E-Mail from Progressive Majority... re: yesterday's elections

Progressive Majority Wisconsin achieved major victories in local races across the state yesterday. This was the first time we worked with candidates in municipal elections and the results were incredible. Progressive Majority Farm Team candidates won 8 of 9 contested races.

Breaking New Ground for Women

In LaCrosse, both Progressive Majority candidates Dorothy Lenard and Jai Johnson won seats on the City Council. Dorothy Lenard won nearly 2-1 in an open seat contest against a very well-known and well-financed opponent. Challenger Jai Johnson aggressively took on a conservative incumbent and won with 57% of the vote. We worked one-on-one with both of these candidates to hammer out their campaign plans and provided strategic guidance throughout the course of their campaigns.

Their victories bring the total number of women on the council to 5, the greatest in the city's history. The La Crosse Tribune highlighted this ground-breaking victory.
http://www.lacrossetribune.com/articles/2005/04/06/election/3news06.txt


Achieving an Upset Victory

In Winnebago County, a traditionally Republican stronghold, Progressive Majority targeted two seats in an effort to build a progressive farm team for the future and lay the groundwork for 2006 and 2008 legislative elections. The groundwork has been laid.

In what the Oshkosh Northwestern newspaper called an "upset victory," Oshkosh Mayor Mark Harris defeated 8-year incumbent Jane Van De Hey for Winnebago County Executive yesterday. Harris came out of the February Primary with momentum and built on that over the last seven weeks. Harris is a solid progressive and a former foster parent with a commitment to child abuse prevention. Progressive Majority provided the Harris campaign with financial support and fundraising and technical assistance: he will now represent nearly 160,000 people in Northeastern Wisconsin.

Also in Oshkosh, Bryan Bain was one of six candidates vying for three city-wide Common Council seats. Progressive Majority extended both financial support and one-on-one technical assistance, helping him rise from a sixth-place finish in the February primary to a second-place finish in the general.


Electing True Progressives

Other successful Progressive Majority candidates around the state include Raymond DeHahn, a retired Teamster who won a hard-fought seat on Racine City Council; Toby Biegel, an organizer for the Carpenters Union who was re-elected to Eau Claire City Council; small business owner Jeff Smith, a returning farm team candidate who founded his local Parent Teacher Association and was re-elected Brunswick Town Chair; and Ann Brodek, an environmental activist who was re-elected Village of Wind Point Trustee.


Investing in Our Future

Progressive Majority targeted races in these specific areas of the state with an eye toward future state legislative races. We are filling the pipeline with progressive champions, one election at a time. To support Progressive Majority's ongoing candidate recruitment efforts, please click on the link below so we can continue to achieve groundbreaking victories in all of our targeted states.

Sincerely,
Gloria A. Totten
Executive Director
http://www.progressivemajority.com

This is exactly what the Dem party should have been doing the past 10 years.

Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Benjamin Franklin

I thought that was Einstein...