Republican legislators in Wisconsin and Michigan have reignited Democratic energy since the midterms in two narrow Trump states.
Republican efforts to weaken incoming Democratic governors in Michigan and Wisconsin have reignited the grass-roots fervor that flipped both states in November, turning the typically sleepy post-election period into a key organizing moment ahead of the 2020 presidential election.
Liberal groups in both states are organizing demonstrations filling the capitols in both states to oppose GOP legislators stripping power from the governor’s offices before new Democratic governors take their posts. Local chapters of Indivisible, the national “resistance” group founded after President Donald Trump’s 2016 win, reactivated their members weeks after the election to protest the legislation, while MoveOn.org has texted members in key Wisconsin state Senate districts urging them to contact Republican politicians to complain. And Wisconsin Gov.-elect Tony Evers and the Wisconsin Democratic Party have raked in money with online fundraising appeals highlighting the fight over the past two weeks.
The burst of activity comes as most political groups and activists around the country enjoy a hibernation period after November victories. But liberal leaders in Wisconsin noted that the renewed energy could carry Democrats into important off-year elections in 2019 — and set the stage for efforts to win both states in the 2020 presidential election, after Trump picked off both longtime Democratic states two years ago.
View the complete December 8 article by Daniel Strauss on the Politico website here.