The column below reflects the views of the author, and these opinions are neither endorsed nor supported by WisOpinion.com.
The 2020 election in Wisconsin is over, the results are certified, and the outcome is clear: Joe Biden won the Badger State, and he will be the next President of the United States. However, the battle for control of the U.S. Senate isn’t over yet, and it is critical that Wisconsin Republicans move on from our past defeat and instead focus on the potential victories ahead of us.
The epicenter of this fight is in Georgia, where both Republican U.S. Senators, David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, are facing their Democratic challengers in a January 5th runoff, and the outcome of these races will literally determine control of the Senate. Right now, Republicans have a slim 52-seat majority, so if Democrats flip the seats in Georgia, then the Senate will be split 50-50. In that case, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris will be the tie-breaking vote, meaning Democrats will control the chamber.
The stakes in this fight could not be higher. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who hopes to lead the upper chamber, said, “If we take Georgia, we change the world.” This should frighten every conservative to their core, because we already know what that change will look like. Schumer and other Democrats want to abolish the Electoral College, pack the Supreme Court with activist judges, and bury our economy under a Green New Deal, just to name a few examples.
We can prevent this from happening, but only if every Republican in the country bands together.
Unfortunately, many Republicans aren’t doing this. Instead, they are casting the previous election as illegitimate and are even attempting to overturn the results.
We saw a lot of this right here in Wisconsin. The Trump campaign paid for a recount in Milwaukee and Dane Counties as a way to prove that massive voter fraud changed the result. However, not only did these recounts turn up no evidence of fraud, they actually expanded Joe Biden’s margin in the state by 87 votes.
These efforts aren’t only frivolous, but could actually damage our party’s image and electoral chances. If we tell our voters not to trust elections, aren’t we essentially telling them that voting doesn’t matter?
Rather than fight a losing battle over the last election, Wisconsin Republicans need to help our counterparts down south. If we lend our energy to phone-banking, donating, and spreading the conservative message to Georgia voters, we could make a big difference in keeping those seats red.
Not only that, Republicans in Wisconsin should be getting ready for a big fight in two years. In 2022, Senator Ron Johnson will be up for reelection, and Democrats are already lining up to challenge him. In addition, Governor Tony Evers will be up for reelection, a major pickup opportunity for Republicans. These races will be some of the hottest contests in the country, and we need to make sure Republican voters are energized and ready to win.
The 2020 election was tough for Wisconsin Republicans, but we can’t stand down yet. Though Joe Biden will be the next president, by coming together we can prevent him from having a Democratic Senate by helping our friends in Georgia and ensuring that Sen. Johnson gets another term in two years.
–Denise Collins, of Milwaukee County, serves on the Greenfield Common Council.
