Sen. Tammy Baldwin: What is at Stake One Year From Now
By Sen. Tammy Baldwin
On election night 2016, Donald Trump won Wisconsin by 0.77% – just 24,000 votes – delivering him the White House and total control of the federal government. I remember what it felt like watching the results that night, watching Wisconsin tip the scales to put Donald Trump in power.
It’s a feeling I will never forget.
And it’s one I didn’t forget when, in 2020, we helped President Biden win our state and return sanity to the White House. President Biden and Wisconsin got it done, but we won by just 0.63% – 20,000 votes – an even smaller margin than last time. We won, but barely.
Election after election, the future of our country hangs in the balance here in Wisconsin. And 2024 will be no different. Our most fundamental rights and freedoms – the right to control our own bodies, the right to free and fair elections, the right to be who we are, love who we love, and afford a good, middle-class life – it is all on the line in this election. One year from now, voters in Wisconsin and across the country will have the chance to reelect a Democratic President, protect our Senate majority, reclaim the House, and pave the way for a freer, stronger country for all of us.
The Fight for Our Rights and Freedoms
When Roe v. Wade was overturned last summer, Americans were taken fifty years back in time. Gone were the protections that say you, not a politician or a judge, have the right to control your own body. In my home state along with states across the country, archaic abortion bans went into effect banning abortions in nearly all cases including rape and incest.
The stories I’ve heard from Wisconsinites seeking reproductive care in the post Roe era have been nothing short of harrowing. A woman in Wisconsin bled for more than ten days from an incomplete miscarriage after emergency room staff would not treat her because they believed, if they did, they would be criminally prosecuted under our state’s 1849 abortion ban. They waited until she was near death to save her life because that’s what the law required.
Another Wisconsin couple was told at thirteen weeks their fetus would not survive – a heartbreaking diagnosis for every expecting family. Rather than being able to access appropriate care and begin to grieve their loss, the expectant mother was forced to stay pregnant with an unviable fetus while she made plans to leave the state to access the care she needed.
This is the reality of a world without Roe.
And this reality extends beyond the right to control our own bodies. Over the past few years, we’ve seen extremist right wing politicians attempt to suppress the vote and prevent communities from having a fair say in their elections, pass anti LGBTQ+ legislation that puts same-sex couples and their children at risk, try to ban Rosa Parks from our libraries and take Toni Morrison from our bookshelves, and push changes to our economy that put big corporations and the ultra-wealthy first and the interests of working families last.
Day after day in state after state, the right wing is trying to take us back to the past.
Winning Wisconsin and What it Means for our Country
As I write, so many of us have fewer freedoms than our parents and grandparents had decades ago. But we can change that in 2024. And that starts with winning my home state of Wisconsin – the key battleground state in this election.
Our past few election cycles have been some of the most contentious and most expensive in history. Last year, Republicans spent $77 million to reelect Ron Johnson, one of the loudest right-wing extremist voices in Washington, an active January 6th participant, opponent of same-sex marriage, and supporter of a national abortion ban. That’s the most they’ve ever spent in a Wisconsin Senate race.
However, it’s clear that last year was just a warm up for the amount of money and time Republicans are going to spend here in 2024 because they know that control of the White House and the Senate is going to run right through Wisconsin. That’s why this year, they hosted their first presidential primary debate in our state. And next year, they are hosting the Republican National Convention, the grand GOP gathering where it looks like they will nominate Donald Trump as their candidate once again, right here in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Their eyes are set on us, but we have a plan to take them on and win.
Wisconsin Democrats from the U.S. Senate to the local school board are laser focused on doing the work, reaching out to our communities, and leaving no stone unturned. In red, purple, and blue areas alike, we are talking about the issues that matter most, and our fight to protect our most fundamental rights and freedoms.
We’re going to have to replicate all of that hard work we did in 2022 and this past spring because our democracy, our freedom, and our ability to live and raise our family in peace is all at stake next year. Now, with less than one year out until Election Day it is critical that we keep organizing, having the tough conversations, and keep voting in historic numbers to restore our rights and freedoms once and for all.
In Wisconsin, our state motto is ‘Forward.’ From now until November 2024, we are going to have to fight harder than ever to ensure my home state and the rest of the country keeps moving forward, not backward.
Tammy Baldwin is a United States Senator from Wisconsin, first elected in 2012.
