Ben Wikler feels good about the voters that are paying attention. It’s the ones that aren’t that keep the state Dem chair up at night.

As the party gathers in Milwaukee this weekend for its state convention, Wikler ticked off a series of factors he believes are in Dems’ favor going into this fall in the race for the White House, including the significant head start the party has in building out infrastructure in Wisconsin.

“If you’re not paying attention, you might wind up being one of the double-digit percentage of voters who are wrong about which president was responsible for Roe versus Wade being terminated,” Wikler said in a WisPolitics interview. 

That’s not the only thing the state chair is worried about these days. He’s thrilled the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has put the 1st CD on its “red to blue” list as a target. But he wants to see the DCCC invest in Wisconsin, including the 3rd CD on the western side of the state, unlike two years ago.

U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Madison, won reelection by nearly 11 points six years ago, and Wikler fears some might take her race this year for granted when she’s running against a “MAGA candidate who’s willing to spend tens of millions of dollars of his own money to try to pull the wool over the eyes of Wisconsin voters.”

Then there are the stakes in the presidential race, with Wisconsin expected to be among the handful of states that will decide the presidency.

“This is a battle for the soul of America against a  34-time convicted felon who wants to overturn elections, ban abortion and rip off working voters to benefit his billionaire friends,” Wikler said. “Across the board, there’s no time to lose.” 

Wikler also, though, believes he’s got reason to be optimistic about this fall.

To help reach those voters who may not be paying attention, the state party isn’t just relying on its 47 offices around the state. It’s expanding a pilot program to reach voters “through people they know and trust.”

That includes working with volunteers to identify their friends who weren’t on the party’s voter list or to update their information to ensure they can be reached. That effort also includes a personal touch of having volunteers reach out to friends who may be occasional voters to remind them why they should vote for Joe Biden this fall and why they’ve opposed Trump in the past. He said that personal touch is particularly important to break through the noise of TV ads that will flood the airwaves this fall.

“To share life experience is the one thing that reliably cuts through the noise,” he said.

One of the main challenges, he said, is reaching those voters who aren’t necessarily tuned into the race between Joe Biden and Donald Trump. Wikler noted polls that show the most engaged voters favor Biden, while Trump is favored by those who aren’t as tuned in. Those who are, he added, know three of Trump’s appointments to the U.S. Supreme Court signed onto the decision reversing Roe v. Wade. They know Trump would “push through a de facto abortion” ban if elected and that Biden has pledged to push federal legislation that would put Roe v. Wade into law.