Day #2 of Tuesday’s election autopsy
Already, some Republicans are blaming the Wisconsin Election Commission and mail-in ballots for Tuesday’s drubbing in the Spring elections statewide and here in the Emerald City of Madison WI. Election deniers and other delusional conspiracy hounds are why we can’t see our way to victory.
Wednesday’s thrilling installment of your favorite blogge (“Aaarghh, Woke won!“) reported that Republican-backed candidates continue to fare worse every election here in Dane County despite new county party leadership. Republican-backed Daniel Kelly managed only 18% of Dane County’s 240,687 votes for state supreme court. Once upon a time, say Bush v Gore two decades ago, Republicans in Wisconsin’s second-most populous county mustered a healthy one-third of the ballots.
Exacerbating the Republican dilemma is that Dane County increasingly counts for a greater proportion of total ballots cast in statewide elections. Tuesday 04-04-23, Dane County contributed over one-fifth of the total 1.12 million votes cast statewide for supreme court. That’s punching well above this county’s weight — and Dane County is increasing its heft year by year.
No county has added more population in the last two decades. Our 2023 population of 583,533 is up 37% from the year 2000. Accordingly, Dane County now accounts for almost 10% of the state’s population — from 7.9% in 2000.
What is truly insane is that 62.3% of Dane County’s eligible voters went to the polls in a (supposedly) non-partisan spring election! Most counties would envy that number in a presidential election! Indeed, only 39% of voters turned out statewide — even with Dane County in the equation!
(Ironically, it was the Republican legislature that legalized unlimited campaign contributions to political parties that could, in turn, be poured into individual candidates. Janet Protasiewicz benefited from that Republican legislation.)
Madison is a Woke petri dish
Epic Systems and Exact Sciences are luring brilliant, well paid and childless 20-somethings who vote their idealistic youth, inexperience, and naïveté. Madison’s public schools teach critical race theory. Voters just elected to its school board a social justice warrior who indicts schools themselves as “products of white supremacy.” Its elected leaders, from Satya Rhodes Conway on down, stalk the steaming heaths mandating non-diversity of thought, inequity, and cancellation. Bowing to its market, the city’s remaining daily newspaper has lost its nerve and gone Woke. The great University of Wisconsin’s Madison campus exiled a 42-ton glacial boulder after it was accused of racism.
Progressives have the full support of Progressive Dane, Madison Teachers Inc., the Democratic Party of Dane County — as well as various quislings (Realtors!) who need to be on the winning side for once. Conservatives and moderates like Madison aldermanic candidates Isadore Knox and Sheri Carter (both black and proud who support the cops) have no support system. The Republican party itself dare not raise its head out of the foxhole. Its brand is — let’s be frank — damaged.
There is some hope. In an underfunded and bottom-ballot race, Badri Lankella got 43.3%% of the Madison school board vote against a Woke candidate endorsed by both newspapers, the teachers union, and the progressive establishment.
Blaska’s Bottom Line: Once again, the Werkes proposes an independent, local political party to recruit electable, middle-of-the-road candidates, coordinate and finance their campaigns like the Left has been doing these last 20-30 years. Do a good job on the county board or city council and eventually, voters will elect them as Republicans to the legislature.
Education
Blaska Policy Werkes 
Pingback: Dane County elected Protasiewicz – Wisconsin Family News
The new county GOP leadership was elected on a promise to increase Republican turnout. So much for that. As I said at the time, it is candidates who grow–or don’t grow-the party vote.
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Excellent analysis. Dane County presents a “structural” problem that isn’t going to be solved any time soon. But I think you have to throw Milwaukee into the mix as well. The following figures were taken from election night reports; if not exact, they should be close enough.
Protasiewicz’s statewide margin was 203k. She carried Dane by an astounding 82 – 18%, giving her a margin of 154k in that county alone. But that of course wasn’t alone enough. Milwaukee, which she took by an also-impressive 73 – 27, or another 107k, together with Dane provided an insuperable margin. In other words, those two counties alone gave her an advantage of 261k; she lost the rest of the state by 58k. More numbers: the statewide total of votes was 1,839,657; the Dane-Milwaukee total was 473,964, only 25% of the statewide total. The crushing margins in those two counties together dictated the outcome of this statewide race, despite holding a minority of the votes. Neither county alone would have done it. With the exception of Ron Johnson, that’s the way it’s been the last few statewide elections. Dane and Milwaukee are cobalt blue, but there are more than enough votes in the rest of the state, *if* the right candidate promotes the right issues.
Easier said than done of course. Start though with decent candidates. Kelly lost to Karofsky a couple of years ago by about the same margin he lost to Protasiewicz. Why Repub primary voters figured he wouldn’t again be beaten like a rented mule is beyond me. His churlish “concession” speech exemplified just how terrible a candidate he was. The party also ought to give some thought about its dogmatism on abortion. That wasn’t the only reason Kelly lost, but it was surely a major factor. If votes can’t be peeled away from the Dane-Milwaukee axis, then they’ll have to be harvested elsewhere. And that’s just not going to happen if the party presents itself as anti-abortion, like it or not.
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Protasiewicz won Sauk Co. by 3,277 votes. 11,751 to 8,474. Kelly couldn’t even carry the waterpark vote. But; we all know what a hotbed of liberalism the Dells has become.
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As always, it’s turnout, turnout, turnout…..
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Abortion issue was why I voted for JP.
Republicans voted Kelly in over Dorow in primary… she may have lost too but it’s absolute proof the Republicans don’t know what they’re doing.
My RX is compromise on abortion. Compromise on cannabis legalization. Then get out and recruit in the immigrant community, Indians in particular who are high achievers and not hesitant to be politically active.
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Thanks OneEye for highlighting compromise. The R party should (but won’t because our political system is bad) stand up to the AM talkers and the ideological bloggers who are always calling everyone RINOs. I heard Mark Belling going on and on after this election about how Rs aren’t as united as Ds and how they shouldn’t beat up on each other, but he’s the biggest culprit!! He has for years bern relentless about RINOs and he never allows for any political compromise with Ds.
The hard-core R opinion leaders get good ratings and clicks, but they do not point the way to electoral success. In fact, their business model is more successful when Rs are NOT in power because it thrives on complaining and criticizing – functional governing doesn’t make entertaining media. The power of the right wing media machine since the 90’s has born generations of Rs that appear to have no desire to govern and compromise, just to complain and be right wing celebrities.
I’ll add that I also think Rs should stop being afraid of democracy. Embrace voting, make voting easier, don’t be scared of the electorate, and respect the will of the electorate. If Rs really believe their ideas are best for all of us then there’s nothing to be afraid of.
(My view is that too many Rs follow philosophy that deep down they believe isn’t best for all, but only some; is good for the “correct” people and/or hurts the “correct” people. If a stick-it-to-them philosophy is what is guiding the party, then yeah Rs would not want many of the stuck-to to vote… an anti-democracy stance is generally a telling sign, and everyone sees through the “election integrity” front for what it really is…)
But all this is just hot air in the end because the oppressors keep us busy on the margins while the fundamental problem is the anti-democratic structure of our 2-party system.
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If the true liberals would take a stand against woke progressives, we might get a lot closer to being able to compromise. However, the best we’re getting out of those liberals these days is to quietly disagree without truly sticking their necks out and standing on principles. Don’t think for a second that it’s only conservatives who won’t rise against extremists—there is plenty to go around on both sides.
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Definitely, it certainly is a basic and fundamental problem with our broken 2 party system, both parties are not incentivized to compromise. I advocate that before we can reasonably hope to better our society in almost any issue we first need to fix our democratic processes and put an end to the current 2 party system.
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Compromise on abortion?
If you believed in the constitution and not legislating from the bench, then abortion would not even be an issue in this election.
But anyway, if you voted for JP JUST because of abortion, then the blood of those innocent babies is on your hands.
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“…the blood of those innocent babies is on your hands.”
N ot everyone shares your religious beliefs and they shouldn’t have to live under religious laws. I have a religious belief that interest should not be charged when lending money. How about we impose my belief on everyone? Both of us should be free to advocate for our belief, but we should not be aiming to impose our belief until/unless a large, consistent majority of the population agrees, which is not true for either of our beliefs.
And before you retort that all laws are essentially religious/moral, I assert that is also not true. A Christian I know once genuinely wondered what keeps atheists from being murderers. My response was that the prohibition on murder is simply logical, it’s a product of the golden rule, and it doesn’t require a religious belief at all. Atheists can be quite moral people just by using logic. And religious people can be quite amoral people just by using their religious texts.
Most people simply do not agree with you that a fertilized egg is a human life. Most pro-choice people are not cold blooded murders like you are attempting to paint them as, they simply acknowledge the grey-area surrounding the belief in exactly when independent human rights should begin, and how to balance the rights of the mother with those of the potential child. They believe it should be the choice of the mother to determine that complex and personal issues for themselves rather than insert the power of the State into women’s bodies.
Must pro-choice people are perfectly comfortable with the idea that once a developing fetus reaches a point of independent viability it should be allowed that viability. Anti-choice people do their movement no favor by lying and claiming that pro-choice people want to abort pregnancies all the way up to 9 months. Sure, go grab an anecdotal story about that, but it is not at all what the vast vast majority of pro-choice people believe. There would be very little resistance to a LOGIC and FACT based law that prohibited abortion of viable fetuses.
Pro-choice people want you to be allowed your religious opinions, and they want you to allow them their religious opinions.
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“ I have a religious belief that interest should not be charged when lending money. How about we impose my belief on everyone?.”
The Gotch owes not one thin dime, but if that ever changes, he’d be open to having that standard applied to those to whom he’d find himself beholden…
The Gotch
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Go on offense and triangulate against the D. The referendums passed, because they went to middle of the field, where the general election voters are at. The candidates lost, because they made their stand deeply in own territory. While standing in home territory means winning the primary, it serves to rile up the skirts (and the turnout) in Dane County, instead of persuading many fence leaners or sideline watchers to focus on winnable issues. With the current player positions, it all foreshadows a concerning season in 2024.
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I dare the gop to start to impeach J.P. I double dare ’em. After her big win do you want to run for re-election on that BS? Vos only won by 250 votes. He’ll be looking for work with a lot of his buddies.
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You oversimplify the effect of the 20 somethings while ignoring the Birkenstocks and socks wearing, pony tailed men (not sure anymore in todays climate) who continue their protest rants from the 60’s.
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Both sides voted for a “constitutionalist”
But to one side a constitutionalist means the courts make law.
To the other side the constitutionalist means the Legislature makes the law, courts interpret the law.
One side campaigned on abortion. One sides campaign was about law.
Protasiewicz has spent nearly $12 million compared with Kelly’s more than $2.2 million.
Now please compromise with the left leaning. If the left sees you taking a position, they will put their position a mile further to the left. Then you compromise. And the left will move further to the left. And you compromise again. Trust me. I have been in those battles locally.
The issue is that rural WI did not come out to vote. Why? And let me know.
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Far-n-Away, Dane County Righty’s biggest problem is starkly illuminated by the monoculture of Melanin Deficiency in the header above.
Righty’s appeal (equal opportunity, LEGAL immigration, personal responsibility, deferred gratification, limited government, emphasizing education, school choice, law-n-order/public safety, etc.) has resonated with more and more Blacks and Hispanics, who’ve ditched Lefty over their patronizing, gimmee gimmee, hate-filled, equity-based equal outcomes, redistributionist, segregationist RAYcism.
But despite that appeal, there remains an uncomfortably high Social Cost for leaving the Lefty Plantation; Righty’s messaging needs to hammer home that it’s eminently worth it!
The Gotch
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I think it sad that all we have seen and heard in this liberal dribble is the objectification and the glorification of the self. Protasiewicz got elected over Kelly precisely because her message was about the glorification of the self.
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You could say that is Jordan Peterson’s message too. It’s what you do with your individual sovereignty that is the important distinction.
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Ha! If we shouldn’t glorify the self then we should get rid of capitalism!
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Capitalism has benefitted me along with literally hundreds of colleagues so many times that I can safely say that it’s not glorification of self. I found myself with more money than I’d had in a while during the pandemic. I spent most of it on people who needed it more than I did.
I’ve noticed that most people who decry capitalism are the ones who haven’t figured out how to make it work for them.
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I was heartened by Badri’s % of the vote, Gloria’s too. Though I wish they would have won.
Kelly’s lack of professionalism was astounding.
4 more years of Comrade Conway’s creeping collectivism. Remember to snitch on your neighbor if they’re walking a dog in a non-authorized park. Just refer to the not/dog signs for the number to call!
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