MADISON, WI – Today, Chair of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin Ben Wikler launched his campaign to become the next Chair of the Democratic National Committee. The launch video explains his mission to take on Republicans and lead Democrats nationally – just as he’s done in Wisconsin – to unite, fight, and win.
Since Ben became Chair of the state party (WisDems), Democrats in Wisconsin – a 50-50 state – have won 7 of the past 10 statewide races and have raised more money than any other Democratic state party in history over the same time period. This past election, the nation shifted 6% towards Trump – but Wisconsin only shifted by 1.5%, the least of any battleground state, and Democrats won key races down ballot. Under Ben’s leadership, WisDems has been called “a well-funded state party apparatus widely acknowledged as the Democrats’ best in the country” and “a winning machine.”
“If we’re going to take on Donald Trump, Republican extremists, and make progress as a country, we need the Democratic Party to be stronger. I have led the Democratic Party of Wisconsin for the last five years, helping to transform it into an organizing, fundraising, and winning machine, and I’m now running for chair of the Democratic National Committee to supercharge our work in every state,” said Ben Wikler, Chair of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin since 2019. “For Democrats to move forward, we must build a big tent, organize and communicate in every place and on every platform, and find the resources, people, and focus to reach voters who currently get their news about Democrats from Republicans. That will be my mission as DNC Chair: Unite. Fight. Win.”
After coming back to his home state of Wisconsin in 2018, Ben Wikler was elected in 2019 to chair the Democratic Party of Wisconsin. Since Ben became chair, WisDems has raised nearly $200 million – including over $50 million this past cycle, more than any other Democratic state party – and have used those resources to run a non-stop campaign operation where Democrats organize and communicate year-round in red, blue, and purple areas alike.
Ben has chaired the WisDems through five years of intense elections—and multiple historic victories. In the 2020 presidential race, Wisconsin flipped from red to blue. In 2022, Tony Evers became the first Democrat to win a Wisconsin Governor’s race during a Democratic presidency in more than half a century. In 2023, Wisconsin Democrats fueled a landslide state Supreme Court victory that ended GOP control of Wisconsin’s highest court—and the new majority ended the GOP’s partisan gerrymander of the state legislature. And in 2024, amidst a national red wave, Wisconsin Democrats reelected Senator Tammy Baldwin and flipped fourteen state legislative seats from red to blue.
Ben believes that to beat Republicans up and down the ticket, Democrats must unite, fight, and win on the national level just as they’ve done Wisconsin: UNITE the party, its allies, candidates, and coalition around long-term plans to organize, recruit, and build teams to compete at every level in every state and territory; FIGHT by training and deploying great communicators to authentically deliver the most effective messages in every place and on every platform; and WIN by raising unprecedented resources, recruiting staff, and mobilizing millions of volunteers to support year-round campaigns in every community.
To learn more about Ben’s background, vision, and how supporters can support this campaign, go to benwikler.com.
