WisDems chair contenders make pitches ahead of Sunday vote

William Garcia believes the state Dem Party needs to focus its attention on county parties.

Joe Zepecki says it’s time for change.

Devin Remiker wants to stay the course.

The three have been pitching those messages to Dem activists as they campaign to become the next state party chair at this weekend’s Dem convention in Wisconsin Dells. Whoever emerges from Sunday’s vote will follow one of the more successful chairs in party history. Along with a strong record at the ballot box — Dems have won 10 of 13 statewide contested elections since Ben Wikler became chair in June 2019 — the party has raised an astounding $206 million under his watch. 

In interviews with WisPolitics this week, each of the three contenders vowed to build upon the party’s recent success under Wikler while promising to make varying levels of change.

Remiker, who served as party executive director under Wikler and has been endorsed by the outgoing chair, wants tweaks to the party apparatus. Garcia, the 3rd CD chair, wants more resources to flow to county parties and a bottom-up approach to canvassing. Zepecki, a Milwaukee-based operative, argues the party needs an overhaul of its messaging after watching Donald Trump win the state in two of the past three presidential elections.

The following are short summaries of the main arguments from each on why they believe they’re best to become the next chair with links to audio of the interviews:

*Zepecki says communications is everything. He says the party has had a “doors first mindset” when it comes to reaching people. Instead, it needs to take the view that everyone — from elected officials to volunteers who are part of the Dem team — are messengers.

Zepecki said the WisDems can be the envy of the other 49 state parties and have work to do with U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson still representing the state and Trump’s successes in 2016 and 2024. 

Zepecki says the party’s “brand is busted.”

“We have lost connection with the beating heart of the Democratic Party, which, to me, is a message of economic opportunity for all,” Zepecki said. “We cannot continue to cede the communications playing field to Republicans and let them define who we are.”

As much as Zepecki wants to change the party’s message, he has no interest in changing its staffing. But he does want to fine tune the organizing approach, which he says has been a “little too top down, little too one-size-fits-all.”

“The question before delegates is, ‘Who is best suited to make the changes we need and continue the successes we have?’” Zepecki said. “I believe that my perspective coming from outside the four walls of the party, outside of the machine with fresh eyes, is ultimately the way to make that change.”

*Remiker says the party needs a battle-tested leader ready from day one to “grab the baton” from Wikler. And that’s him.

Remiker said some may try to paint him as a party insider. But he argued that means he’s been intricately involved in helping Wikler build an apparatus he touts as the envy of other state parties.

Remiker first served as political director at the party before Wikler made him the executive director in 2021. He left the party to work on the Biden-Harris campaigns in 2024 and then oversaw Wikler’s unsuccessful bid for national chair.

When Remiker started with the party under former Chair Martha Laning, Dems were largely shut out of power in the Capitol. Now, they have all but one constitutional office, a majority on the state Supreme Court and the opportunity to flip control of both houses in the Legislature in 2026.

“I think it has helped me build trust with our grassroots,” Remiker said. “It’s helped me build trust with our elected officials, with our donors, you name it. And I think that there’s really something to be said about both having sort of that trust, that experience, but also being able to perform at a very high level, understand how to set the strategy, the vision, the leadership.”

Not that he thinks everything is perfect with the party. Remiker wants all county parties to feel like they’re partners with WisDems, and he says there’s room for improvement with the party brand after Dems lost voters making less than $50,000 a year in 2024.

“Ultimately, this is about making sure we can put Republicans on the ropes as quickly as possible,” Remiker said. “And I don’t think that we have time for folks to learn the ropes.”

*Garcia says you can’t argue with the party’s run of electoral success and its “amazing organization.” But that still doesn’t change his belief that “we have left behind county parties.”

Garcia, a longtime educator who is now a learning support instructor at Western Technical College, is also co-chair of the La Crosse County Dem Party. He believes the state party has failed to adequately invest in county parties, which need more tools, training and resources, along with things like better training for volunteers.

Instead, he said, WisDems tells county parties how to organize and message.

“The organizing that works in Milwaukee doesn’t always work in La Crosse, and what works in Madison doesn’t always work in Black River Falls,” Garcia said. “We’re going to listen to local people about what those counties want to hear about, what their neighbors are talking about, and we’re going to give them the ability to speak to those neighbors directly.”

County parties are a central theme in most of Garcia’s plans, including tweaking current DPW staff job descriptions to have more of a focus on working with them.

He also argues his focus on county parties will be attractive to large donors, who want to see their money be used efficiently and effectively. His plan to strengthen county parties will reinvigorate the grassroots so WisDems can make the pitch to large donors: “Look at the volunteers that we have working for us that are going out and knocking doors. The party has grown, and so because of that growth, your money is going to be used efficiently, and that’s what large donors want to see.”

Party to use ranked choice voting in chair’s race

The state Dem Party has used a form of ranked choice voting since 2019. But Sunday will be the first time the system is fully utilized, because there have been no more than two candidates for an office since it was implemented.

Voting will begin at 10 a.m. Sunday for delegates with polls closing at 1 p.m. Anyone in line at that time will be allowed to cast a ballot.

The ballots will have columns to the right of each name with rankings, and delegates can rank as many as they want.

If either of the three gets a majority of the votes cast on the first ballot, he will win.

If no one crosses that threshold, the third-place finisher will be dropped and the second choice of his backers will be added to the other two. A majority will again be required to win.

Chair is the only office that will be contested this weekend, but other offices will be voted on Saturday.

They are:

• Secretary of State Sarah Godlewski, first vice-chair
• Joshua Taylor, second vice-chair. He’s chair of the 4th CD Dem Party.
• Kim Butler, secretary. She’s a past chair of the 7th CD Dem Party.
• State Rep. Randy Udell, of Fitchburg, treasurer.

Butler and Udell are incumbents.

Follow WisDems convention coverage at the WisPoltics Dem Convention Blog, where you can also read an interview Wikler and see coverage of a WisPolitics event on the future of the state parties.