OPINION: Democrats in Wisconsin urgently need our help in the closing days of this election. Are you in?

This article was originally posted on Edwin’s Substack newsletter on Oct. 17. Wherever you live in the United States, Wisconsin matters. No state so evenly straddles America’s dangerous political divide. And in no state is the election outcome as likely to impact the rest of the country. Right now, Wisconsin Republicans are running candidates who, if they win, will have the power and the mandate to corrupt the next presidential election. The GOP candidate for governor is an election denier. Incumbent GOP U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson was the bag man whose staff carried the slate of fake electors as part of Donald Trump’s effort to steal the 2020 election. That’s in contrast to the Democratic incumbent governor, Tony Evers, who has been busy vetoing the Republican legislature’s efforts to restrict access to voting in the state. DEMOCRATS WIN MORE VOTES, BUT REPUBLICANS HOLD POWER THROUGH GERRYMANDERING Wisconsin is the most gerrymandered state in the Union. As a result, legislators pay themselves not to show up for work. They go months at a time without ever being in session. But it only took a few meetings for those legislators to pass crazy MAGA laws making it even easier to carry concealed weapons into churches and schools. They passed laws making it harder to vote. They passed laws to turn the state’s election commission into a GOP partisan operation. Those of you who do not know Wisconsin might think the legislature can do these things because it’s a Republican majority state. Nope. That’s not it at all. In 2018 Democrats won 54% of the vote. But in that same election, Republicans took 63% of the state legislative seats despite the fact that Democrats won the most votes. That’s what corrupt map making can do for a party in power: Create a lopsided, unaccountable, single-party legislature. A DEMOCRATIC GOVERNOR KEEPS GOP EXTREMISM AT BAY Thankfully, they could not gerrymander the state boundaries, so a Democrat, Tony Evers, was elected governor. He vetoed those terrible gun bills. He vetoed those new election restrictions. But in Wisconsin, women cannot make their own choices about reproductive health. Courtesy of the gerrymandered legislature, a law from the middle of the 1800s governs their bodies. Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul says he’ll refuse to enforce it. Gov. Evers and AG Kaul have challenged that law in court. But the case will be withdrawn if Evers loses to his anti-abortion challenger. Those of us in Illinois are grateful that Democratic Gov. Tony Evers vetoed those gun bills. We suffer enough from the cross-border gun trade. People interested in fair elections are grateful he vetoed the worst of the MAGA efforts to undermine voting in the state. This cycle, the Wisconsin GOP has imposed a new and further gerrymandered map. They are determined to win a supermajority so they can overcome any gubernatorial veto. Their agenda is clear — guns are always good, abortion is always bad, state money should be spent to promote the Big Lie (as it was in the so-called Gableman investigation), and voters are a pesky nuisance that should not get in the way of one-party rule. As Ben Wikler, head of the Wisconsin Dems, says, “Wisconsin is a democracy desert.” WISCONSIN DEMOCRATS URGENTLY NEED YOUR HELP In these crucial days before Nov. 8, you can make a difference. Text and phone bank. Knock on doors. Donate. Go to WisDems.org to find opportunities to engage including engage including the ‘Weekend of Action” voter outreach effort on Oct. 22 and 23 to help get out the early vote. Swing Left, Indivisible Chicago, Progressive Turnout Project and the Human Rights Campaign also have volunteer opportunities in Wisconsin. Check Mobilize for details. MORE WAYS TO HELP

You can help tip the balance in one of the closest U.S. Senate races in the country. Lt. Governor Mandela Barnes is tied with incumbent Republican (and the worst senator in the United States) Ron Johnson.
You can help hold the House. Brad Pfaff is running against a guy who participated in the Jan 6th insurrection. Seriously, the national GOP is funding a guy who used campaign funds to go to go D.C. to be part of the attack on the Capitol. This is an open seat, formerly held by Ron Kind, a Democrat. Of course, the district has been gerrymandered to make it harder for Dems to hold.
You can help keep Gov. Evers and his veto.
You can help prevent a GOP super majority in the legislature.
You can help Attorney General Josh Kaul get re-elected and continue to hold the line against Wisconsin’s antiquated 1849 abortion law.

The margin in everyone of these elections is likely to be just a handful of voters per precinct. It is a state that can tip the country one way or the other. And, because it is so close, it is a state where the decision you make right now, the decision to get involved, can make all the difference.