July Newsletter
No Kings Turnout was EPIC
No Kings Day, a national day of defiance, brought over 200 participants to Algoma’s protest. The national participation count comes in at a conservative 7.2 million making it the largest protest against a president in US history. Algoma’s attendees spanned the age spectrum of folks in their 90s to families with toddlers who played on a picnic blanket while their parents picketed. One banner that caught our eye stated “Courage is Contagious”, but the most poignant part of the day was when a participant of color marched down the street with his passport held high. A sad statement of the fear created by the current administration.
June Speaking of Democracy Update
The June Speaking of Democracy was held at Red’s Pub and Grill. Attendees received updates on Party initiatives and were joined by two speakers, Amy Trader and Becky Rasmussen.
Amy is the recently elected 1st Vice Chair of the 8th Congressional District. It is the responsibility of the 8th CD to get a Democrat elected to Congress (replacing Tony Wied). An HR professional by trade, Amy shared the new mission of the organization – to leverage resources from all 10 counties with the district to develop our leadership capacity so we are able to put forward qualified candidates to replace Wied in 2026.
Becky Rasmussen is the regional training director for Wisconsin Progress. Her role is to work across northeastern WI identifying, strengthening the skills of and then supporting candidates from local municipal races to state and congressional races.
If you are interested in running for a local government position or know of someone with exceptional communication/leadership skills, perhaps currently involved in community organizations, church or educational boards or local politics, please contact us at kcdpwi@gmail.com
Get Involved: Upcoming Events
Kewaunee County Fair July 10-13—Help us Demonstrate Democracy
One of the greatest challenges we face is to communicate our values to our Republican leaning neighbors. The County Fair provides an opportunity to tell folks who we are and what we stand for.
Our focus will be to show that Democrats are patriots in touch with our neighbors. We will honor our service veterans by having them in our booth every day and displaying flags from the service branches.
On Sunday we will honor healthcare workers and first responders.
A monitor will play a video that boldly states who and what we stand for.
Training for fair volunteers will be held the evening of July 9th.
To sign up for a booth shift go to Demonstrate Democracy at the Fair
Fair Parade
The Fair parade will take place on Sunday, July 13. Volunteers are needed to walk the route or ride on the float. Participants should plan to arrive by 11am and be done by 1:30pm. To sign up contact Renee Paplham by phone or text at (920) 304-0342. Float seating is limited to the first 10 to sign up.
Opportunity Nocks – Additional Volunteers Needed
News Letter: We are looking for someone to be in charge of this newsletter. Ideally, someone familiar with Microsoft Word, Gmail, Google Sheets and has a communications or journalism background. Requires approximately 5 hours/month, mostly during the last week of the month.
Poll Workers are needed in Kewaunee County. For more information click Be a Poll Worker.
Things You Should Know
New Signs Available At The Office
22 X 18 lawn STOP signs are available at the office. These are double sided, corrugated plastic with a different message on each side.
$10 suggested donation for those who are able.
New Tee Shirts Available At The Office
New Demonstrate Democracy tee shirts are available at the office while supplies last.
Suggested donation of $17 for those who are able.
Party Membership Continues to Climb
But we’re not just about membership. Many of you receiving this newsletter do not identify as Democrats and that’s OK. We are seeing many progressive expressions popping up all over. One of the larger grassroots groups is Indivisible and locally we have Women’s Rights Kewaunee. The progressive social media group Sweep by Red, Wine and Blue has over 237,000 members. In order for democracy to prevail, we must bring together a broad coalition of progressives. So, a huge THANKS goes out to all of you who ARE “democrats in name only” by virtue of receiving our emails and participating in certain events. We are all in this together!
Are State GOP Legislators Turning On Each Other?
As reported last month, the GOP cut complete or partial funding of over 600 items from Gov Evers’ budget, drag it.] including many popular items such as the Knowles-Nelson Stewardship program. Subsequently, much has been reported on Evers’ attempt to get Republicans to the table, and the Republican’s resistance to reconcile their differences and pass a bi-partisan budget.
Last week, Assemblyman Ryan Spaude (D-Green Bay) released a video calling out the GOP for literally walking out of meetings rather than working towards a resolution. Now we see that REPUBLICAN Assemblyman Joel Kitchens is calling out HIS OWN PARTY for obstruction of democracy!
In his weekly email to constituents, Kitchens shares what could be characterized as frustration with his fellow Republicans noting that the Assembly and the Governor had “… hammered out a very fair deal with Governor Tony Evers that would provide significant tax cuts and fund important priorities.”
Kitchens continues “Unfortunately, your tax cuts and school funding are being blocked by two Republican Senators. They have publicly said they would rather not pass a budget than compromise. The senate has a narrow Republican majority and that means the whole process is at a standstill.”
We have identified the two senators blocking the budget- Steve Nass (R - Whitewater) and Chris Kapenga (R- Delafield).
One wonders if the GOP will primary Kitchens for his audacity to say out loud what we’ve known all along.
Call To Separate Voucher Costs On Tax Bills
Jon Shelton, President of the American Federation of Teachers - Wisconsin, lays out the need to “de-couple” the Private School Voucher program on our tax bills.
National Popular Vote vs. The Electoral College
Do you really think your vote for President and Vice-President counts? Think again! Did you know that five (5) of the 46 U.S. Presidents lost the national popular vote but still won the presidency by winning the majority (270) of electoral votes? Think back to 2000 and 2016—Al Gore and Hillary Clinton won the national popular vote but lost in the Electoral College to George W. Bush and Donald Trump. In 2020 while Joe Biden won the popular vote by 7 million, he came close to losing in the Electoral College system by only 50,000 votes.
The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact (NPVIC) guarantees that the candidate who wins the nationwide popular vote wins the presidency. One person equals one vote, as in all other elections.
Under the constitution, states have the power to determine how their electors’ votes are cast. NPVIC is a STATE BILL. It has passed in 17 states and the District of Columbia, not yet in Wisconsin.
Stop in the Algoma office and see the poster National Popular Vote for more information!
Upcoming Events – Save The Date
Please note due to participation in the Fair, Shanty Days and the Summer Picnic we will NOT have a July First Friday or Speaking of Democracy event
August 9 (Saturday) Shanty Days parade, Algoma, Noon
August 17 (Sunday) Annual summer picnic. Heritage Park, Algoma, 1-3pm
Make 5 Calls
Don’t Let Fatigue Set In
Calling your legislator is the most effective way to influence policy.
Use your laptop, desktop or smart phone to load the application (app) 5calls.org and contact your elected officials on all critical issues. The app is constantly updating the issues and the scripts you can use. If you need help with loading or using 5 calls, contact us or drop by the office
Office Hours
Our volunteers are lonely! Please stop by on Fridays 4p-7p or Mondays 3p – 6p. The office is located at 305 Steele St., Suite 102 in Algoma.
The Office will be closed on July 4th and 11th