MADISON, Wis. — Wisconsin’s Democratic Party Chair, Ben Wikler, wrapped up his week with more endorsements for his bid to become the next leader of the national party.
Friday afternoon, Sen. Brian Schatz of Hawaii became the latest to put his support behind Wikler to be the next chair of the Democratic National Committee.
It comes just a day after Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer also endorsed Wikler.
When asked about the moment he decided to run, Wikler reflected on Election Day and admits he was confident Democrats were going to stay in the White House.
“I'd seen so much energy across the state of Wisconsin. I'd seen so many volunteers coming out, people knocking on doors for the first time, former Republicans crossing over and then it was like being hit by a truck to realize that Trump was going to win the election in Wisconsin and nationwide,” Wikler explained. “And the next day, I started digging through the numbers, and what the numbers told me is that here in Wisconsin, that excitement and energy was real. We added votes for Harris relative to Biden. We did a massive turnout operation. We beat our own goals.”
Even though President-elect Donald Trump won Wisconsin in November, he only did so by 0.9% which resulted in the Badger State giving up the least ground of all the swing states while Democrat Tammy Baldwin narrowly hung on to her Senate seat.
Democrats in Wisconsin also flipped 14 Senate and Assembly seats from red to blue and broke the 22-seat supermajority Republicans held in the Senate, which gives the party the chance to win a majority in that chamber in 2026.
“We need that kind of intensity and focus, that kind of unity and fight nationwide,” Wikler added. “So, I’m running for national chair, because I think we're facing a moment of extraordinary threat from a Trump administration that wants to raid the country for a small group of his billionaire friends at the very top, and if we can build a national party that draws on the same kind of energy and intensity that we built in the state of Wisconsin, we will be able to win a lot more elections and make a difference in people's lives nationwide.”
If elected to the national chair position on Feb. 1, Wikler said his platform will be focused on three things: Unite, fight, win.
“To me, unite means working with states and our national partners, with elected officials and labor unions and outside grassroots groups to make a unified plan for fighting up and down the ballot in every state across the country,” Wikler said.
“When I say a 50 state strategy, I mean 50 state strategies in each state — a plan for what are the battles? Is it mayor's races? Is it state legislative? Can we flip the governorship? Can we build a Democratic trifecta? That is the goal in the state of Wisconsin. And then we get everyone together to do the work to actually win those fights in the way that it shows voters whose side we're on and whose side the other side is on. I think that my experience of doing this in Wisconsin is something that helps shape what I can offer on the national stage.”
According to the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, the state’s Democratic Party also outraised the state’s Republican Party by more than 10 times in the first six months of 2024 — all things that could help Wikler win.
If that happens, Wikler isn’t worried about undoing the progress he has made in the Badger State since 2019.
“We have a deep bench of talent in the Democratic Party, just an extraordinary staff and extraordinary Democrats and state party leaders,” Wikler explained. “We have a chair election in June, so that is the kind of next step in that process. I have every confidence that the state party leadership team and the folks we're working in the trenches and our volunteers around the state will ensure that there's a continuous strong leadership journey that ensures that our party is in fighting trim all the way through.”