Another Republican Wiped Out

Democrat Schachtner won a stunning victory against Republican Jarchow in a special election. The election was held in rural Wisconsin, in a deep red district where Trump won by 17%.

Jarchow was supported and funded by the Koch brothers. He outspent Schachtner by a factor of 8 and still lost.

Unlike with Roy Moore in the Alabama Senate race, the Trump team cannot blame a flawed candidate. The GOP nominee, Adam Jarchow, is a solid assemblyman who ran a spirited campaign. Four years ago, in fact, he won his seat by defeating Schachtner’s son and has worked hard since then to cultivate a base of support.

Mostly under the radar, the special election had become a proxy war and Republicans significantly outspent the Democrats: Americans for Prosperity, backed by the billionaire industrialist Koch brothers, poured $50,000 into the race. Two other GOP-aligned groups funded by the business community contributed another $80,000.

The National Democratic Redistricting Committee, backed by Barack Obama and Eric Holder, spent $10,000.

There is an important lesson here for national Democrats: Schachtner is the sort of candidate who can actually defeat GOP incumbents in red congressional districts this fall. She has deep roots in the community, and she is not a fire-breathing liberal.

Her campaign focused not on attacking Trump but fighting the opioid crisis, improving access to health care and bringing good-paying jobs to the region. She didn’t need to talk about the president to benefit from an outpouring of progressive energy and conservative apathy.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/paloma/daily-202/2018/01/17/daily-202-unexpected-defeat-in-rural-wisconsin-special-election-sets-off-alarm-bells-for-republicans/5a5eb5d230fb0469e884019a/

One step at a time, moving forward, one small step at a time.   We will get there.