year joining us now, ben wickler, chair of the wisconsin democratic party which has been working its proverbial butt off on behalf of the more liberal of the two candidates on the ballot tomorrow it s nice to see you thank you for joining us thanks so much, rachel. so i m personally uncomfortable with the whole idea of judges elected anyway. i have to say that as a baseline matter but that s where we are and this is absolutely a totally hard-fought all-out election tomorrow what kind of resources have you and other democrats put into this race? what are you expecting to be the results of your labor? so this election is the hinge in the political history of wisconsin where states that used to be proudly purple but also progressive, and when republicans swept into power on the backs of citizens united in 2010, they rigged the state,
but with highly-partisan decisions at stake, including abortion rights, redistricting, and potential 2024 election challenges, both parties are emptying their wallets on track to spend nearly $30 million alone on just this race. joining me now is the chair of the democratic party in wisconsin, ben wickler. ben, thanks for being here. nice to have you in person. there s a lot at stake in the next few weeks for wisconsinites, abortion, coming election, redistricting, how is it going? katy, thank you so much for having me on. it s going intensely is the short answer. this election is for all the marbles. if you think about 2020, wisconsin was the state that came closest to overturning the presidential election. it was one vote on the state supreme court out of the seven that prevented wisconsin from actually throwing out the ballots and giving trump the election results. dan kelly, the republican-backed
sometimes people say things but do they mean it? i don t think and in this case, because really, like when you look at it, so much can change, i m not in the prediction business, but there s a very good chance we could have another biden-trump matchup. that s just, you know, the facts of the matter. i joked with my team when i saw that poll come out over the weekend. did we need a poll to tell us this? i mean, look at how both of them are deeply unpopular with segments of the american people and you re spot on in many ways, are they really ready to quit these two men? i think both of those two men also think they re the one to beat the other. that s an interesting part of the calculation. they both think we re on a collision course for a rematch. we ll see. primaries to come. president biden not facing any significant challenge on the democratic side. the wisconsin democratic party chair, ben wickler in an area where the radicals on the right inspire revulsion and cheers,
that i have seen. that is quoted in our next guest, ezra klein s, brilliant new article about what real political engagement requires. it requires direct support of candidates through contributions or knocking on doors. it requires voting and helping others vote. and it requires running for office and understanding that no elected office is unimportant. ezra klein reports on ben wickler, chair of the democratic party, spends his days obsessing over mayoral races in towns because those clerks decide whether to pull the drop boxes for hail-in ballots and small changes to electoral administration could be the difference between winning senator ron johnson s seat in 2022 and losing the race and the senate. wickler ads, if you want to fight for the future of american