Democratic Party of Wisconsin

During Wisconsin's territory years, Jacksonian democracy was dominant and, thanks largely to Andrew Jackson's reputation and presidency, the Democratic Party was seen as the party of the common man. State and federal Democrats shared a claim of opposing the "money power" of eastern wealth and central banks, and other Jacksonian policies, such as the appropriation of new lands from Native American populations and the distribution of those lands to new settlers bolstered Democratic politicians and helped to establish a durable voter base in the new territories.[8] The early Democratic Party in Wisconsin was also seen as championing property, trade, and economic policies which favored the lead mining, fur trading, and lumber harvesting laborers who were coming to populate the new territory. This was the base of early Democrats such as Territorial Governor Henry Dodge.[8]

The party continued to expand with the industrialization of cities along the rivers and coasts of Wisconsin and the growth of the urban workforce. The Democratic Party dominated the first decade of state government, winning 25 of the first 30 elections for statewide partisan offices, while holding large majorities in the Wisconsin Legislature and among the congressional delegations.[8]

Frays began to appear in the Democratic coalition, however, as national Democrats were seen as favoring Southern priorities over new states' priorities—such as federal spending for harbor and railroad improvements. These issues persisted through the presidencies of Democrats James K. Polk and Franklin Pierce as petitions from Wisconsin Democrats fell on deaf ears in Washington.[8]

Immigration would also become a fault line within the party and the state in these early years. The Democrats initially thrived on their appeal to immigrant laborers, bolstered by language they had added to the Wisconsin Constitution which allowed new immigrants to quickly attain voting rights. Their principal opposition, however, the Whig Party, held more nativist positions and over time began exploiting the resentments between immigrants and non-immigrants and between Protestants and Catholics.[8] This division also involved the issue of prohibition, which was supported by a majority of the Wisconsin voting population in a nonbinding referendum in 1853, but was anathema to immigrant populations.[8]

The issue of slavery further exacerbated internal Democratic Party divisions as national Democrats pushed policies to abolish the Wilmot Proviso and allow for the establishment of slavery in new U.S. states and territories. A formal split occurred in 1848, as anti-slavery Democrats broke off and formed the Free Soil Party along with members of the abolitionist Liberty Party. The Free Soil Party quickly found a foothold in southeastern Wisconsin, with a base of support from settlers who had arrived in Wisconsin from New England and New York. The splits significantly diminished the majority of the Democratic statewide vote, but left Democrats still in control of statewide offices.[8] State Democrats were able to reclaim some Free Soil supporters and stave off further losses by publicly endorsing more free soil positions, such as a Joint Resolution from the legislature to instruct Wisconsin's congressional delegation to oppose any expansion of slavery into new territories. But national Democratic policies continued to undermine those efforts, as the Compromise of 1850 and it's Fugitive Slave Act component further inflamed anti-slavery sentiment in Wisconsin and other northern states.[8] Anti-slavery emotion was further excited with the arrest of Milwaukee abolitionist newspaper publisher Sherman Booth, who had led a mob to free Joshua Glover in defiance of the Fugitive Slave Act.[8]

By 1853, internal factions were publicly lobbing accusations of corruption at fellow Democrats. Most notably Wisconsin circuit court judge Levi Hubbell was impeached at the instigation of fellow Democrat Edward G. Ryan, and William A. Barstow, who was seeking the Democratic nomination for Governor in 1853, was accused of having accepted bribes while in office as Secretary of State.[8]

Despite the internal divisions, Barstow won the governorship and Wisconsin Democrats were able to maintain power in the state until anti-slavery factions finally coalesced with northern Whigs into the new Republican Party in 1854.[8] The Kansas–Nebraska Act, which repealed the anti-slavery components of the Missouri Compromise, was the final straw for anti-slavery northerners.[9]

The 1855 gubernatorial election was tainted by more accusations of corruption and fraud and ultimately had to be settled by the state Supreme Court, where Democrat Edward G. Ryan took a leading role in prosecuting the case against Democratic Governor William Barstow.[8] Democratic voting power in the state continued to wane as Republicans won full control of the Legislature in 1856 and retained the governorship in 1857. By the time the American Civil War started, Republicans held every statewide partisan office. Democrats would only hold the governorship for 8 of the next 100 years.

The Civil War further split the state Democratic Party between War Democrats and Peace Democrats. Despite a strong showing by Democratic candidates in the 1862 congressional elections, Republicans continued to hold full power over state government throughout the war.[8]

In the late 19th century, the Republican Party was primarily concerned with the special interests of railroads, the lumber industry and the concerns of unionized labor.[10] Along with these interests and the Republicans' ability to accumulate Federal funding for Wisconsin, gained the Republicans the support of many individuals in the working class, along with small business and Populist farmers. In the last decade of the 19th century, the Republican Party's progressive base, which was led by Robert La Follette, began to dominate Wisconsin state politics. The election of La Follette as governor in 1900 was the cornerstone of this movement. Democrats were virtually dormant in the state during this time.

The Republicans led by La Follette, and later by his sons, employed many progressive policies within in the state of Wisconsin but led to a split within the party, creating the Wisconsin Progressive Party. Nationally, progressive policies were also ascendant with the masses, and were adopted by prominent Republicans like Theodore Roosevelt and then by Democrats like Franklin D. Roosevelt. The Democratic Party was nearly relegated to third party status in the state during the early 20th century as Republicans and Progressives were stronger competitors for state offices.[10] The Republicans' tight control of Wisconsin politics lasted until the late 1940s, when the Wisconsin Progressive Party began to collapse and many of the remaining progressives fled to the Democratic Party, bringing the state party more in line with the progressive policies of the national party. The Democrats won their first major victory when William Proxmire was elected in the late 1950s. Wisconsin in the 1980s and 1990s was characterized by competitive two-party politics for control of the governorship, other state constitutional offices, the state legislature, and U.S. Senate seats.[11]

In the first decade of the 21st century, Wisconsin was fairly evenly divided between Republican and Democratic parties, as both parties held statewide offices and at various times held control of one or both houses of the Legislature. This changed with the 2010 election when a national Republican wave helped elect a Republican Governor and Republican majorities in the Wisconsin Senate and Assembly. With full control of state government, one of the Republicans' first acts was the controversial 2011 Wisconsin Act 10, the "budget repair bill" which stripped collective bargaining rights from public employee unions. Following mass protests in the state capital, Democratic senators fled the state in an attempt to deny a quorum and slow down the passage of the bill. The attempt ultimately failed, but the controversy led to two years (2011 & 2012) of senate recall elections, and a gubernatorial recall election. The recalls gave the Democrats a brief senate majority in 2012, but it was lost to new senate maps in 2012.

The main effect of the 2010 election, however, was that it allowed Republicans to control the redistricting process following the 2010 census. They used this power to draw a substantially gerrymandered map for the 2011–2021 decade—a gerrymander that was frequently cited as the worst or one of the worst in the country.[12] Under the maps implemented by the Republican redistricting law (2011 Wisconsin Act 43) Democrats have not been able to win more than 43% of either the State Assembly or Senate.[13]

In 2018, Democrats swept all statewide offices, electing Tony Evers as Governor, Mandela Barnes as Lieutenant Governor, Josh Kaul as Attorney General, Sarah Godlewski as State Treasurer, and reelecting Doug La Follette as Secretary of State, while also reelecting United States Senator Tammy Baldwin.[14] Despite this substantial victory, where Democrats received more than 52% of the popular vote in State Assembly elections, they won only 42% of the State Senate seats and only 36% of Assembly seats.

Democrats hold three of Wisconsin's eight seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and one of Wisconsin's two seats in the U.S. Senate.

Democrats have controlled Wisconsin's Class I seat in the U.S. Senate since 1957:

• Class I: Tammy Baldwin (Junior Senator, United States Senate Democratic Conference Secretary)
  

  Junior Senator Baldwin

• WI-02: Mark Pocan
• WI-03: Ron Kind
• WI-04: Gwen Moore

• Governor: Tony Evers
• Lieutenant Governor: Mandela Barnes
• Attorney General: Josh Kaul
• State Treasurer: Sarah Godlewski
• Secretary of State: Doug La Follette
• Superintendent of Public Instruction: Carolyn Stanford Taylor

• City of Milwaukee: Tom Barrett
• City of Madison: Satya Rhodes-Conway
• City of Green Bay: Eric Genrich
• City of Kenosha: John Antaramian
• City of Racine: Cory Mason
• City of La Crosse: Tim Kabat
• City of Manitowoc: Justin Nickels
• City of Superior: Jim Paine
• City of Glendale: Bryan Kennedy