National publication takes note of Dane County’s influence.
Our Trump uber alles acquaintances believe their man would have won swing state Wisconsin in 2020 except for hordes of comatose nursing home patients forced to vote Joe Biden. The Deep State may have stolen Trump’s election last time but next year will be different, they insist. Somehow.
It does no good for those of us who live in the belly of the beast — that being the blindingly blue university town of Madison WI — to note that one posts a Trump yard sign hereabouts at his peril — so fervid is the anti-Trump vote. A thorough examination of this phenomena is now up at Politico.
“No place was more energized to vote than Dane County … Turnout in Dane was higher than anywhere else in the state. And the Democratic margin of victory that delivered control of the nonpartisan court to liberals was even more lopsided than usual — and bigger than in any of the state’s other 71 counties.
— “How college towns are decimating the GOP“
Blaska made the same point in April after the Left’s candidate for state supreme court swamped our man, Dan Kelly. It comes down to three factors:
- No one votes like Dane County! Voter participation is off the charts. 62.3% of Dane County’s eligible voters went to the polls! Statewide, only 39% of voters turned out statewide — and that’s with Dane County factored in!
- Dane County is the fastest growing county in Wisconsin and, therefore, carries more weight. Metro Madison added 75,000 residents between 2010 and 2020 and now accounts for a full 20% of the state’s total vote.
- Dane County is lopsided Democrat. Dan Kelly managed only 18% of our vote here; down even from the anemic 21% that the Republican candidate for governor managed last November. Only 23 years ago, George W. Bush managed 33%.
Our grass is bluer at the roots
"Local party members fully recognize statewide elections now hinge on a turbocharged local performance."
Republicans are out-organized. Politico reports Dane County Democrat chair Alexia Sabor to say: “Doors. Voters. It’s all that matters,” … That is my one job, to win elections and get Democrats elected up and down the ballot.”
Democrats endorse candidates for local, officially non-partisan office — city council, county board, school board — and do so successfully. That creates a visible brand of recognizable names in communities and neighborhoods invested in getting out the vote for neighbors they know personally, thereby pulling up-ballot candidates over the finish line. They generate lists of supporters useful to state and national candidates. Those local office holders also serve as a farm team for higher office. Legislators like Samba Baldeh and Shelia Stubbs graduated from the Madison city council; U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan and U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin from Dane County Board.
Politico takes our analysis a step further; noting that the phenomenon is true in other college towns, even in otherwise red Montana (which does elect a Democrat to the U.S. Senate). That explains Assembly Speaker Robin Vos attempting to defund the state university system’s $32 million diversity, equity, and inclusion machine. Trying to match that campus activism, Dane County Republicans elected the twenty-something Brandon Maly — with ties to the Charlie Kirk’s campus-oriented Turning Point USA — as its chairman this spring.
The Trump factor
What the Politico piece misses, we think, is the Trump factor. No political figure energizes the Left like Donald Trump. Certainly not Joe Biden, or milquetoast Tony Evers. The 08-17-22 Marquette poll showed that only 38% of registered voters statewide had a favorable opinion of Trump versus 57% who loathed the guy! Trumpism, we’ve argued, also pulls down the Republican vote in the WOW counties surrounding Milwaukee.
Blaska’s Bottom Line: Sadly, the only presidential booth at the party’s picnic Saturday 07-22-23 — manned by college students — was for Trump.
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