Winning is everything, even when we lose! A special election took place a week ago for a congressional representative from Tennessee's 7th district. It's a deeply Republican place where DJT won by 22 points in 2024. This year, the Democratic candidate lost, but by just under nine points. So it's a WIN! Why? Because it is in line with the markedly blue shift taking place in all the special elections this past year. And just yesterday, Eileen Higgins, a Democrat and (heavens!) a WOMAN was elected mayor of Miami, the first Democrat to win that office in almost 30 years and the first woman EVER. Also, not Hispanic in a city that's majority Hispanic! She got 60% of the vote! (See Miami’s new Democratic mayor signals not just a backlash to Trump, but a seismic shift in The Guardian.) There were several other Democratic upsets too. G. Elliot Morris (Strength in Numbers Substack, Nov. 7, 2025) does the numbers for us:

Morris uses the Virginia exit poll numbers but the story is the same all across the elections held this year. Markos Moulitsas sums it up: "A swing of that magnitude [referring to the blue shift in the Tennessee congressional race] puts a bullseye on dozens of Republican seats long considered safe in any normal political climate. A shift this large doesn’t just jeopardize the Republican House majority. It puts the U.S. Senate back in play and casts serious doubt on any remaining GOP redistricting ambitions in states like Indiana and Florida. No Republican incumbent—no matter how safe—will want to dilute their partisan advantage with numbers like these hanging overhead. (Emphasis added.)

We'll know soon what the Republican state senators in Indiana decide to do about gerrymandering there. The Indiana Capital Chronicle notes that "16 Senate Republicans have publicly come out in favor of a redraw — some more enthusiastically than others. Another 14 are against." To pass, the bill requires 26 votes. Meanwhile, Missouri citizens are mighty unhappy with their legislature's effort to redistrict — so much so that they have gathered more than 300,000 signatures, enough to force a referendum on the partisan map. "A provision of the Missouri constitution gives voters a chance to repeal acts of the legislature if organizers can collect enough signatures in a tight timeframe. The vast majority of the measures that have been put up for a referendum have been repealed" according to The Guardian.

And in Florida, the redistricting effort must overcome the Florida constitution, which was amended in 2010 to require that electoral districts must be drawn by a nonpartisan redistricting commission. The problems there are both legal and political. "From a legal standpoint, voters approved a constitutional amendment in 2010 that’s meant to block partisan gerrymandering. The state Supreme Court weakened the amendment’s ban on racial gerrymandering, but the prohibition of partisan gerrymandering remains intact" (NBC News, December 4, 2025). Apparently the politics of it are a bit sticky as well. "While the state has a Republican governor and Legislature, party leaders are divided on how to proceed."

In Wisconsin, two different court cases are challenging our current congressional maps. The Wisconsin Supreme Court recently ruled that the cases will go forward in front of two different panels of three district court judges each and both will be heard in Dane County. It's not clear when the cases will be heard. So in the meantime, We the People have to act to turf out some Republicans, both from Congress and from the state legislature.

Grassroots North Shore has its eyes on two congressional districts that may well be vulnerable, especially given the blue shifts we've seen in the elections held in 2025: CD1 currently occupied by Brian Steil and CD3 currently represented by the reprehensible Derrick Van Orden. CD1 has a slight rightward lean and CD3 leans ever so slightly left, according to Dave's Redistricting estimates of the current districts. Any blue shift in those districts, even one smaller than 13 points, will see a Democrat take office in 2027 and all by themselves will rebalance the Wisconsin delegation! There are already at least two Democratic contenders in these districts so there will undoubtedly be a primary for those nominations.

We're also working on plans to target two state senators — Rob Hutton in Senate District 5 (on the west side of Milwaukee) and Van Wangaard in Senate District 21 (south of Milwaukee) — and two assembly representatives — Jesse Rodriguez in Assembly District 21 (south of Milwaukee) and Bob Donovan in Assembly District 61 (encompassing Greenfield, Greendale, and Hales Corners). These elections will take place in November (with a primary if needed in August), but it's not too early to begin supporting outstanding candidates: Trevor Jung is challenging Senator Wangaard and Jessica Seawright is challenging Assemblywoman Rodriguez. We don't yet know who will be running against Senator Hutton or Assemblyman Donovan. So stay tuned.

Right now, we're focused on the race for the Wisconsin Supreme Court (SCOWIS) with Judge Chris Taylor running against Judge Maria Lazar. It may seem as though this race isn't quite as important as the last SCOWIS race, when we elected Susan Crawford and thereby wrested control of the court from a far right-wing majority. But that view is mistaken. To ensure that we hold the court into the next post-census redistricting — which is so important to strengthen and protect fair electoral maps at every level — we will need to defeat Judge Lazar, labeled a conservative by the Wisconsin Examiner on the day she announce her candidacy:

"While her campaign announcement sought to establish her nonpartisan bonafides, Lazar has a history of fighting for Republican causes. In her last campaign for her seat on the court of appeals, Lazar touted endorsements from prominent election deniers," including disgraced "former Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman, who recently agreed to have his law license suspended for three years over his widely derided review of the 2020 presidential election, Jim Troupis, who is facing criminal charges for his role in the plot to cast false Electoral College votes on behalf of President Donald Trump, and Bob Spindell, a Republican member of the Wisconsin Elections Commission who cast one of those fraudulent ballots and has regularly used his position to spread conspiracy theories about election administration."

To do our best to have a victorious outcome, we will need everyone's help. Here's a list of what will ask you to do after January 1:

1. Write postcards;
2. Help us defray the cost of postage for those postcards;
3. Make phone calls and send text messages;
4. Deliver flyers in walkable neighborhoods and on college campuses;
5. Canvass with the Democratic Party's Neighborhood Teams.

Be thinking about what YOU are prepared to do. After New Years, we will begin recruiting in earnest!

After January 1, we also recommend that you visit MyVote.WI.gov to check your registration, sign up for absentee ballots for ALL FOUR elections we will have in 2026, find information about early in-person voting, learn whether drop boxes will be available in your community, and find contact information for your community's clerk.

Finally, in preparation for an ICE invasion in Milwaukee and elsewhere in Wisconsin, I want to leave you with this video from Mayor-elect Mamdani, Know Your Rights. Some of it is specific to New York City, but a key element is his display of a sample judicial warrant — required to search nonpublic areas like your home or employee-only areas of work places — and a sample administrative warrant which has no legal force in such places.

TAKE ACTION

From Indivisible: email your Members of Congress to demand investigations into Hegseth’s murderous strikes in the Caribbean and Pacific. Despite increased scrutiny, Pete Hegseth and the Trump regime continue to carry out lethal strikes on small vessels without any legal rationale. More background on these extrajudicial killings of over 80 people can be found below.

Answer Indivisible's one-question survey to help track the impact of the Cancel Spotify campaign. Indivisible and allies have been calling for a boycott of Spotify until they stop running ads recruiting for ICE. We can’t very well count on the platform to tell us how many people have canceled their accounts in protest of its participation in Trump’s brutal deportation machine, so we really need feedback from our movement. You can learn more about the campaign here and help spread the message using this Spotify Wrapped-themed toolkit.

Support Jessica Seawright, the progressive candidate for the 21st Assembly District (Oak Creek, Milwaukee Garden District) on Thursday, December 11. Her seat is a must-win if the Democrats are going to take back the assembly. The fundraiser will be on Thursday, December 11th, from 5:30 pm - 7:30 pm. Jessica is running against the notorious private school advocate, Jessie Rodriguez. A MAGA in our midst. If you sign up for the event or donate, you will receive the Bay View address of the event. If you cannot attend, you can still contribute to help win this crucial seat.

EVENTS

Wednesday, December 10

Thursday, December 11

Saturday, December 13

Monday, December 15

Tuesday, December 16

Wednesday, December 17

Thursday, December 18

Waukesha Democrats Monthly Meeting, 7:00 - 8:30pm
Southminster Presbyterian Church, 200 Richard St, Waukesha
Annual Holiday Party & Treat Potluck. This year we are also going to watch Rovina’s Choice — a short documentary about the real-world impact of Pres. Trump’s decision to shutter the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to give us extra to discuss. We will also have nomination papers for local candidates to get on the spring April election ballot. Please bring a treat to share with folks and come to make new connections.

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