fail
Unfortunately, here in Wisconsin, it’s those centrist leaders who hold most of the power. The good news is, some are resigning, which does create an opportunity for more populist challengers to emerge, but so far, none have. If Wisconsin’s left doesn’t get organized and active, we’re simply going to see centrist collaborationists pass the reins to their rich and unqualified proteges.
The best news is that Governor Evers took the good advice we and others offered and got out of the running for 2026. The bad news is, only his Lieutenant Governor Sarah Rodriguez was ready to jump in, while other centrists like David Crowley say they’ll run but haven’t launched a campaign. Rodriguez is a relatively inexperienced politician who will probably inherit the same donors and conservative influences Evers relied on.
In the state legislature there are six assembly districts and four senate districts that are most in play, but 23 worth watching. Two Democratic assembly reps (Robyn Vining and Jenna Jacobson) are running for state senate, creating open seats that left populists could run in. We hope to see good candidates step up and will continue following the legislative races in future articles.
Internal to the party, we already saw Ben Wikler hand power to his protege Devin Remicker, with the help of massive, undisclosed donations from corporate leaders. Here in Milwaukee, the conservative, do-nothing county party leaders, Chris Sinicki and Dawn Martin, are stepping down. The slate of people currently set to replace them are led by a wealthy realtor and two are members of the current, failing executive board. Meanwhile, some pro-genocide Zionists (Ann Jacobs and Dustin Klein) have elevated themselves to chair and co-chair of the state party’s Jewish Caucus. So long as these genocide deniers have sway in the party, Democrats are going to leave thousands of votes behind.
To fully realize the potential of a trifecta we cannot leave it in the hands of centrists. They will use their tired strategies, and donor dependence to potentially fumble this opportunity. At best, centrists will squeak out another marginal victory, taking only a weak mandate with a story about winning over conservative voters by abandoning “too woke” demands of the left. Then they’ll continue bipartisan collaboration, saying we need to give them even more power before they’ll start delivering on the existing platform and peoples’ needs.
How to win
Wisconsin doesn’t have a Zohran Mamdani exactly, but we do have a growing socialist caucus and a number of socialist-adjacent politicians who could either run for higher offices, or recruit and support new candidates for lower offices.
Next April, Wisconsin will likely also strengthen the liberal majority on the state Supreme Court. Chris Taylor is the third smart, fair, reasonable judge who isn’t afraid to foreground her liberal values to run. She’ll likely defeat incumbent Justice Rebecca Bradley, one of the weird, dishonest, hateful, right-wing ideologues who the over-reaching, out of touch conservatives have been shoving at that court for decades.
Wisconsin is looking at a ripe political opportunity in the 2026 election. A Democratic trifecta with a very liberal SCOWI ought to fundamentally transform the Wisconsin state government. We could shift from a state that embraces bigotry and seeks more opportunities to harm its people for the benefit of its elites into one that serves people’s needs and defends us against exploitation.
Fully seizing this opportunity requires socialist, antiracist, gender-liberationist, and left-leaning leaders to step up with greater coordination, but they can’t do it alone. Radicals and activists who may be disenchanted with or exhausted by electoral politics also have a part to play. We’re certainly not advocating that direct action organizers stop their work and focus on elections. In fact, in addition to “getting the goods,” direct action, protest, and mutual aid are some of the best ways to pressure elections by attacking the legitimacy of establishment politicians. We’re asking everyone to recognize that the control of the government impacts the prospects of all political work. Moving from MAGA obstruction to liberal appeasement is worth some effort.
If we all find a little time to assess candidates (Milwaukee Beagle makes it easy with our campaign spotlights) and then spend a few minutes casting votes, especially in primaries, but sometimes in Democratic Party meetings, we can shift Wisconsin’s political landscape to our benefit. Democrats will not become radical, socialist, or even successful fighters of fascism overnight, but, if we put our frustrations aside, abandon accelerationism and despair, and engage aggressively, but strategically in the electoral system right now, we can seize a unique opportunity and move the two party system significantly in that direction.
