Why Is Dane County So Tough Politically for Conservatives?

Why is Dane County tough? Is it that isolated voters don’t bother to vote in a “losing battle”? Is it that conservatives inside the “belly of the beast” are helpless? Is it that 80% of the people are liberals/leftists in their political beliefs? Is it that the government and university rule with iron hands? Is it that the liberals have all the money, people, and organization such that nothing can oppose them? Is it that people in Dane County have been irretrievably “brainwashed”?

Some of that is true – to an extent. But it is not impossible. Governor Tommy Thompson carried Dane County once. Congressman Scott Klug won the 2 nd Congressional District several times until he retired. At one point Dane County had 3 Republican Assembly Representatives out of 8 ½ seats.

The Dane County Secret: The fact is that Dane County is not 80% liberal to leftist. A scientific poll taken in 2010 confirmed our belief. Dane County, by poll people’s self- declaration, was 22% liberal, 33% conservative, and 45% moderate. (P. S. The poll was weighted heavier to the Democrats to make it believable.) In partisan elections, people voted heavily Democrat of course. In non-partisan local elections they voted conservative to moderate. On local issues such as commuter rail for example people supported conservative to moderate positions 55-62% of the time. Dane County is very different from what people think — and within that secret lies the opportunity.

Why is Dane County tough? Here are key reasons:

1. Act 10. Act 10 (the 2011 state law that mostly eliminated collective bargaining for public school teachers and other public employees) charged government workers for a portion of their health care costs and their retirement costs. That dinged government staff with deductions of $200 to $800 or more every month. Forever. You might like Act 10, but 60,000 government employees didn’t, and neither did their spouses, families, friends, and many acquaintances. And they haven’t liked in the last decade and one-half. Act 10 also mostly destroyed public sector unions. Activists hated that too.

2. Trump. President Trump has not ever been in the running for Mr. Congeniality. He is not easy to like by people in Dane County. Most important, Trump is dedicated to slashing government drastically. Needless to say, that goes over like a lead balloon here. Government employees worry about their jobs. Businesses relying on government are nervous. All the interest groups with government counterparts are panicky.

3. Political Red Circle. Candidates for statewide office, except for Senator Ron Johnson, Governor Scott Walker in 2010, and Trump in 2024 have largely ignored Dane County and Southcentral Wisconsin: they draw a red circle around us on a map and stamp “no go”. Despite my continuous efforts to get them to campaign here, statewide candidates, their campaign managers, and consultants won’t come here. Limited advertising, few appearances, and little effective ground game is the result. When a market is ignored, product sales diminish. When Dane County is ignored the Republican Movement diminishes. Republican legislative campaign committees rarely recruit candidates here and don’t put much effort into any that are in the ballot. (Former Lt. Governor Rebecca Kleefisch has recognized the problem and has developed a program to help local campaigns. Senator Ron Johnson has helped here too.)

4. Money Flies Yonder. Wisconsin members of Congress, legislative campaign committees, statewide campaigns, political “stars” from other parts of the country, and others regularly come to Dane County and hold fundraisers. People like giving to winning campaigns. The money flies out of the county. How much? A good guess would be $3,000,000-5,000,000 per cycle. Dane County candidates and the county party generally starve. Two important tools to change minds, local candidates and the party, have lacked real funding.

5. AWOL (Absent Without Leave, a U. S. Army term). Conservatives do not compete on issues – we are generally AWOL. Current Dane County and City of Madison governments have approved very radical polices and spent huge sums of money on programs few really want. There is little effective opposition. It takes lots of dedicated people year-round to deal with these issues, and a specialized knowledge on how to persuade the public.

WOW, They Did It To Us. The Liberals began investing in the WOW Counties (Waukesha, Ozaukee, and Washington) twenty years ago. They invested in local government and made major headway. They competed in legislative seats even when it was a losing proposition. They built up their local volunteer strength. They have reduced our voting margins from 40% to 20% in two of the three counties. This is a big loss of Republican ballot strength, another reason why we struggle in Wisconsin. The lesson we can take from this is that the same formula that the liberals applied there will work here for our benefit. When the public has a method to learn about issues, they take an interest. When there is an organization(s) to join to affect change, eventually they come forward. This publication, Four Lakes Voices, is part of that effort. Gaining ground in Dane County is more than looking for low-propensity voters. The good news is that changing our political fate is possible! 

Author Kim M. Babler is a longtime political activist in Southcentral Wisconsin and the state.