After Reviving Democrats in a Battleground State, He's Moving On

New York Times

10-04-2025

Ben Wikler, who built the Wisconsin Democratic Party into a fund-raising colossus over his six years as its leader, is leaving his post in June.
Mr. Wikler, 44, said in an interview on Wednesday that he was considering running for office but would first spend time taking vacations with his three young children.
'The best time to pass the torch is when an organization's on the upswing,' he said. 'I'm able to step away from the party this June knowing that Democrats are poised to make enormous gains in Wisconsin.'
Mr. Wikler's announcement comes a week after he oversaw a decisive victory in a Wisconsin Supreme Court election. Barring an unexpected vacancy, the result cements a liberal majority on the court until at least 2028. He will leave behind a state party with aspirations of winning full control of Wisconsin's government in next year's midterm elections — something that would have been just a dream when he took over in 2019.
At that time, Republicans had led both chambers of the State Legislature since 2011, and conservatives had controlled the State Supreme Court since 2008.
Now, Mr. Wikler — who wants Democrats to run a 'permanent campaign' that never lets up — forecast a liberal resurgence in opposition to President Trump. He predicted that Democrats would win a governing trifecta in Wisconsin as they sweep elections across the country. The party now controls the governor's office and the state's top court, with Republicans holding on to majorities in the Legislature.
'These next few years will be an opportunity for Democrats to win seats in the U.S. Senate, the House and state legislatures and state offices,' Mr. Wikler said, adding that this would lay the groundwork for 'the next progressive era in this country.'
What office Mr. Wikler might run for is unclear. Gov. Tony Evers of Wisconsin, a Democrat, has not said if he will seek a third term in 2026. Incumbent Democrats who serve as Wisconsin's attorney general, lieutenant governor and secretary of state are likely to seek re-election if Mr. Evers does. If he does not, they could all try to succeed him, which could scramble the political calculations for various Democrats in the state.
While Mr. Wikler preached the benefits of his decision to move on, he again declined to discuss whether Democrats would be in a better political position had President Joseph R. Biden Jr. not sought re-election when many in the party felt the octogenarian president was too old to do so.
In 2024, Mr. Wikler defended Mr. Biden as the party's best option. Now, he said many things could have been done differently to avoid a second Trump presidency.
'Knowing the end of the story, it's hard to imagine that anyone would follow exactly the same course that we followed through these last several years,' he said.
Mr. Wikler has already sought one post of greater prominence: Two months ago, he lost an election to lead the Democratic National Committee.
During that brief campaign, he sold himself as an expert fund-raiser and political organizer who would take the fight to Mr. Trump. He fell short to Ken Martin, then the Minnesota Democratic chairman, in part because Mr. Martin had spent years cultivating relationships with party members while Mr. Wikler's outreach to them began mainly after he started running for the office.
In hindsight, Mr. Wikler has said his loss was a validation of his political strategy in Wisconsin — being in touch with voters all year long instead of only before an election.
'One lesson from these last years in Wisconsin is that Democrats do better when we run a permanent campaign,' he said. 'I want to figure out how to support the kind of intensive communication that makes clear the impact of this administration's policies on working people across the communities in my state and across the country, and lift up the fight for a country that works for everybody. I'm figuring out exactly what form that'll take, but I'll be posting about it.'
Indeed, Mr. Wikler, like many others, has begun writing on a new Substack account.