The most important election these first months of 2025 is the Wisconsin Supreme Court race between Susan Crawford and Brad Schimel. The race is close – and we really need to win this. The future of the nation, as well as Wisconsin, may well hinge on this one election!
Let’s do this!
.
WISCONSIN UPDATE
Late last night, Toby of MGData posted updated Early Vote numbers from Wisconsin. Lots of analysis and details on his feed. Here are the top numbers heading into Election Day:
– Mail Ballot Requests: 386,429 (Deadline has passed)
– Mail Ballot Returns: 283,546 (73.86% return rate, +28,195 from Friday)
– IPAV*: 361,254 (55.60% of ballots cast, +72,730 from Friday)
2023 numbers for comparison:
– 329,400 Mail Ballot Requests (Gap +57,029)
– 235,538 Mail Ballot Returns (Gap +48,208, +2,912 from Friday)
– 71.44% Mail Return Rate (Gap +2.42%, -0.42% from Friday)
– 174,417 IPAV (Gap +186,837, +41,076 from Friday)
"There’s no party registration data in Wisconsin, but our estimates nonetheless indicate that early voters are more Democratic-leaning than they were last November, and would have backed Ms. Harris by more than 20 points."
Mind you, this is the Early Vote. The lion’s share of Wisconsin’s voting, which will be today, is expected to be considerably redder. That said, I do think Crawford will win by high single-digits or better.
You mean the election results? Probably sometime after midnight, although there might be a clear conclusion before that. Not sure how Wisconsin counts its votes.
I made my calls this morning to Alsobrooks, Van Hollen, and Raskin. From now on, I'll be adding that I want my Senators to do what Corey Brooks did. There's no reason why every single Democratic Senator can't take a turn doing what he did. There shouldn't be a single week night without a Dem Senator taking to the floor to talk all night about what Trump is doing and why it's illegal.
Alsobrooks is so great - what a tremendous asset to the Old Line State! I am from DC, and remember when Van Hollen ran for the House seat in the Montgomery County 'burbs. You have some great electeds! And BTW, Cory Booker is my senator. :)
I had measles back in 1958 or so. I remember the miserable itching. It was No Fun. I feel so bad for those kids who had no ability to choose their parents!
@NYTimes. "White House Takes Highly Unusual Step of Directly Firing Line Prosecutors
Two prosecutors were dismissed out of the blue, notified by a terse one-sentence email stating no reason for the move other than that it was on behalf of the president himself.
I'm off today for my anniversary (not a joke). But I called Cory Booker's office this morning to thank him for taking the floor all night, and to keep it up!
Repeating my comment from yesterday so more of you see it. I do think we have power in our conversations. We can motivate our liberal friends to wake up and start acting and we can help enlarge the little cracks in our apolitical and former Republican friends. I think there's not much we can do for MAGA, but who knows? Pinpricks can double in size. (I'm reminded of Bush's Thousand Points of Light -- an updated version: Millions of Stories of Truth!)
Sarah Longwell of the Bulwark has been saying something that's really resonating with me. She says we all need to start sharing personal stories of how the administration has hurt us. Yesterday I posted on FB about how I will lose 45% of my income if Social Security goes away. Three friends wrote that my post had nudged them into making calls to their legislators. They had been thinking about it, but I gave them the nudge they needed. My MAGA friends stayed silent, because I was posting about my own personal situation -- and I didn't start by talking about how evil the administration is. So I think we all need to start thinking about tangible ways to post about these things on social media and to bring up in casual conversation. When someone asks me how I'm doing, I can say, "Well I'm okay but things are very stressful at work because the university has lost tens of millions of dollars. People are starting to lose their jobs and it's very frightening." I think we need to get over a reticence to talk politics, but we need to talk politics in a way that is very personal and concrete. Not fulminating against Trump, because that turns people off, but saying very clearly, *things are not normal*!
In my opinion, he offers MAGA a place to feel safe, wanted, empowered and feel part of a group that can say what they think out loud. A group of self loathing racists who blame the "others" and the Democrats for all their woes. They blame every woe in their life on Democrats and the "others". I know. I have one in my family. Other comments I hear over and over, are "You don't know things", "People just don't know", "I know things you people just don't know" and always, whatever talking point Trump has for that week - even if it contradicts what he said the week before.
I sent a thank you to Cory Booker for standing up in the Senate overnight and speaking out against this horrendous administration. I'm making my sign for the Hands Off march in my community on April 5 and my trans son is marching with me!
I've been making calls to WI. Thanks for continuing to push for this key election, Simon.
But I am wondering, how closely you're following the so-called "SAVE" Act? It's an Orwellian-named piece of MAGA Repub legislation that is Project 2025's wet dream. Tr*mp recently issued an Executive Order that incorporates the same voter disenfranchisement goals.
While I am 100% committed to electing Dems, especially down ballot (I'm a longtime Sister District Project organizer), if the SAVE Act passes—our midterm elections (or even the remainder of elections this year in VA/NJ) will become like those in Hungary and Russia: window dressing.
Tr*mp/F'Elon/MAGA Repubs want to rig the rules so voters don't get to pick their leaders.
They know, when all Americans vote, we elect leaders who work for us, not just the wealthy, well-connected few! The Repub's SAVE Act is trick to deny us the freedom to vote. They are directly targeting veterans, seniors, students, women, and working/rural families by making voting nearly impossible!
They are trying to force us to pay to vote (a literal poll tax)—requiring costly documents ($160) that will be a huge time-suck to request, let alone actually ever receive as they gut Federal employees and decimate our tax-funded programs and services!
At least 146 million American voters would be disenfranchised.
To be clear, I don't want to add work to your already overflowing plate.
The Declaration for American Democracy (DFAD / https://dfadcoalition.org/#dfad), a group of more than 260+ groups, are in an all out push on the SAVE Act.
DFAD has a full outreach strategy involving direct lobbying, organization sign-on letters, press events, earned media, social media and petition gathering to target both the House and the Senate.
I'm pasting their resources below for your review:
-----------------
Coalition-Wide Call-In Line:
We’re hearing that calls matter!! Please join us in driving calls into Member offices. Folks can use our Call-In line ( 833-346-1779) which will connect the caller to their congressmen’s office and prompt them to share why they oppose the SAVE Act.
There's A LOT of noise out there right now. Tr*mp/F'Elon/MAGA are working hard to 'flood the zone' and overwhelm us, but mostly to distract us from their highest priority goals, one of which is kneecapping our elections. As an unpopular, fascist minority -- they know they cannot win the popular vote, so instead they are trying everything they can to stop us from voting.
This is nothing new, this has been in their DNA since before the Civil War, before the Civil Rights Movement, Since Bush v Gore in 2000, since Shelby v. County in 2013. Project 2025 is taking national what Repub-gerrymandered and controlled states have been doing for years (and what Marc Elias and Democracy Docket have been playing—often with success—whack-a-mole to defend against).
But if the so-called SAVE Act (what I call the Stop Americans from Voting Equally law) is passed; it is truly game over for a non-violent transition of power...
People on Threads were saying Johnson got angry about something and shut down voting in the House for the rest of this week. I’m not sure what happened. I thought they were scheduled to vote on the SAVE act Thursday. Also, when Trump rushed out the EO on voting, I wondered whether this signaled they don’t have the votes to pass SAVE in Congress. But it is a very bad bill. No doubt.
Wow, that was a crazy typo. I will fix it online. Our "Events" tab on our Nav bar has the latest info on all our upcoming events. It is Wed at 7pm ET. Thank you. S
Good morning everyone. I am so proud of my senator! When I make my calls to Senator Booker and Sen. Kim, I always thank them but this is the first time I have called where I just said thank you and nothing else. Both are exceptional individuals and we are so blessed to have them as our senators here in the Garden State.
I am headed to Tim Walz country for an academic librarians conference tomorrow morning so I will not be able to be as active here, but I will update people on doings in the Twin Cities and in academic Library world. Keep going!
Cory Booker's effort on the Senate floor was great. It played especially well on Threads. I didn't see it as much on Bluesky but hopefully it played well there too. I guess a ton of prep went into that, but I'd like a repeat with other senators. And kudos to Chris Murphy, who stayed all night in the Senate.
Forgot to mention Simon (my little dog) made his first protest appearance yesterday with “Dogs Against Doge” pinned to his dog jacket. We were at a Crawford Bridge Brigade. Mostly happy honkers, waves and thumbs ups and just a few negative passers by. I hope that’s a good sign for the election
Still getting used to this daily check-in idea but it’s a good one.
I spoke the last couple days about starting my own news organization. I’ve got the name — Democracy Network News. I honestly love the concept and think it could be wonderful but the first thought is: I am going to get sued. I will be targeted. And I’m not in a financial position to take on a court battle.
I’ll talk to the local ACLU to see if there’s a possibility of coverage but this may be something someone with more resources can pursue. I just want to do more!
I don’t know about you all but I’m Pissed Off reading every day about some new cockamamy, obviously unconstitutional, Executive Order being foisted on us as if we have no voice in our own country. I think it’s about time that we the people issue our own People’s Orders…
WISCONSIN – LET’S PUSH FOR VICTORY
The most important election these first months of 2025 is the Wisconsin Supreme Court race between Susan Crawford and Brad Schimel. The race is close – and we really need to win this. The future of the nation, as well as Wisconsin, may well hinge on this one election!
Let’s do this!
.
WISCONSIN UPDATE
Late last night, Toby of MGData posted updated Early Vote numbers from Wisconsin. Lots of analysis and details on his feed. Here are the top numbers heading into Election Day:
– Mail Ballot Requests: 386,429 (Deadline has passed)
– Mail Ballot Returns: 283,546 (73.86% return rate, +28,195 from Friday)
– IPAV*: 361,254 (55.60% of ballots cast, +72,730 from Friday)
2023 numbers for comparison:
– 329,400 Mail Ballot Requests (Gap +57,029)
– 235,538 Mail Ballot Returns (Gap +48,208, +2,912 from Friday)
– 71.44% Mail Return Rate (Gap +2.42%, -0.42% from Friday)
– 174,417 IPAV (Gap +186,837, +41,076 from Friday)
https://nitter.poast.org/TobyMGData
*) IPAV = In-Person Absentee Vote
(Nitter is a way to access Tweets without having to visit Musk’s Xitter.)
Link via Xitter: https://x.com/TobyMGData
Contributed yesterday! GO Wisc Susan Crawford. This is our day . . .
Me too - despite the budget that said no. I replied, if not now, when?
I put mine on a credit card, so yeah
"There’s no party registration data in Wisconsin, but our estimates nonetheless indicate that early voters are more Democratic-leaning than they were last November, and would have backed Ms. Harris by more than 20 points."
– New York Times, quoted by Toby of MGData
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/01/upshot/special-elections-democrats-voting.html
🙏🏻
What a delicious thought.
Mind you, this is the Early Vote. The lion’s share of Wisconsin’s voting, which will be today, is expected to be considerably redder. That said, I do think Crawford will win by high single-digits or better.
Amen.
🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
Polls available when?
You mean the election results? Probably sometime after midnight, although there might be a clear conclusion before that. Not sure how Wisconsin counts its votes.
Yes and where would we track poll results?
Thank you Artic Stones
I made my calls this morning to Alsobrooks, Van Hollen, and Raskin. From now on, I'll be adding that I want my Senators to do what Corey Brooks did. There's no reason why every single Democratic Senator can't take a turn doing what he did. There shouldn't be a single week night without a Dem Senator taking to the floor to talk all night about what Trump is doing and why it's illegal.
Love this idea! Literally cannot imagine my Senator Gary Peters (MI) doing that, but we can always ask!
Absolutely ask! Even if you need to supply the script. Perhaps he could simply quote Cory Booker, with attribution of course.
It wouldn’t even have to be 13 hours. Any Senator should be able to do 4 hours. A rally and press interview would take that long.
and he's still going! he's not done yet
Alsobrooks is so great - what a tremendous asset to the Old Line State! I am from DC, and remember when Van Hollen ran for the House seat in the Montgomery County 'burbs. You have some great electeds! And BTW, Cory Booker is my senator. :)
Add an ongoing measles epidemic to Maga's unfavorable ratings: https://www.denverpost.com/2025/03/31/colorado-measles-pueblo-outbreak-public-health-mmr-vaccine/?share=whle2mohsderom0ooakm
Add rural Colorado to the list. Call Rep. Jeff Hurd's office: https://hurd.house.gov/
I had measles back in 1958 or so. I remember the miserable itching. It was No Fun. I feel so bad for those kids who had no ability to choose their parents!
#UnCivilLiberties
@NYTimes. "White House Takes Highly Unusual Step of Directly Firing Line Prosecutors
Two prosecutors were dismissed out of the blue, notified by a terse one-sentence email stating no reason for the move other than that it was on behalf of the president himself.
very dangerous precedent
I'm off today for my anniversary (not a joke). But I called Cory Booker's office this morning to thank him for taking the floor all night, and to keep it up!
Repeating my comment from yesterday so more of you see it. I do think we have power in our conversations. We can motivate our liberal friends to wake up and start acting and we can help enlarge the little cracks in our apolitical and former Republican friends. I think there's not much we can do for MAGA, but who knows? Pinpricks can double in size. (I'm reminded of Bush's Thousand Points of Light -- an updated version: Millions of Stories of Truth!)
Sarah Longwell of the Bulwark has been saying something that's really resonating with me. She says we all need to start sharing personal stories of how the administration has hurt us. Yesterday I posted on FB about how I will lose 45% of my income if Social Security goes away. Three friends wrote that my post had nudged them into making calls to their legislators. They had been thinking about it, but I gave them the nudge they needed. My MAGA friends stayed silent, because I was posting about my own personal situation -- and I didn't start by talking about how evil the administration is. So I think we all need to start thinking about tangible ways to post about these things on social media and to bring up in casual conversation. When someone asks me how I'm doing, I can say, "Well I'm okay but things are very stressful at work because the university has lost tens of millions of dollars. People are starting to lose their jobs and it's very frightening." I think we need to get over a reticence to talk politics, but we need to talk politics in a way that is very personal and concrete. Not fulminating against Trump, because that turns people off, but saying very clearly, *things are not normal*!
This is a great post. Thank you. I'm all over telling stories. And I have a few. Thanks.
"Why Do People Stay in Controlling Groups?"
by Cult Expert Dr. Steven Hassan
🔸️A cult leader demands loyalty and offers love, protection, and purpose so followers feel safe and valued.
🔸️Question or step away from a cult leader and that love turns into rejection.
🔸️True love allows freedom, doubt, and independence. If leaving a group feels like betraying a parent, it may be manipulation, not love.
🔸️Understanding this emotional control is the first step to breaking free
https://substack.com/@stevenhassan/note/c-99927840?r=280c3q
Trump offering love? To anybody?? That’s news to me.
(The best he ever does is "Complete and Total endorsement" of brown-nosers.)
In my opinion, he offers MAGA a place to feel safe, wanted, empowered and feel part of a group that can say what they think out loud. A group of self loathing racists who blame the "others" and the Democrats for all their woes. They blame every woe in their life on Democrats and the "others". I know. I have one in my family. Other comments I hear over and over, are "You don't know things", "People just don't know", "I know things you people just don't know" and always, whatever talking point Trump has for that week - even if it contradicts what he said the week before.
Well said.
I sent a thank you to Cory Booker for standing up in the Senate overnight and speaking out against this horrendous administration. I'm making my sign for the Hands Off march in my community on April 5 and my trans son is marching with me!
I've been making calls to WI. Thanks for continuing to push for this key election, Simon.
But I am wondering, how closely you're following the so-called "SAVE" Act? It's an Orwellian-named piece of MAGA Repub legislation that is Project 2025's wet dream. Tr*mp recently issued an Executive Order that incorporates the same voter disenfranchisement goals.
While I am 100% committed to electing Dems, especially down ballot (I'm a longtime Sister District Project organizer), if the SAVE Act passes—our midterm elections (or even the remainder of elections this year in VA/NJ) will become like those in Hungary and Russia: window dressing.
Tr*mp/F'Elon/MAGA Repubs want to rig the rules so voters don't get to pick their leaders.
They know, when all Americans vote, we elect leaders who work for us, not just the wealthy, well-connected few! The Repub's SAVE Act is trick to deny us the freedom to vote. They are directly targeting veterans, seniors, students, women, and working/rural families by making voting nearly impossible!
They are trying to force us to pay to vote (a literal poll tax)—requiring costly documents ($160) that will be a huge time-suck to request, let alone actually ever receive as they gut Federal employees and decimate our tax-funded programs and services!
At least 146 million American voters would be disenfranchised.
Hoping you can look into this and think about amplifying as per Punchbowl, it will be introduced this week: https://punchbowl.news/article/house/peek-at-house-gop-agenda/
To be clear, I don't want to add work to your already overflowing plate.
The Declaration for American Democracy (DFAD / https://dfadcoalition.org/#dfad), a group of more than 260+ groups, are in an all out push on the SAVE Act.
DFAD has a full outreach strategy involving direct lobbying, organization sign-on letters, press events, earned media, social media and petition gathering to target both the House and the Senate.
I'm pasting their resources below for your review:
-----------------
Coalition-Wide Call-In Line:
We’re hearing that calls matter!! Please join us in driving calls into Member offices. Folks can use our Call-In line ( 833-346-1779) which will connect the caller to their congressmen’s office and prompt them to share why they oppose the SAVE Act.
Stop the SAVE Toolkit: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1lPk3SuH7Y6Gw7qRWdVxr9kiV0qhTHylraFdyIrdwTm8/edit?usp=sharing
Includes all of the resources you need to keep your members informed of all actions that they can take to stop the SAVE ACT.
LTE Guide:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1e9jShjU4LYLibfo8viebRfC7EnCV7hBfluKzpIlZwXk/edit?usp=sharing
-----------------
There's A LOT of noise out there right now. Tr*mp/F'Elon/MAGA are working hard to 'flood the zone' and overwhelm us, but mostly to distract us from their highest priority goals, one of which is kneecapping our elections. As an unpopular, fascist minority -- they know they cannot win the popular vote, so instead they are trying everything they can to stop us from voting.
This is nothing new, this has been in their DNA since before the Civil War, before the Civil Rights Movement, Since Bush v Gore in 2000, since Shelby v. County in 2013. Project 2025 is taking national what Repub-gerrymandered and controlled states have been doing for years (and what Marc Elias and Democracy Docket have been playing—often with success—whack-a-mole to defend against).
But if the so-called SAVE Act (what I call the Stop Americans from Voting Equally law) is passed; it is truly game over for a non-violent transition of power...
People on Threads were saying Johnson got angry about something and shut down voting in the House for the rest of this week. I’m not sure what happened. I thought they were scheduled to vote on the SAVE act Thursday. Also, when Trump rushed out the EO on voting, I wondered whether this signaled they don’t have the votes to pass SAVE in Congress. But it is a very bad bill. No doubt.
Is the paid subscribers get-together today (Tuesday, April 1) or tomorrow (Weds, April 2)? Or some other date/time?
Wow, that was a crazy typo. I will fix it online. Our "Events" tab on our Nav bar has the latest info on all our upcoming events. It is Wed at 7pm ET. Thank you. S
Good morning everyone. I am so proud of my senator! When I make my calls to Senator Booker and Sen. Kim, I always thank them but this is the first time I have called where I just said thank you and nothing else. Both are exceptional individuals and we are so blessed to have them as our senators here in the Garden State.
I am headed to Tim Walz country for an academic librarians conference tomorrow morning so I will not be able to be as active here, but I will update people on doings in the Twin Cities and in academic Library world. Keep going!
Waving from Minneapolis.
I’ve made
I’ve made my calls to WI members of congress and am off to work at the polls. Also left a message of thanks for Cory Booker
Cory Booker's effort on the Senate floor was great. It played especially well on Threads. I didn't see it as much on Bluesky but hopefully it played well there too. I guess a ton of prep went into that, but I'd like a repeat with other senators. And kudos to Chris Murphy, who stayed all night in the Senate.
Trending on Bluesky under Cory Booker and Corey Booker.
Senator Booker still has the floor.
He is bringing out the BEST of the other senators who request a yield to ask a question.
This is an historic day.
Going on 20 hours now.
Senator Booker will read a tremendous letter from a constituent, and then thank them, saying: "I hear you. I see you. And I am standing here for you."
I do, however, wish Cory Booker was doing this as an actual filibuster, and not just a long speech.
Forgot to mention Simon (my little dog) made his first protest appearance yesterday with “Dogs Against Doge” pinned to his dog jacket. We were at a Crawford Bridge Brigade. Mostly happy honkers, waves and thumbs ups and just a few negative passers by. I hope that’s a good sign for the election
I love "Dogs against DOGE"! A real crowd-pleaser of a protest! We need a cute name for cats now...
Doge drools, cats rule?
Cats Against Cuts
Felines against (censored)heads? (/hj)
Ok, folks, the verdict from the Maine Coon cat and the Labrador is in:
"Musk and Trump really stink – and they both fail the Lab Report and Cat Scan."
Still getting used to this daily check-in idea but it’s a good one.
I spoke the last couple days about starting my own news organization. I’ve got the name — Democracy Network News. I honestly love the concept and think it could be wonderful but the first thought is: I am going to get sued. I will be targeted. And I’m not in a financial position to take on a court battle.
I’ll talk to the local ACLU to see if there’s a possibility of coverage but this may be something someone with more resources can pursue. I just want to do more!
I don’t know about you all but I’m Pissed Off reading every day about some new cockamamy, obviously unconstitutional, Executive Order being foisted on us as if we have no voice in our own country. I think it’s about time that we the people issue our own People’s Orders…
https://open.substack.com/pub/liltaiz/p/we-the-people-issue-a-peoples-order?r=1hfw4t&utm_medium=ios
Good idea, and very well executed!
Thanks!