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Schumer Endorses Veteran Progressive Organizer Ben Wikler for Chair DNC
The Senate leader called the Wisconsin Democratic Party chair "one of the best organizers in the country" and said he "knows how to win."
Jan 02, 2025
Wisconsin Democratic Party Chair Ben Wikler on Thursday said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer's endorsement of him for a top national leadership role is evidence that the veteran senator, while firmly an establishment politician, "knows the enormous stakes of this moment."
The most prominent lawmaker to endorse a candidate in the race for Democratic National Committee chair, Schumer (D-N.Y.) said that following the party's bruising losses in the November elections, Democrats in power "should view this moment as a challenge."
"We must listen to the American people, learn from the results, and move forward stronger," said Schumer. "That's why I am enthusiastically supporting Ben Wikler to be the next chair of the Democratic National Committee."
Schumer highlighted Wikler's successes since he began leading the Wisconsin Democrats, which he's done since 2019. In November, his fundraising and state-wide organizing helped secure a victory for Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) despite Vice President Kamala Harris' loss in the state in the presidential election. The party also flipped 14 seats in the state legislature.
After former Republican Gov. Scott Walker and his party "dismantled workers' rights and voting rights, rigging Wisconsin to keep the GOP in power through the courts and the legislature," Schumer said in his statement, "Ben didn't despair. He rolled up his sleeves and helped unify the Democratic Party and reignite Wisconsin Democrats from the grassroots up. This year's election shows the results."
He called Wikler, a former senior adviser to the progressive grassroots group MoveOn, "one of the best organizers in the country... a proven fundraiser, [and] a sharp communicator."
"Most importantly, he knows how to win," said Schumer.
Wikler announced his candidacy to chair the DNC in early December, weeks after President-elect Donald Trump won the White House race and Republicans took control of the House and Senate in the upcoming Congress.
To win future elections, Wikler said at the time, "we've got to make sure that we are reaching people with the message that we are on their side and fighting for them."
Wikler has also received the endorsements of MoveOn and the centrist advocacy group Third Way.
Members of the DNC are set to vote on the chair on February 1, following four candidate forums in January.
At the forums, Wikler is expected to speak along with fellow contenders including 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Marianne Williamson, former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley, and the chair of Minnesota's Democratic-Farmer-Labor (DFL) Party, Ken Martin.
Martin was considered an early frontrunner in the race, winning endorsements from 100 out of 448 DNC members early last month.
He also has a strong fundraising and organizing background, having led the DFL since 2011, when the party was struggling to get out of debt. The party has not lost a statewide race since 2006, and is now in a strong financial position.
Martin's messaging has been similar to Wikler's since the race started, with the Minnesota leader calling on Democrats to emphasize that they—not Republicans—are fighting for workers' rights and policies to make families' lives easier.
"The majority of Americans now believe that the Republican Party best represents the interests of the working class and the poor, and the Democrats are for the wealthy and the elite. That's a damning indictment on our party, and clearly our brand as Democrats," Martin toldNPR in late December. "We're fighting for people, people who are working harder than they ever have before."
Days after the two Midwestern leaders entered the race, Greg Sargent of The New Republicinterviewed them both, along with O'Malley, about what the Democratic Party can do to counter the "information gap," which has been worsened by the $20 million Tesla CEO and X owner Elon Musk "dumped into a brazen pro-Trump propaganda campaign" run by a "shadowy outfit called the RBG PAC."
Wikler offered "the most concrete agenda for dealing with" the problem, said Sargent. The Wisconsin leader said Democrats "must appear far more on right-leaning political shows—not just Fox News but also podcasts and YouTubes and streamed interviews and the like—especially in nonpolitical spaces," in order to "disrupt the right-wing narrative about Democrats."
Wikler also said the party must invest resources in building an "independent, progressive media ecosystem," where leaders would do "high-profile interviews... with the express goal of elevating and empowering it, something the GOP does with Fox News."
Responding to Schumer's endorsement on Thursday, Wikler said that as chair of the DNC, he would "show voters that we are the party of working families everywhere by choosing fights that show who we are for—and who Trump and the GOP are for."
"As Trump and the GOP again seek a multi-trillion-dollar tax cut for billionaires and big corporations, paid for by working people," he said, "Democrats can make clear that we're against those seeking to rig the country for those at the top, and for a country that works for working families."
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Wyden Says Trillions in Taxes Dodged by Ultra-Rich Could Fund Social Security Until 2100
"The ultra-wealthy are avoiding nearly $2 trillion in taxes every 10 years," said Sen. Ron Wyden. "That's where we ought to go to start making progress."
Sep 11, 2024
The Democratic chair of the Senate Finance Committee said during a hearing Wednesday that instead of tossing Social Security's sacred guarantee "in the trash" by cutting benefits, lawmakers should crack down on mega-rich tax dodgers as a way to keep the New Deal program fully solvent for decades to come.
"The ultra-wealthy are avoiding nearly $2 trillion in taxes every 10 years," Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said during a Senate Budget Committee hearing. "That is enough to keep Social Security whole till the end of this century."
"That's where we ought to go to start making progress," Wyden added.
The senator's remarks came during a hearing titled "Social Security Forever: Delivering Benefits and Protecting Retirement Security," which featured testimony from Social Security Administration Commissioner Martin O'Malley and several expert witnesses.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), who presided over the hearing, used his opening remarks to blast GOP proposals to raise the retirement age, a change he said would "especially hurt low-income retirees."
Whitehouse, the chair of the Senate Budget Committee, acknowledged that some Republicans have pushed back on the notion that the GOP wants to cut Social Security benefits. But if Social Security benefit cuts "really are off the table," the senator said, "that leaves only one other option to prevent insolvency: raise revenue."
"There is no third option. And that means it's time to get to work identifying smart, fair ways to raise revenue, fund the Social Security Trust Fund, and preserve and protect benefits," Whitehouse continued. "Fortunately, there are solutions that would both extend Social Security solvency indefinitely with zero benefit cuts and make our tax system fairer, like my Medicare and Social Security Fair Share Act."
At today's @SenateBudget hearing, @SenWhitehouse slams Republican plans to slash $1.5 trillion from Social Security.
Whitehouse plans to strengthen Social Security by requiring the wealthy to pay their fair share! pic.twitter.com/nWRJt3hUWp
— Social Security Works (@SSWorks) September 11, 2024
Wednesday's hearing came in the heat of a presidential race in which Social Security has featured prominently, with Democrats warning that GOP nominee Donald Trump would push for deep benefit cuts if he's elected to another White House term.
During Tuesday night's debate, Democratic nominee Kamala Harris made the only mention of Social Security, vowing to protect the program that lifted 28 million people out of poverty last year.
Max Richtman, president and CEO of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, said in a statement following the debate that while Harris reinforced "her commitment to Social Security and Medicare," Trump "was mum on the topic."
"At least when Trump has nothing to say, he cannot compound his many conflicting and confusing statements about Social Security and Medicare—from calling Social Security a 'Ponzi scheme' to saying he's 'open' to 'cutting entitlements' and proposing to eliminate some of the taxes that fund Social Security," said Richtman. "Tonight's debate underlines the fundamental reality that one candidate in this race will truly protect Social Security and Medicare—and that is Kamala Harris."
According to the latest trustees report, Social Security is positioned to fully pay all benefits and administrative costs until 2035 and is 90% funded for the next quarter century.
Progressive lawmakers and advocacy groups have argued for years that the best way to ensure Social Security's long-term solvency is clear: make the wealthy pay their fair share into the program. Due to the payroll tax cap, millionaires stopped contributing to Social Security just 60 days into 2024.
"Warren Buffett stops paying into Social Security 30 seconds into the new year," O'Malley said during his testimony at Wednesday's Senate hearing, "and the people that clean these buildings pay in all through their paychecks."
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What Should Congress Give Social Security for its 88th Birthday?
Lawmakers should approve Biden’s choice for SSA commissioner and his request for additional funding, then vote to expand the popular program.
Aug 14, 2023
On Aug. 14, 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Social Security into law. Eighty-eight years later, our Social Security system is among the most successful and popular government programs in history.
Nearly every worker pays premiums (Federal Insurance Contributions or FICA) for Social Security. In return, they receive insurance benefits when they retire, become disabled, or lose a family breadwinner.
Social Security is secure, efficient, and the most important source of retirement income for the vast majority of Americans. Social Security does have one major flaw, though: Its benefits are too low.
Too many Americans fear that they must work until they die, because they will not be able to retire without a drastic decline in their standard of living. The solution is to expand Social Security.
The average Social Security benefit is only $1,700 a month—considerably lower than in peer nations. That is not enough for working families to enjoy a secure retirement or make ends meet when tragedy strikes in the form of serious and permanent disabilities or death.
It’s not surprising that our nation is facing a retirement income crisis. Too many Americans fear that they must work until they die, because they will not be able to retire without a drastic decline in their standard of living. The solution is to expand Social Security.
Fortunately, President Joe Biden ran on a promise to expand Social Security, and congressional Democrats have introduced multiple bills to do so. One of these is the Social Security 2100 Act, which is sponsored by Rep. John Larson (D-Conn.) and co-sponsored by more than 175 of his fellow House Democrats. Another is the Social Security Expansion Act, which is sponsored by Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).
These bills, as well as numerous other expansion proposals, have much in common. They would keep Social Security strong for generations to come, averting the modest shortfall in its trust fund that some politicians have used as an excuse to demand benefit cuts. They would increase benefits for everyone, with additional targeted increases for low-income beneficiaries, family caregivers, the very old, and others. Additionally, they would update the annual cost-of-living adjustment to reflect the real expenses beneficiaries face and prevent benefits from eroding.
These are commonsense proposals that enjoy broad support from Americans across the political spectrum. Indeed, 83% of Democrats, 73% of independents, and 73% of Republicans want to expand Social Security and pay for it by making the wealthy contribute more. Yet not a single Republican member of Congress is signed on to a bill expanding Social Security benefits.
Instead, Republicans in Congress support cutting Social Security and ultimately ending the program as we know it. This is laid out in the budget proposal from the Republican Study Committee (RSC), a group that counts about 70% of House Republicans as members.
The RSC budget would raise the retirement age to 69, which is mathematically equivalent to a 13% benefit cut. It would also decimate middle-class benefits that workers have earned and paid for. The Republican goal is to turn Social Security into a flat, poverty-level benefit so that it loses political support and can be destroyed.
Nor is the RSC budget the only Republican plan to cut Social Security. Every major Republican presidential candidate, including former President Donald Trump (if you go back to 2000), is on the record supporting Social Security cuts. Republican politicians are ignoring the will of their voters in favor of protecting their wealthy donors.
Republicans have also been waging a quiet war on the Social Security Administration (SSA), the agency that administers the program. Since 2010, largely Republican-controlled Congresses have slashed its budget by 17%, even as the number of beneficiaries grew by 22%. This has forced the agency to lay off thousands of workers, close field offices, and reduce hours.
The SSA needs adequate funding and strong leadership. Biden has nominated former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley to serve as SSA commissioner. Biden has also requested a 10% increase in funding for the SSA. The best 88th birthday gifts Congress could give Social Security are to swiftly confirm O’Malley and to grant Biden’s funding request.
Congress should then take up legislation to expand Social Security. If Republicans refuse, Democrats should make Social Security a major issue in next year’s election and urge voters to support the party that is working to expand, instead of cut, their earned benefits.
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