Democrats Won Today
A shimmer of hope in what has been a dark and grim tunnel
WISCONSIN - Today we have for the first time seen a rebuke from voters in protest of the current leadership. Two big back to back wins for the Democrats have gathered a rally of supporters that just might prove pivotal against the actions of Trump’s administration so far.
Wisconsin Votes
Wisconsin came out today to vote on a special election on who will be appointed to the Wisconsin supreme court. The two candidates running were Susan Crawford and Brad Schimel, and although this race is technically supposed to be a non-partisan one, we saw clear sides taking place. Elon Musk has personally, and through third party PACS, donated almost 20 million dollars towards Brad Schimel’s campaign. The second and third-biggest donors were also Republicans, who donated towards Schimel’s campaign.
Despite this massive amount of spending, Susan Crawford not only eked out a victory, but did so with margins bigger than what Trump had against Kamala Harris in 2024. Now of course certain factors play into this. Since this is an off-year election, we generally expect lower turnout. Secondly, in off-year elections, the opposition party is the one that often wins. However, this is undoubtedly a huge blow not only to Trump, but more importantly to Elon Musk. This both highlights Elon Musk’s general low favorability, and people’s attitude towards purchasing elections by spending large amounts of money. While more spending often leads to that candidate winning, today we saw the exact opposite of that. The main focus of Democrats now needs to be on how to turn this momentum into action, and how to keep the energy going for the 2026 midterm elections.
Two other major elections were also today in Florida where Republican Randy Fine, and Jimmy Patronis handedly won their seats. However, even these results are interesting as these are deep red districts in Florida. The fact that the margins were only about 14 points is very enlightening on people’s sentiment. It’s still important to note, though that this is a special off-year election. Time will till if this sentiment holds come the midterms.
Cory Booker Stands
Today, well technically starting yesterday, Cory Booker took to the floor of the senate to filibuster in an attempt to spread his message and delay senate proceedings.
“I rise with the intention of disrupting the normal business of the United States Senate for as long as I am physically able, I rise tonight because I believe sincerely that our country is in crisis.” - Cory Booker
This came with a huge rally of support, seeing upwards of 450,000 live concurrent viewers across YouTube, TikTok, and X. Senator Cory Booker spoke on the senate floor for a continuous 25 hours and 5 minutes, breaking all records for filibustering in the senate, with the previous longest one being 24 hour and 18 minutes. While ultimately this might be seen as performative more than anything, it highlights the important fact that there are a lot of people in this country itching for action, both from themselves, and their elected representatives. I believe it is now on the Democrats to turn this rally cry from just performance, to actual tangible action. Whether that is protesting, activism, or voting, there are many people out there ready to be told on how to resist the current administration.
Conclusions
Today has almost felt slightly too good to be true. We saw a huge rally around the democrats with Cory Booker, and we saw that rally turn tangible with people of Wisconsin going out to vote. Regardless, today has undeniably been a blow for Trump and his administration. Whether this means things will change, or if Musk and Trump’s relationship will sour, is yet to be seen. However, for one day we can breathe the slightest sigh of relief, as for many are for the first time feeling a semblance of hope since the start of this new administration. Ultimately, I don’t think this hope will be long-lasting as tomorrow is set to bring a lot more news, especially as the liberation day tariffs loom ahead.