The Vote Heard Round the World

The Shot Heard 'Round the World - Schoolhouse Rock (1975)

In the first stanza of a poem about the opening of the American Revolutionary War, Ralph Waldo Emerson immortalized the phrase “The shot heard round the world”:

By the rude bridge that arched the flood,

Their flag to April’s breeze unfurled,

Here once the embattled farmers stood

And fired the shot heard round the world.

- “Concord Hymn” by Ralph Waldo Emerson

Well, Wisconsinites cast “The vote heard round the world” on Tuesday, defeating Brad Schimel, who was the preferred candidate of Donald Trump and Elon Musk.

Elon Musk and Donald Trump see checks and balances as a bug, not a feature. They wanted a Wisconsin Supreme Court that would allow the Republican-favoring gerrymander of Wisconsin’s Congressional maps to continue—two, or three, or four more Democrats in the House of Representatives from Wisconsin could halt their legislative agenda in its tracks. They also wanted a Court that would sustain their corruption and abet their autocracy.

The richest man in the world offered millions of dollars in bribes to voters, sent millions of dollars in contributions to Schimel’s campaign and the Republican Party, and spent millions more on electioneering on Schimel’s behalf.

Thus, the election became a referendum on Trump’s chainsaw agenda, and the influence of Elon Musk. I’m thankful voters spurned that influence by double digits. In the most purple state in the Union, where Donald Trump won by 0.86%, Brad Schimel lost by over 10%.

But it was the conduct of this campaign, specifically by Elon Musk, whose brazen attempt at undermining our democracy, is what is concerning. Nobody should be happy with a campaign finance system that allows for the richest man in the world to bribe voters and buy the branch of our state government that could stand in the way of his corrupt and callous agenda.

My Democratic colleagues in the Legislature and I are of course ECSTATIC that our team won. Ecstatic we sent that message. This was the first win for Democrats anywhere in America during Trump’s second term. High-fives all around. But I am flabbergasted at the conduct of this campaign.

I started my career working for Wisconsin’s former U.S. Senator Russ Feingold, who with John McCain convinced a Republican-controlled Congress to pass, and President George W. Bush to sign, The Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002, commonly referred to as, simply: “McCain-Feingold.”

My former boss’s bill did a number of things: regulated "soft money" in politics that isn’t spent by candidates themselves, and made several other changes like those “I’m Mike Bare and I approve this message” statement requirements. In the moment, it was a response to a series of scandals and public outcry similar to the moment we are in today. Much of those reforms were undone by the U.S. Supreme Court in its decision in Citizens United vs. FEC, which built upon other cases that generally held that political speech is protected First Amendment free speech.

I've been talking about this with my colleagues the past few days. There are some reforms we could make that might help, like adding transparency, changing limits, changing how we finance campaigns, and addressing the bribery that occurred, but any of those would require Republicans to go against Donald Trump and Elon Musk. Maybe the 10% loss makes them willing. Stay tuned for more details!

Those Republicans should listen. This was the first time the Trump-Musk agenda faced a test at a ballot box. I’m so grateful Wisconsin voters sent a message to Donald Trump and Elon Musk: Our votes aren’t for sale, we don’t like your actions, and get your hands off our checks and balances.

Wisconsin voters sent a louder message even farther:

A branch was threatened this April,

But the wanna-be autocrat lost,

For the proud Cheeseheads stood on business

And cast the vote heard round the world.

- “Crawford Hymn” by Mike Bare