by Dean Briggs
Progressive and former chair of the Wisconsin Democratic Party Ben Wikler is everywhere these days with his new book, “This Is the Plan: How to End America’s Meltdown and Save Democracy.” If you follow Democratic Party politics, you know that Wikler ran for chair of the Democratic National Committee and lost to political centrist and Minnesota operative Ken Martin.
But Wikler has moved on. His new book and public statements focus on state and local politics as the key to unwinding the MAGA grip on national politics. Much of what he proposes will be familiar to Indivisible activists.
He notes that the Constitution assigns states the power to make arrangements for congressional races and that activists who want to reduce the likelihood of a Trumpian coup in 2028 should focus on voting rights and state elections in red and purple states.
That was Wikler’s strategy in Wisconsin, which he says was “a democracy desert”. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi describes him as “the greatest state chairman ever.” He focused on grassroots organizing, working with independent groups and labor unions, building the party, and facing down gerrymandering efforts in the Republican-controlled legislature.
Wikler’s signal achievement was supporting a winning Democratic candidate for the state supreme court while defeating the MAGA candidate backed by $57 million from Elon Musk. This led to a liberal majority on the court, which rejected a heavily gerrymandered district map. A non-gerrymandered map was substituted and this prevented a Republican supermajority in the legislature.
The Democratic Party’s big problem
Wikler acknowledges the national unpopularity of the Democratic Party’s brand, attributing it to an inability to deliver on promises once elected, and the challenges to regaining voters’ trust: “If you had Democrats in charge, you voted for change, and now you don’t like the Republicans in charge, that doesn’t mean that you’re like: Oh, let’s go back to the old thing. That means you want something else yet again. You want change from the situation you have, and neither party so far has delivered it for you.” 1
“(There is) this profound sense that the whole country is not working for regular people, that people who would like not to have to ever think about politics suddenly are feeling politics just pounding at the windows like a horde of zombies because their lives are going off the rails. That it is so hard just to be able to afford to live, and people are being shot in the streets, and there’s this sense that lettuce might give you explosive diarrhea. All this is wrong.”
—Ben Wikler, The Ezra Klein Show, New York Times, July 28, 2026
Wikler doesn’t see Democratic Party approval ratings improving until elected Democrats produce concrete results. He doesn’t think it will take Elon Musk-level funding to win — just great candidates with people to support them.
He also observes that people don’t think the Democratic Party makes government work for them. “They believe it makes government work for their own set of interests, whether it’s funders or environmentalists or unions or whoever it may be that people are upset about.” Or they don’t believe government works, or they don’t want government doing jobs they aren’t sure government can do.
Wikler says the Democratic Party’s unpopularity with Democrats is partly due to their messaging to members, noting that it is mostly contribution solicitations driven by algorithms, not compelling communication and engagement: “(email) messages that promise a 400% match with a zero replaced by an O so it can bypass the spam filter and all this kind of stuff that just makes me want to tear my hair out. So they just are not in the business of earning trust with people for the long term.”
Democrats’ way out of the hole
Wikler argues that Democrats should get away from their long lists of priorities to talk with and listen to voters: “If you want to save democracy, talk about roads. Talk about something concrete, something that makes sense to people who do not want to have to talk about politics. These are often economic issues and things that directly affect their personal freedoms, that is getting in the way of them leading the kind of life they want to lead.” And across the Democratic political spectrum, Wikler views affordability as the issue in the current election cycle.
Wikler has a traditional and Midwestern view of the Democratic party. “There should be a big tent, and there should be big contests of ideas, and there should be different candidates who represent very different things in different places,” he says. What plays in New York City may not play in Ohio. But across that spectrum, Wikler believes the issue of affordability unites all candidates. While voters may be suspicious of the Democratic Party, they will gravitate to a candidate who listens to their concerns.
He also explains that individual voters may hold a series of views that don’t align with a party platform, and yet they should be invited into the big Democratic tent. “You can have somebody who believes in full-on marijuana legalization and believes in universal health care but is also pro-life.” Fully 15% of Democrats identify as “pro-life.”
Wikler notes that actually delivering on campaign promises — and communicating about results — means more to voters than labels. He cites New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s early success in delivering on public services and the acclaim he is receiving from residents.
Critically, Wikler believes this work begins at the community level, where party labels mean less than reputation and results. In addition, it means maintaining contact with Democratic voters who are less likely to go to the polls, citing Abraham Lincoln’s advice about doubtful voters: you need to stay in touch with them and show them your results.
Wikler believes that local and state elections are fundamental to restoring democracy, but his book also addresses, in concrete steps, how to restore democracy in the House, Senate, presidency and Supreme Court, with a timeline for action. I expect that activists will be reading and seeking guidance from this book for many years.
Ben Wikler’s book “This Is the Plan: How to End America’s Meltdown and Save Democracy” is available from Bookshop.org, which supports your local bookstore.
- All quotes from “The Democratic Party Needs Change,” The Ezra Klein Show, The New York Times, July 28, 2026.
Dean Briggs is a member of the IMC Communications Team, Indivisible Boros and Beyond, and Nashoba Indivisible.
IndivisiBlog posts reflect the opinions of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or policy positions of Indivisible Mass Coalition.
