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Upset Wisconsin Supreme Court winner Jill Karofsky. Photo: John Hart/AP

There may have never been in living memory a more blatant voter suppression scheme outside the former Confederacy than the one Wisconsin Republicans and their federal and state judicial allies attempted this month. With the connivance of the legislature and the Wisconsin Supreme Court they controlled, the Badger State GOP insisted on holding an in-person election at the height of the coronavirus pandemic that was sure to disenfranchise many Democratic-leaning minority voters in Milwaukee. Meanwhile, the conservative majority on the U.S. Supreme Court stopped a federal judge from extending time for voters forced to vote by mail to receive and return their absentee ballots.

The big prize for Republicans in this maneuvering was a ten-year term on the state Supreme Court that would have ensured its judicial agents a majority on that powerful tribune until well into the next decade, making a Republican gerrymander of the legislature and the congressional delegation much more likely, along with a voter purge. The intended beneficiary was incumbent judge Daniel Kelly. But in a big upset delayed by slow-arriving absentee ballots (SCOTUS would not allow an extension of the April 7 voting deadline but left in place a ban on the announcement of results until April 13), Kellys progressive rival Jill Karofsky won the nonpartisan election, as David Nir reported:

Dane County Circuit Court Judge Jill Karofsky has unseated Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Dan Kelly in a key race that will narrow the courts conservative majority in this crucial swing state. The victory also sets progressives up to take control of the court when its next member is up for election.

Karofsky piled up big majorities in Milwaukee and Dane Counties but also held Kelly to smaller margins in the suburban and rural areas that were the mainstay of Kellys political patron Scott Walker and the Republicans controlling the legislature. It was an astonishing win for Wisconsin Democrats and may even reflect a popular backlash against Republican tactics, which risked many lives by demanding that voters who didnt receive mail ballots in time vote in person even though thousands of poll workers considered polling places so unsafe they didnt show up.

In what had become an afterthought, Joe Biden easily dispatched Bernie Sanders who formally endorsed him today in the Democratic presidential primary by a better than two-to-one margin. But turnout partially driven by the all-but-abandoned primary may have helped Karofsky. Now we will see if Wisconsin Republicans find some way to challenge the Supreme Court results despite their determination to go ahead with a mid-pandemic election. And Wisconsin Democrats have reason to feel more optimistic about the odds of recapturing their state for Biden in November.

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Progressive Upsets Conservative Judge After Suppressed Vote in Wisconsin - New York Magazine

Progressive Insurance has donated $2 million to establish the Trusted Choice COVID-19 Relief Fund in response to the economic and operational challenges the coronavirus crisis has presented to independent agencies.

The grant will be dispersed directly to independent agencies via an application processes via the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America (the Big I). Independent agencies can apply for assistance online.

The Big I is so grateful for Progressives generosity in leading the charge to support the independent agency community during these unprecedented times, said Bob Rusbuldt, Big I president & CEO, who created a video message to address the donation and new fund. Big I agents and agencies are facing unforeseen obstacles even as they seek to help their clients and communities in their time of need.

Rusbuldt said that with the impending loss of premium from retail and service businesses, independent agencies are now beginning to experience what many of their business clients are experiencing.

He said some agencies are also facing equipment shortages, staffing challenges and other challenges during the coronavirus pandemic.

Tricia Griffith, Progressive president and CEO, said that partnering with the Big I gives the insurer the ability to provide grant assistance quickly and broadly to agents across the country who are affected by this pandemic. By sticking together, well come through this stronger, she said.

Rusbuldt invited other insurance carriers and industry partners to also support this new 501(c)(3) charitable fund.

Progressive said it is also sending checks worth more than $2 million to its approved auto repair and auto body shops across the country. The insurer said it recognizes that many of these shops face uncertainty due to fewer claims that come from less frequent driving. The shops can use the money for any purpose.

The donations are part of Progressives broader relief program that will also return approximately $1 billion in premiums to customers.

Other Assistance

There have been a few other reported efforts to aid insurance agents during this crisis.

In another move to help agencies, earlier this month The Travelers Companies announced that it will accelerate commission payments to eligible agents and brokers to help them ease liquidity concerns due to the COVID-19 crisis. In total, Travelers said it is accelerating more than $100 million, which it called a significant boost of cash flow to its distribution partners when they need it most.

Also, Brightway Insurance has altered its franchise contract to make it easier to attain franchise ownership during the current coronavirus pandemic. The company is offering a stay-at-home option for franchisees to launch their businesses while deferring costs incurred until they are able to open their insurance store.

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Progressive Gives $2M to Big I Fund to Aid Agencies Affected by Coronavirus Crisis - Insurance Journal

When it became clear last month that former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. would almost certainly win the Democratic nomination, many of the progressive Democrats who supported other presidential candidates were disappointed but not deterred. They quickly shifted their electoral focus to candidates lower on the ballot.

The plan was straightforward: They would donate to a slew of insurgent congressional candidates, and a stable of grass-roots groups would be ready and waiting to organize for the general election and beyond.

But that was in a pre-pandemic America, before the spread of the coronavirus caused thousands of deaths, about 10 million new unemployment claims in two weeks, and the halting of public events in the presidential race. Now many progressive candidates and the organizations that support them are struggling to adapt to a bleak reality dried up fund-raising, unclear election dates, and a moratorium on tried-and-true political tactics like in-person phone banks and door-to-door canvassing.

Its an immediate effect on how we can plan, how we can grow, and even our month-to-month cash flow, said Amanda Litman, the executive director of Run for Something, one of the many Democratic organizations founded after President Trumps 2016 victory. Its really scary, because the candidates need more support than ever. And political fund-raising right now is plummeting, as is the rest of the economy.

Ms. Litman said her group had already been forced to cancel fund-raising that was expected to bring in nearly $500,000. The coronavirus, she said, has made basic operational questions including Run for Somethings survival through the November general election a more open question.

There are also political challenges, said Waleed Shahid, a spokesman for Justice Democrats. Insurgent candidates are more likely to rely on door-to-door canvassing and rallies to show enthusiasm, activities that are functionally discontinued until further notice. Progressive candidates also tend to rely exclusively on small-dollar donations, which have experienced a downturn as people tighten their budgets.

Incumbents have certain advantages in a crisis, namely access to the media as a voice of authority, Mr. Shahid said.

The grim picture may have a profound political impact for the general election and beyond. Democrats were poised to have an organizing juggernaut ready for the 2020 election, with the goal of both reaching new voters and helping reverse the state and local losses they experienced during President Barack Obamas years in power. Even more, liberal groups hoped this election cycle would formalize their political infrastructure, so the activism that erupted in response to Mr. Trumps election could be harnessed going forward.

That may still happen, but it will require creative financial and digital solutions, according to interviews with several leaders of progressive political organizations and left-wing candidates running for office in states like New York and Ohio. Optimists have called it a time for political innovation, while others worry the structural barriers could stymie the progressive movement at a critical crossroads.

The outcome is of particular importance because the two most liberal presidential candidates, Senators Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, were surpassed in the primary race by the more moderate Mr. Biden. Ms. Warren ended her presidential bid last month, and Mr. Sanders still says his campaign has a narrow path but is facing increased calls from allies to cede the nomination to Mr. Biden.

The left-wing Working Families Party had to recall waves of canvassers who were collecting signatures for congressional, state and local candidates endorsed by the group. It has also scrapped multiple in-person initiatives: a volunteer training program that was to begin imminently and a two-day organization-wide convention in Milwaukee that was scheduled for May.

On the campaign side, Ohio canceled its primary just one day before voters in the states Third Congressional District were set to vote in a Democratic primary between Morgan Harper, a community activist who had previous jobs at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and as a corporate lawyer, and Representative Joyce Beatty, an incumbent with a long history in state politics. The state has rescheduled its primary to April 28, but has also mandated that nearly all voters submit ballots by mail, a move Ms. Harper said might depress turnout and give an advantage to candidates with higher name recognition.

People are very stressed about contracting an infectious disease that has the potential to kill you while also dealing with the disruption to financial life right now, Ms. Harper said. And in the midst of that, while experiencing extreme financial stress, were going to ask them to have the wherewithal to go to a website, request an application, print it out and mail it back in just to get a ballot.

Suraj Patel, one of several challengers running in New Yorks 12th Congressional District against the incumbent Democrat, Representative Carolyn B. Maloney, contracted the coronavirus in March, forcing him into quarantine.

The situation disrupted his campaign schedule, though he has been trying to work from home. Mr. Patel said his small dollar fund-raising had dropped off by 80 percent by the end of March.

No doubt fund-raising is way, way, way down, Mr. Patel said. And its difficult to even ask people to give when most of them are either furloughed or at home or uncertain of whats going to happen.

There have been some silver linings for progressive candidates. Ms. Harper and Mr. Patel have ramped up digital contact with voters and repurposed campaign tools to provide information about coronavirus safety.

Jamaal Bowman, a progressive who is mounting a campaign against the stalwart incumbent Representative Eliot L. Engel in New Yorks 16th Congressional District, pivoted to an online-only operation in a matter of days, said his campaign manager, Luke Hayes.

One of the things about having such a broad base of small donors is that while asking them for that recurring donation of 10 dollars a month, you cultivate a relationship with them, Mr. Hayes said. I think some incumbents, you know, they just expect kind of checks brought in just based on their stature.

Just as in the business world, where new digital tools have exploded in use, fresh political technology is also helping to fill gaps. Outvote, a political start-up in Boston that allows users to send voting and other political information to people in their social networks, has seen a rise in interest from progressive campaigns and causes as the pandemic spreads. Some have begun using Outvote to disseminate information about how to guard against the virus, said Naseem Makiya, the companys founder.

On Thursday, the Progressive Turnout Project, a political action committee that supports liberal candidates, announced a nearly $3 million investment in phone banking that aims to leverage up to 12 million calls from volunteers to lower-propensity Democratic voters before Election Day in November.

The more impersonal the mode, the less effective youre going to get, said Alex Morgan, the groups executive director. So while it is great that a bunch of groups are hopping onto text messages and digital, thats more distant than you and I having a conversation right now.

But progressives are also hoping that their message of big ideas has a new resonance in this moment of crisis. In interviews, group leaders said they were confident the pandemic had strengthened their calls for systemic change by exposing cracks in the countrys economy and health care system.

Ms. Litman said Run for Something, even with looming financial questions, had seen interest from prospective local candidates hold steady throughout March. Rahna Epting, the executive director of the progressive group MoveOn, said its membership had grown by more than one million in March.

What were seeing is that the energy that normally we would funnel into physical protests and physical action, the energy is there and its growing exponentially, she said.

On Sunday, the Working Families Party held its first digital rally, with appearances from the Rev. William J. Barber II and Stacey Abrams, who ran unsuccessfully for governor of Georgia in 2018 and now leads the voting rights group Fair Fight Action. Working Families plans to hold its May convention remotely.

You know, it took me some time to get my parents FaceTiming with me in a way that made sense, said Maurice Mitchell, the national director of Working Families. And I think thats happening on a broader level where people have different fluency with different types of technology. Were all kind of learning together.

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Progressives Built an Organizing Juggernaut for 2020. Then the Virus Hit. - The New York Times

Progressive groups that haven often been aligned with Sen. Bernie Sanders are pushing Joe Biden to keep Wall Street executives and business leaders from being part of his administration if he wins the presidency.

While the former vice president has said he has not started speaking with possible members of his potential cabinet, he recently told donors that he has been discussing with his advisors who he would ask to join his administration. Biden is currently in the process of considering candidates to be his vice presidential running mate.

After Sanders dropped out of the race Wednesday, several progressive groups signed a letter to Biden calling on him to pledge that he will not appoint leaders on Wall Street and K-Street, or those in the fossil fuel and health care industries to campaign advisory roles or to cabinet posts.

The letter, which can be found here, also calls on Biden to assign people who endorsed Sanders and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, another progressive, to be co-chairs of his prospective transition team. The groups also urge him to appoint advisors such as Joseph Stiglitz, a Columbia University professor who is an advocate for the "Green New Deal," to his National Economic Council. Stiglitz was reportedly on a list of advisors being pushed to Hillary Clinton by Warren in 2014 before the former secretary of State ran for president.

The groups signing the letter to Biden include Justice Democrats, Sunrise Movement and NextGen Action.

The progressive groups who spoke with CNBC said that if Biden does not follow these guidelines, he could suffer from low voter turnout in the general election and end up losing to Trump. One group is putting together opposition research against business leaders who are backing Biden's campaign.

"He needs to earn our trust," Waleed Shahid, a spokesman for Justice Democrats, told CNBC. "Personnel is policy, it's where the rubber meets the road in terms of your values and commitments."

Biden, for his part, seems to be trying to appeal to many of Sanders' supporters. He rolled out a plan on Thursday that would lower the Medicare eligibility age to 60 from 65, while also bolstering his student debt forgiveness plan hours after the Department of Labor releasednew data showing 6.6 million people filed initial jobless claims last week as the economy reels from the coronavirus.

Our Revolution, a 501(c)(4) organization founded by Sanders himself that backed his 2020 run for president told CNBC it is opposed to executives from the finance industry of becoming policy advisors to Biden now that he is the apparent nominee. The group did not sign the letter, but is looking into approaching his campaign.Sanders has been openly opposed to leaders in the finance industry playing any role in campaigns and in administrations.

"That's certainly not what we want to see," said Paco Fabian, Our Revolution's campaigns director. "I think it just increases the probability that their policy positions are the ones that get implemented and not the ones the folks on the progressive spectrum would be pushing for."

"At some point we probably will," when asked if they plan to reach out to the Biden campaign. "We haven't figured out the best way to do that and the main issues we are going to engage with the Biden campaign on."

Another group has started putting together opposition research on a host of Biden donors who work on Wall Street. The Revolving Door Project, which is part of the progressive think tank theCenter for Economic and Policy Research, has put together a research packet on Mark Gallogly, the co-founder of investment firm Centerbridge Partners, said the group's executive director, Jeff Hauser.

Gallogly has been helping Biden with fundraising for part of the election cycle and some donors have been privately discussing the idea of him being one of his economic advisors if he makes it into the White House. The opposition research cites reporting from CNBC, the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, and Politico among others. It focuses on Gallogly's ties to Biden and reports on his firm's business ties to Puerto Rico.

Hauser noted that Jeffrey Zients, a former economic advisor to President Barack Obama who became the president of the Cranemere Group, and Tony James, the executive vice chairman at Blackstone, are two Biden supporters they are looking to do research on.

"I expect progressives have their own sort of critiques on how government works but less on revolvers, which they'll pick up from the research we do," Hauser said.

NextGen America, a super PAC founded and funded by billionaire Tom Steyer that has an army of grassroots get-out-the-vote activists, believes that in order for Biden to appeal to young voters he's going to have to make some compromises.

"We're going to work our ass off to get young people to the polls in November. You can throw all the money and time into that problem, but if you don't have a willing partner it's not going to be as effective as it could be," said Ben Wessel, the group's executive director.

A Biden spokesman did not return a request for comment.

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'He needs to earn our trust:' Progressive groups begin push for Biden to keep Wall Street out of the White House - CNBC

In 2018, new progressive challengers such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.-14) and Ayanna Pressley (Mass.-07) made headlines when they defeated Democratic incumbents in hard-fought primaries. Marie Newmans March 17 victory against incumbent Democrat Dan Lipinski in Illinoiss congressional primary was a welcomed relief for progressives who have been disappointed by Sanderss and other candidates performances in the preceding primary contests.

One group who supported the victories of Ocasio-Cortez, Pressley, and Newman is Justice Democrats, a progressive political action committee. In 2018, Justice Democrats endorsed 65 non-incumbent candidates in House races. Most of them did not mount liberal primary challenges, but rather ran to fill open (solidly Democratic) seats or against Republican incumbents. Justice Democrats also endorsed three sitting House members, who all won reelection. Overall, twenty-four candidates endorsed by Justice Democrats advanced to the general election, but only seven won in November 2018.

Writing for FixGov about the 2018 congressional primaries, Elaine Kamarck noted that among non-incumbent Democrats, establishment candidates won more of their primaries than progressives did. In short: the progressive record in 2018 was good but not great. But before Newmans win, 2020 did not even look good for progressives.

Of the eight non-incumbent candidates Justice Democrats has endorsed in 2020 House races, there are three whose primary contests have occurred: Jessica Cisneros in Texas-28, Georgette Gomez in Calif.-53, and Marie Newman in Ill.-03. Only Newman placed first against her opponents.

Jessica Cisneros, a 26-year-old immigration attorney challenged Rep. Henry Cuellar, the eight-term Blue Dog incumbent from South Texas. Cuellar is one of the few anti-abortion Democrats in the House and has an A rating from the National Rifle Association. His opponent dubbed him Trumps favorite Democrat and publicized that he voted with the president nearly 70 percent of the time in the last Congress.

Cisneros supported Medicare for All, the Green New Deal, and gun control measures. In addition to the endorsement from Justice Democrats, she racked up high-profile support from Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, Reps. Pressley and Ocasio-Cortez, as well as EMILYs List, the Sunrise Movement, and many unions. Despite this, Cisneros lost to Cuellar by fewer than 3,000 votesabout 3.6 percentage points.

Another Justice Democrat, San Diego City Council President Georgette Gomez, ran behind former Hillary Clinton campaign advisor Sara Jacobs by about 17,000 votes in the race to fill the seat of Rep. Susan Davis (Calif.-53), who is retiring after this term.

Gomez, too, had the endorsements of Rep. Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Sanders. But her opponent ran a liberal campaign promoting universal health coverage, gun control, and immigration reform. One important difference between Gomez and Jacobs was their campaign financing: Jacobs, the granddaughter of the founder of a multibillion-dollar telecommunications equipment company, self-funded much of her nearly $2 million campaign. She also received support from a Super PAC underwritten by her grandparents. Gomez, who relied on her community organizing and local government experience, spent less than $600,000 campaigning according to FEC data as of February 12.

Gomez secured only 19 percent of the vote to Jacobss 30 percent as of this writing, but Californias jungle primary system allows them both to advance to the general election regardless of party. However, the congressional primary results suggest that the Justice Democrats candidate is unlikely to secure a majority of the district in November.

In contrast, Marie Newmans victory over Rep. Dan Lipinski in the Illinois congressional primary on March 17 was a win for progressivesand the first for Justice Democrats this primary season. Rep. Lipinskis opposition to abortion and marriage equality put him to the right of most centrist Democrats. He has represented Illinoiss 3rd congressional district since 2005, when he took over the seat after his fathers 23-year tenure in the House.

While Lipinski and Newmans contest could be a ray of hope for upcoming progressive downballot races, there are some important caveats. First, Newman was able to build on the progressive momentum she rallied in her 2018 primary challenge to Lipinski. But importantly, she actually won with a smaller share of the vote this year than she earned in 2018. Newman won 47.3 percent against Lipinskis 44.6 percent this March, but in 2018 they held 48.8 percent and 51.1 percent respectively. This is attributed to Lipinski and Newmans two new challengers who together secured 8.1 percenta small share of the vote, but enough to cut into the more popular candidates margins. Newman represents a win for Justice Democrats, but it may not be one that is easy to replicate.

There are at least five more congressional primaries Justice Democrats is focused on: Nebraskas 2nd district (currently held by Republican Don Bacon); Missouris 1st district; New Yorks 16th district; Ohios 3rd congressional district; and Massachusettss 1st district. Kara Eastman in Nebraska and Cori Bush in Missouri are repeat challengers, but they have larger margins to close than Newman overcame.

The remaining candidates all face uphill battles against Democratic incumbents in their primaries, which will occur between June and September. Justice Democrats recruited Jamaal Brown for a difficult challenge to Rep. Elliot Engel (N.Y.-16), who has served for over 20 years. Morgan Harper will face off with four-term incumbent Joyce Beatty (Ohio-03). Alex Morse aims to unseat Rep. Richard Neal (Mass.-01), whose initial refusal to subpoena President Trumps tax returns in 2019 may make his seat more vulnerable than it was in 2018.

Progressives underperformance in the 2020 presidential race and early congressional primaries could validate arguments like those from Cuellars neighboring representative Vicente Gonzalez (Texas-15) who called primary challenges like Cisneross a monumental waste of resources that could have been used to keep more blue seatsand gain some.

Most congressional primary contests occur in the summer and some of those scheduled to take place earlier have been postponed in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, which means it will be at least a few months before Democrats can determine whether Newmans victory was the exception to an establishment trend or is indicative of a broader return on progressive investment.

Note: The original version of this post stated that Jessica Cisneros was endorsed by Rep. Ilhan Omar, but as of publication that has not taken place.

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How have progressives fared in the 2020 congressional primaries? - Brookings Institution