Wisconsin Special State Senate Election May Signal Blue Wave

Wisconsin state senate special election signals backlash against
Trump and malice. Winning candidate stressed decency, (Twitter)

Wisconsin Dem Flips State Seat Win by Trump by 17 Points in 2016

Updated - Madison, Wisconsin—AP writer Todd Richmond's lede this morning on a special state senate election in Wisconsin points to a possible blue wave in 2018 directed against Donald Trump, the Koch brothers and many candidates with a R next to their names.

Writes Richmond:

A surprising Democratic upset in a conservative Wisconsin Senate district where voters overwhelmingly supported President Donald Trump just 14 months ago has raised liberal hopes of more election success coming this fall.

Patty Schachtner’s victory over an incumbent Republican state representative in Wisconsin’s 10th Senate District follows a series of Democratic wins across the country. Republican Gov. Scott Walker, who is up for re-election to a third term in November, took note, posting on Twitter minutes after Schachtner’s win calling it a 'wake up call for Republicans in Wisconsin.'

Democrat Patty Schachtner defeated Republican Adam Jarchow, (Facebook), in state senate district 10 in northwestern Wisconsin.

The district borders the northern Mississippi River and is known for stunning landscape and surface waters, (Wisconsin Senate District 10).

During Wisconsin's Lost Decade of Republican rule, 2011-2019, Republicans supported by billionaire-funded dark money have run slash-and-burn campaigns appealing to racism, engaging in massive voter suppression, and handed over the legislative and administrative policy agenda to rightwing special interests.

The Schachtner campaign which ran on relatively apolitical, be-decent, people-over-Party messages has the national political world taking notice, (Talking Points Memo).

Schachtner's winning campaign stressed being nice.

She told journalists she beat the Republican Jarchow because of mean-spirited, nasty mailings from special interest groups outside the district.

"It wasn’t nice. It was mean. People just said, ‘You know what? We’re nicer than that,’" (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel).

Next up in national political tea reading is a special congressional election in southwestern Pennsylvania between Democrat Conor Lamb and Republican Rick Saccone, (Reuters). This Pennsylvania district is overwhelmingly Republican.