I’ve just finished Wikler’s book and want to hasten to share with you what I think is especially helpful guidance in the run up to next month’s midterm elections.
Wikler was chairman of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin from 2019 to 2025 and has much to offer about winning battleground-state races and other electoral topics.
As you know, citizens who believe America is off track are advised to donate to groups and candidates and to help boost the election turnout so the results are harder to dispute.
Wikler says, “The very most powerful thing you can do as a volunteer in politics is to talk to your actual friends and family who are fence-sitters.”
He quotes Abraham Lincoln, who wrote in a letter to a campaign committee in 1840: “Keep a constant watch on the doubtful voters, and from time to time have them talked to by those in whom they have the most confidence.”
The place to put our energy, Wikler says, is on the people whose votes will matter most because they live in a place with high-stakes, very close elections, as well as the people where we live.
So I’m matching toss-up races — listed in the Cook Political Report that John Dineen is linking to in the elections section of his briefing.center website — to people I know and can call.
Here is a PBS interview with Wikler.
And here is Wikler’s book talk, with Nancy Pelosi and Judy Woodruff, at D.C.’s Politics and Prose bookstore.
Voting rights, commentary on briefing.center
“The vote is precious. It is the most powerful non-violent tool we have in a democratic society, and we must use it.” — late Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., civil rights activist
Here are regularly updated voting rights resources for the November midterm elections, on John Dineen’s briefing.center website. And here is John’s daily quick commentary on his briefing.center home page.
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You can call the Capitol switchboard, (202) 224-3121, and be connected to the offices of your representative and senators. To email your House member and your two senators, you can connect to their websites at Congress.gov. Most lawmakers seem to only accept emails from their constituents, but these leaders accept emails from Americans nationwide, at:
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer
Senate Majority Leader John Thune