The Democrats' New Chance in Wisconsin

The Run-Up

The New York Times

News Commentary, Politics, News

4.4 • 2K Ratings

🗓️ 2 May 2024

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

For years, Wisconsin has been one of the most heavily gerrymandered states in the country, with legislative districts that overwhelmingly favored Republicans. In fact, the maps were so one-sided that, even though the state has a roughly equal share of Democrats and Republicans, Republicans were able to lock in large majorities in the State Assembly and Senate. But earlier this year, the state adopted new maps, which have significantly changed the political landscape in the state for Democrats. They are newly optimistic. So after months of hearing about President Biden’s problems motivating the Democratic base, we traveled to the critical battleground state of Wisconsin to ask: Have new maps led to new energy for Democrats, up and down the ballot?

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is cute.
0:02.0	About two weeks ago, my colleague Anna and I made our way to Lodi, Wisconsin, a small town of about 3,000 people, just north of Madison.
0:14.0	Home of Susie, who's Susie?
0:17.0	Yeah.
0:18.0	Susie the Duck.
0:20.0	When we got there, we walked down Main Street
0:22.8	past the florist, a sausage and meat market, an antique store
0:27.8	until we crossed the bridge with a metal archway
0:31.6	dedicated to Susie the Duck.
0:34.8	In 1948, a country mallard settled down in downtown Lodi.
0:39.1	She laid her eggs in a masonry flower basket, endearing herself to locals and visitors who observed her brood.
0:44.8	Named Susie by police chief Will Brounick's granddaughter, our mascot fame spread.
0:50.2	Susie faithfully returned to her flower basket raising two clutches of eggs each year and attracting national media attention.
0:57.5	Over the years, many Susie's have nested in this basket.
1:01.0	Lodi still hosts an annual Susie the Duck Festival celebrating the
1:05.0	famous fowl who rests in the heart of Loi. That's pretty cute. Yeah. That's
1:11.2	also a nice way of saying the duck died. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's also a nice way of saying the duck died.
1:13.2	Yeah, yeah, yeah, I was like, many Susie.
1:16.8	I was like, oh, oh.
1:19.0	We're all Susie.
1:20.1	Susie is one draw to Lodi, which I've now learned is how you pronounce it.
1:26.9	But the other one is how the town votes.
	...

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