In his bid to lead the Democratic National Committee, Ben Wikler wants national party to look like Wisconsin
WASHINGTON – Ben Wikler wants to lead national Democrats like he’s led his party in Wisconsin.
The Democratic Party of Wisconsin chairman, who on Sunday announced his bid to head the Democratic National Committee, is pitching himself as a battle-tested state party leader with a record of scoring wins in difficult territory as he aims to become the new face of his national party after the Democrats’ election loss last month.
Much of his plan, Wikler suggested in an interview, will reflect what Democrats have done in Wisconsin. That includes putting a focus on building up state party infrastructure across the country to develop what he calls a “nationwide permanent campaign.”
“I'm running on a platform to unite, fight and win,” Wikler told the Journal Sentinel on Monday.
“Because in Wisconsin, the frontlines of the most contested battleground state in the country, we’ve been able to unite the party to fight in races down-ballot and up-ballot and to win beyond what a party should have been able to hope to win, even in some of the toughest conditions.”
Wikler, 43, began his career in politics volunteering on Sen. Tammy Baldwin’s first congressional campaign and later directed MoveOn.org’s effort to stop Republicans from repealing the Affordable Care Act.
Since becoming Wisconsin Democrats’ chairman in 2019, however, he’s developed a reputation as a well-connected and effective fundraiser who party leaders have credited for their successes in the country’s most evenly divided state.
His entrance into the contest to lead the Democratic Party is no surprise. Top Wisconsin Democrats in recent weeks had encouraged Wikler to run for the post, and party leaders on Capitol Hill have repeatedly praised him as the country’s “preeminent state party chair.”
Current DNC chair Jaime Harrison isn't seeking reelection, and DNC members will elect their new chair on Feb. 1. The committee plans to host four candidate forums throughout January.
Wikler joins Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party chair Ken Martin, former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley and New York state Sen. James Skoufis in announcing bids for the DNC post, though other candidates are expected to jump into the contest.
In an interview, Wikler pointed to Democrats' recent successes in Wisconsin — including Gov. Tony Evers’ reelection in 2022, flipping the state Supreme Court into liberal control in 2023 and recent gains in the state Legislature last month — as evidence of his preparedness for the job.
He called for a “nationwide permanent campaign” and a “50-state strategy” that would largely reflect Wisconsin Democrats’ efforts to organize year-round with help from county parties and neighborhood teams throughout red, blue and purple counties. Some of those efforts have included training people to reach their own communities through door-knocking and social media.
That plan at the national level, Wikler said, would mean the DNC partnering with state parties and Democratic committees “to build a state-by-state strategy that is grounded in the state parties and allows them to run a coordinated campaign on a year-round basis, not just in the few months before an election.”
“That’s been our Wisconsin strategy,” Wikler said of the party’s organizing. “I think that needs to be the national strategy, too.”
The next DNC chair will be tasked with charting a path for Democrats after a Nov. 5 election that saw Trump win every swing state and Republicans gain the majority in the Senate, giving them control of Congress.
In Wisconsin, Wikler has been credited for reducing Democrats’ losses. While the wave of Republican support swept across the country last month, the shift toward Trump was less pronounced in Wisconsin than it was in other swing states.
Wisconsin was the closest contested state in the presidential election — Trump won by just 0.9% — and Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin narrowly hung onto her Senate seat, as other Democratic incumbents lost elsewhere.
On Monday, Wikler said the biggest task for Democrats is to figure out how to communicate with voters “who have the least time to think about politics and have the biggest challenges in front of them.”
He said voters this cycle who felt the lasting impacts of inflation didn't listen to messages from either campaign but “voted for change,” adding that Democrats need to make “absolutely clear that we are fighting for them on their side, and the other side is trying to rip them off.”
If elected, Wikler said he would remain based in Madison. He noted he would also spend time in D.C. while traveling the country “to make the case to raise resources and to work with our partners to win elections everywhere.”
He didn't say how many of the 448 DNC members have pledged to support him, saying only that he’s been “really gratified by the support I've already found in my first wave of calls.”
And the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, he added, would be fine without him.
He said the state party has an “extraordinary depth of talent” to continue its consistent organizing across Wisconsin, and he added that he would continue to prepare for the next state Supreme Court race this spring even as he runs for DNC chair.
His top focus now, however, is getting into a position to try to replicate Wisconsin Democrats’ successes at the national level.
“What we’ve learned in Wisconsin I think can make an enormous difference everywhere,” Wikler said.