DNC chair tells ‘UpFront’ Crawford win a ‘huge shot in the arm’ for Dems

DNC Chair Ken Martin says Susan Crawford’s victory is “a huge shot in the arm” for the Dem Party nationally.

Crawford, the liberal candidate, defeated conservative Brad Schimel 55% to 45% in Wisconsin’s Supreme Court race.

“Most importantly, it’s what it means for Wisconsin, which we now know you have a court that’s going to stand up for reproductive rights, stand up for your education system, stand up for the people of Wisconsin,” Martin said on WISN 12’s “UpFront,” which is produced in partnership with WisPolitics. “I think at the end of the day what it means for Democrats is it’s a huge shot in the arm. I believe, as I’ve said all along, that when you organize everywhere, you can win anywhere.”

Martin credited Ben Wikler, chair of the state Dem Party, who recently ran against Martin to be DNC chair.

“Well, certainly, the organization he built on the ground is second to none,” Martin said. “It’s a wonderful organization. He’s built it from the ground up. When he came in, he came over to visit with me in Minnesota. We talked a lot about what we were able to do in that state, and he’s just done a great job of building the type of infrastructure that you need to win up and down the ballot, and I’m very proud of his organization. But of course that helped contribute to it, but you also had a spectacular candidate in Susan Crawford who kept her focus on the court.”

The new nationwide Marquette University Law School poll showed 63% of voters disapproving of the Dem Party in general, including roughly 30% of Dems.

“We have work to do,” Martin said. “As I’ve said, it’s the reason I ran for this job. We have to make sure that people know who we are as a Democratic Party, what we’re fighting for and why. At the end of the day, we can’t just resist Trump completely and exclusively. We have to do both. I believe we can walk and chew gum at the same time. We can give people a sense that we’re fighting back against the excesses and the extremes of this administration and the serious damage that they’re doing to the American people with their tariffs, cuts on Social Security and Medicare, while also giving people a sense of who we are as a Democratic Party and a credible alternative.

“There are many people who used to vote for Democrats who are now, actually have left the party,” Martin said. “They don’t believe that we’re standing up and fighting for them. They don’t believe we’re going to deliver on the promises we made, and that’s why we can’t just campaign against Donald Trump. We have to do both.”

U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson says “there’s no way to sugarcoat” Brad Schimel’s loss to Susan Crawford in the Wisconsin Supreme Court race, criticizing the Republican turnout statewide.

“It was a disappointing loss,” Johnson told “UpFront.” “I know Brad Schimel worked his tail off. A lot of other people did as well. It’s just the sad fact, sad reality that more than 600,000 people that voted for President Trump, they want to see him succeed, either weren’t aware or weren’t energized or just didn’t feel important enough to try and make sure that he would be able to be effective for the full four years and put at risk a couple of House seats.

“I can’t explain that,” Johnson said. “I give the Democrats the credit. They were energized. They’re all angry about the fact that President Trump won in November, and I guess that fired them up. And then they have renewed anger over Elon Musk as well, though I think Elon’s efforts were very welcome, I think, and in general, they were a net positive. But when you can’t — when you don’t turn people out — you can lead a horse to water; you can’t make him drink.”

In the days following the election, some Wisconsin Republicans have pointed the finger at party leadership for the loss.

“Listen, I think a lot of people within the party and outside groups worked their tail off,” Johnson said. “In the end, it’s up to the voters. And 1.7 million people were motivated to try to save this country by electing Donald Trump; 600,000 of those individuals were either not aware, not paying attention or just didn’t think it was important enough. It’s very disappointing.”

Johnson also weighed in on the impact of Trump’s tariffs, calling it a “bold and risky” move.

“I remain concerned,” Johnson said. “It’s interesting, as I talked to people in Wisconsin, manufacturers, farmers who could be impacted by this, they also realize it’s a double-edged sword, and they understand what President Trump is trying to accomplish and agree with the goals at least. So, it’s a very complex issue right now. All I can do is kind of sit by and listen to the constituents, make sure that Howard Lutnick and the president and his administration are well aware of any kind of retaliation or any kind of pain this is causing or how it might make Wisconsin manufacturers less competitive globally.

“I remain, as the stock market is, concerned,” Johnson said. “I think President Trump is well aware of the fact that there’s going to be some pain. I don’t know what his pain tolerance is.”

Charles Franklin, director of the Marquette University Law School Poll, says turnout increased among both Dems and Republicans but favored Dems more statewide.

“Republican turnout was up about 245,000 votes, but Democratic turnout was up about 280,000 votes,” Franklin told “UpFront.” “So both sides had really focused on getting their voters out to the polls, and they both succeeded, but Democrats a little bit more than Republicans did.”

As for Elon Musk’s impact on the race, a new nationwide Marquette poll showed Musk’s favorability at 38%, adding that 60% of voters view him unfavorably nationwide.

“For all the money Musk invested in the state, he barely moved the vote margins at all,” Franklin said. “He did, I think, or the Republican Party did succeed in turning voters out, and that’s a real plus for them. But it also proves that Musk’s involvement is a lightning rod for Democratic attacks. And here Democrats focus so heavily on Musk’s involved and boosted their turnout even more than Republicans did. I think that’s a warning sign to Republicans that Musk may help their side with money and maybe turnout, but he also motivates an awful lot of Democrats to go the other way.”

Green Bay Mayor Eric Genrich says the city is ready and prepared to host the NFL Draft later this month, including the major security operation it entails.

“It’s a significant undertaking for us,” Genrich told “UpFront,” adding the city is working with Homeland Security officials. “They came to town. They work with our public safety folks to do what’s called a tabletop exercise. In the room, we probably had 50 people associated with the event, from our police and fire to county folks, village public safety, people from Wisconsin Public Service, our utility transmission line company, just everybody who could be involved in some kind of disaster and walk through a number of different events that could occur.”

The state has allocated several million dollars to help with costs associated with hosting the draft. The statewide economic impact is projected at $96 million and roughly $20 million in the Green Bay area.

“It’s a great opportunity for us as a community, for our businesses and organizations,” Genrich said. “Beyond that, which isn’t really captured by some of those numbers, is the global stage essentially that we’re on, the opportunity to have millions of eyeballs on the city of Green Bay and the state of Wisconsin.”

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