Wisconsin state capital in Madison. PC: Fox 11 Online
(WTAQ-WLUK) — Political advertisements may be making a sooner-than-expected return to your TV screens as Democrats look to ramp up support and resources for local candidates heading into next year’s midterm election.
The Democratic party’s branch that focuses on state races, the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, or DLCC, announced Friday that one of its main targets is Wisconsin.
“State legislatures are the only ballot level with the power to fight back against Project 2025 and the Republican’s takeover of Washington,” said DLCC President Heather Williams in a press briefing on Friday morning. “It’s also the only place where Democrats are in majorities and can pass any kind of proactive agenda.”
The group focuses on statehouse races, offering support and resources to help get Democratic candidates elected.
The group breaks down the 10 states they focus on into three groups: battlegrounds, power building and watch list. This cycle, Wisconsin’s legislature is considered a battleground.
“Battlegrounds are targets with chambers with extremely slim margins, we must defend and win these chambers before 2030 to ensure democrats are in a strong position ahead of redistricting,” said Jeremy Jansen, the DLCC’s Vice President of Political.
Thanks to statewide redistricting, Wisconsin Democrats flipped 4 senate seats and 10 assembly seats in the 2024 election. Although still the minority, the party is closing the gap as they’re just two seats away from flipping the Senate and 5 away from flipping the Assembly.
Republicans have held both chambers for the last 15 years.
Despite the Democrats’ recent legislative gains, and with the knowledge that more resources from groups like the DLCC will be poured into their opponents, Republicans don’t see a threat.
“They’ve been talking about taking over the legislature for years, what I know is in Brown County and in races across the state, Republicans have done very well,” says Wisconsin GOP Chair Brian Schimming. “I think we’re going to pick up seats in the assembly in two years I think the senate, in fairness, will be a fight, but we have good incumbents there, I feel good about it.”
DLCC leaders say during a time when federal Republicans are bulldozing their way to solving their top priorities, the focus on the local level is vital.
“You look at that in comparison to what is happening in states, where we still can make real important progress on these issues where we can still have I think rightful debate about the best path forward, that type of leadership is lacking in Washington and I think it shows up in the states,” Williams added.
Meanwhile, Republicans are ready for a fight and feel confident, as they say this is nothing new for Democrats.
“I always tell people the Democrats, Wisconsin was one of the top seven states in the country they poured a maximum amount of resources in here to win the state and didn’t do very well overall. So this is not the first time Democrats have phony news conferences and talk about how much they’re going to concentrate in Wisconsin, they do it every two years.”
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