If you believe, as Ben Wikler does, that democracy in this country is in a death spiral, you should read his newly released book, This Is the Plan. Wikler’s roadmap extends through 2032, and much of it hinges on the 2026 midterms. Across the country, Wikler argues, Democrats must achieve majority control of governors’ offices and state legislative chambers in battleground states. Musk poured tens of millions of dollars into Wisconsin’s state supreme court election in a bid to tip the recently claimed liberal majority back to the conservatives. But Musk’s money didn’t talk—liberal justice Susan Crawford won her election handily, becoming the second Democrat-backed justice elected to the state supreme court in just two years following Janet Protasiewicz’s election in 2023.