For the last six years, the Democratic Party of Wisconsin has been run by Ben Wikler. In that time as chair of the party, Democrats and Democratic-aligned candidates have won seven of ten statewide races, including flipping the balance of power on the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

But in April, after yet another win in a pivotal Wisconsin Supreme Court race, Wikler announced he’d be stepping down as chair. The party will be electing its next chair in less than a month, at their upcoming convention on June 14 and 15 in Wisconsin Dells.

Wikler sat down with The Recombobulation Area for an extended interview on the latest news around Elon Musk and his political spending, Wikler’s run for DNC chair, and his surprise endorsement in the race for WisDems chair. We also talked about where the Democratic Party needs to go from here, how the party can do a better job communicating with voters, whether the Democrats have a credibility problem with regards to Joe Biden’s age, whether more people from Wisconsin should be working on campaigns, and much more.

You can also listen to the interview as a podcast on Civic Media here, on Apple Podcasts here, or embedded below from Spotify.

You can also watch this interview on YouTube.

Production and engineering by Aaron Zommers of Civic Media.

Dan Shafer is a journalist from Milwaukee who writes and publishes The Recombobulation Area. In 2024, he became the Political Editor of Civic Media. He’s also written for The New York Times, The Daily Beast, Heartland Signal, Belt Magazine, WisPolitics, and Milwaukee Record. He previously worked at Seattle Magazine, Seattle Business Magazine, the Milwaukee Business Journal, Milwaukee Magazine, and BizTimes Milwaukee. He’s won 23 Milwaukee Press Club Excellence in Journalism Awards. He’s on Twitter at @DanRShafer.

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Follow Dan Shafer on Twitter at @DanRShafer and at BlueSky at @danshafer.bsky.social.

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