After the August 9th primary the general election ticket was set on the republican side after a nearly 2-year primary season that saw the meteoric rise of many patriot groups across the state. Many grassroots organizations sprang up after 2020 with the main goal of putting forward candidates described as being for “We the People”, the only problem is, that none of those candidates won their primaries. In Western Wisconsin where I live the “patriot candidates” were Ramthun, Wichmann, Mueller, and Schmidka, and for months the patriot groups pressed these candidates as the “God chosen” candidates that would set all things right from the major wrong of 2020. The popular battle cry was that we cannot move forward if we do not address the election integrity and fraud issues in 2020. The only problem is NOT ONE of the pro-decertification candidates won.
The truth of the matter is when it comes to politics you need two different yet connected strategies to win, you need money and a message that resonates with the people. When your message truly resonates with the people the money will flow which helps spread your message. This is a self-sustaining model that wins elections. If people do not trust your message, they won’t give you, their money. Voters do not see money as a resource that is parted with easily, especially now when inflation is over 8%. When candidates in the final days of the election spend much of their time pandering to voters to get more money it is very telling that they will not be successful.
Representative Andy Barr (R-KY) speaking to NBC’s “Meet the Press” let a closely guarded secret come out to light, “These seats belong to the American people, and there is a massive, massive disconnect between the priorities of politicians in Washington and the concerns of the American people.” Barr cited the rising costs of everyday goods as Americans’ main concern, not those “who obsess about the past” and “are not in touch with the American people.” Translation, in general average people do not care about the 2020 election or the January 6th “Insurrection”. People, by and large, are more concerned with the rise in the cost of everyday goods and services, the still high cost of fuel, the rise of crime and the porous southern border. In many research polls even the mainstream medias pushed “hot button” issue of Abortion isn’t found in the top 5 concerns of the American populous.
Now it seems there are true fears that the “Red Wave” will not be as robust or nationwide as many believed just a few short months ago. High contested senate races in AZ, GA and PA could make the “red wave” a small ripple. Many political experts agree that it appears the republicans will take back the US House but there are many state houses and governors’ races that are in jeopardy if the messaging isn’t right, and the people don’t get behind the candidates.
Enter the dumpster fire that is the Wisconsin GOP and the races currently being run. There are rumblings about the primary and whisper campaigns about voting irregularities for the preferred patriot candidates. These are the same people that disrupted the GOP convention and hijacked the endorsement process which allowed for an additional 8 weeks of punishing primary contests that cost candidates a lot of time and money. Now it appears that people are refusing to get behind candidates Michels, Roth, Toney, Loudenbeck and Lieber for statewide office because they were not the “God chosen” patriot endorsed, grassroots candidates. The problem with many of those candidates’ “grassroots” was their close tying of election integrity to the failed decertification movement. When those issues are tied so closely together nobody wins.
When Wisconsin families gather around their tables they are seeing less and less on that table, when they start their cars there is less and less gas in the tank, when they walk the streets of their neighborhoods they feel less and less safe, and the major talking points from Democrats are January 6th? And an equally frustrating topic from a cross-section of Republicans is the “fraud” in the 2020 election. For the record I do not like that Biden is president, I don’t like his policies and I don’t like what our country has become under his failed leadership. However, he took the oath, he was sworn in, and that bell cannot be un-rung.
Even your local Target will not take an item back after 90 days even with a receipt.
The tying of election integrity which is a MUST to the decertification of the electoral votes in my opinion pushed voters away and will not help the republicans win in November. Bill Clinton’s message ahead of the 1992 general election was simple, “It’s the Economy Stupid”, this message only needed to paint George HW Bush as disconnected from the issues that are truly affecting America AND IT WORKED! Now all the democratic candidates in Wisconsin need to do is paint republicans as election denying, insurrectionists, that want children to die at the expense of gun rights and dirty air and water.
If republicans do not have message discipline and choose not to put forth bold actions to repair our state economy, lower taxes and bolster the employment numbers by slashing bureaucratic red tape – then the battle will be lost, and we will be left with 4 more years of Evers and his disastrous administration. Candidates on the right that run on the issues and continually pivot back to the economy, tax relief, smaller government and making cities safer will have a higher chance of winning over all-important independent voters who will see what the Evers administration has done and want no more of that.
If the grassroots, patriot groups cannot coalesce around the candidates that won the primary this will weaken the party so much that combined with a third-party conservative independent candidate, Evers wins. My educated guess would be, if things do not change Evers wins by approximately 4% in November. If republicans cannot hammer Evers over the poor state economy, COVID lockdowns, high taxes and a massive influx in crime and instead spend time just trying to “herd cats” in the party then the loss will be huge, and Wisconsin will be one of the states that will miss that Red Wave.
In the end, both Democrats and Republicans can only draw about 42% of the vote. Some people will only vote for democrats or republicans no matter who is on the ticket, so the battle is won or lost on that 4%-6% independent voter who is only concerned with the issues and has no real party affiliation. They do not look at personality or passion they vote strictly on issues, how will they (govt) make their (independents) lives better? If Wisconsin republicans cannot point to the past 4 years of failures by the Evers administration and provide a clear contrast to how they would run the show then they cannot be trusted to govern and if the Wisconsin GOP cannot wrangle in the “grassroot” patriots then the election is lost, and we have missed our opportunity to capitalize on the best political climate in a generation to make robust, bold change. Let us remember the words of Ronald Reagan “The person who agrees with you 80 percent of the time is a friend and an ally- not a 20 percent traitor”. We can all agree that Wisconsin needs a change, primary voters have spoken, its time to get behind these candidates, support them with our time and money and ride the red wave to victory.
