(MADISON, WI) — Today Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chair Ben Wikler hosted a press call revealing the number of doors knocked, the amount of money raised, and the digital impact the state party made during their one year out weekend of action. The initial goals were to knock 50,000 doors and raise $100,000 from 1618 people. The DPW shattered those goals, knocking over 54,000 doors with the help of the over 2,400 volunteers as well as raising over $153,899 from 4,031 people. In addition, the party made a large digital footprint on Twitter alone, with at least 14,500 tweets about the party’s work from over 9,000 unique authors. This generated over 150 million impressions and over 54,000 engagements.
The party targeted infrequent, Independent, and disgruntled Republican voters — individuals who are not part of a traditional Get Out The Vote voter file. This will pay huge dividends as Wisconsin Democrats find new voters who are tired of Donald Trump’s broken promises.
“In an off year with no election day and no candidates on the ballots we saw dozens and dozens of canvasses launching multiple times in every corner of the state that resulted in over 54,000 doors being knocked,” Wikler said on the call. “The thing that made this possible is the unprecedented level of energy and focus by Democrats at the grassroots level across Wisconsin. There’s a clear sense in our guts that this election could come down to Wisconsin and we’re going to leave no stone unturned. We’ve never seen this level of energy this early in our grassroots. People are ready for change in the White House — voters want stability and a leader who is on their side, not one who is only out for themselves.”
Wikler was joined by State Senator Patty Schachtner and Assemblywoman Robyn Vining. Schachtner won a seat that had been held by Republicans for 17 years and Vining picked up a seat that had previously been held by Scott Walker. Winning back voters in rural and suburban Wisconsin will be crucial for Democrats winning back the state in 2020. Schachtner and Vining discussed what issues they heard about most from voters while canvassing during the weekend of action.
On the call, Vining said, in part, “I’ve never seen energy like what I saw Waukesha County on Saturday morning. Wisconsinites recognize they need a partner in White House who keeps their promises. I’ve heard Republican leadership say, ‘People don’t like Trump’s behavior, but they like his results’— that’s simply not true. I do not hear that at all. People are well aware that President Trump has broken his promises on health care and that he’s done a 180 on passing meaningful common sense gun safety reform. We deserve better — that’s what we heard this weekend, and that’s what we’ll continue to hear as we get closer to the 2020 election.”
On the call, Schachtner said, in part, “What I noticed this weekend is that the voters I spoke to in Northwest Wisconsin aren’t so different then those that Robyn spoke with. What I hear the most is that the people in district 10 want to start feeling like we’re putting people first — what is happening to them when they go home at night to their families. We all fought really hard for the blue wave in 2018 and what’s going on is really just beginning. The energy that we’re feeling out there and hearing from folks is clear that they do want change. They don’t want to vote for four more years of gridlock.”
