Political Activist Strategies from WI Leader Kim Simac

“I stay involved because it’s not something you just walk away from.”

When Wisconsin was rocked with a recall season, Kim Simac was blown away by how quickly people in local communities could turn against each other. As leader of the Northwoods Patriots, one of many tea party organizations in Wisconsin, Simac felt compelled to get involved and remedy the “critical errors in decision making” that she perceived her generation as having made.

“My job is to keep everyone energized and organized,” Simac said. “We try to find issues that [we] need to focus on, and keep the [tea party] movement alive.”

In 2006, Simac wrote a children’s book to support the troops and the war in Iraq. Setting out to publish and get her story out there, Simac realized how much the country had changed. “Patriotism had been pushed out of the county square,” Simac said.

“I started public speaking [by] promoting the book and American values, and then rolled into the election cycle.” Simac won the state senate primary in a recall campaign against State Senator Jim Holperin. Though she lost the recall election itself, Simac continued to work on grassroots organizing, and lobbying for her cause.

Simac was ready to keep the ball moving in her district no matter the capacity in which she served, so she was thankful for the opportunities that American Majority training gave her. “I wanted to be able to coordinate with national groups – help small groups like ours get a base.” American Majority Wisconsin is firmly established in the state and gave Northwoods Patriots the strength it needed, serving as an “arm of support.”

Simac loved how American Majority was able to provide her and her organization “a world of information” that was current and applicable to the best methods that work in campaigns today. “[They] have the most up-to-date training for how to be a good candidate, how to get out there, how to be a winner,” Simac said.

The tricky thing is remembering who actually has the power to get stuff done in your own community. Simac believed that the training shed light on what many Americans have lost sight of. “A lot of people need refreshers on understanding who has the ability to make certain decisions,” Simac said.

Simac encourages everyone to get involved, however, she also wants to make sure that people know what they’re getting into.

“Be ready to have some thick skin. Be ready to stand up. We’re the ones whose silence is letting the country disintegrate. It is our obligation to stand up for the country that has given so much. I want people to continue to keep up the fight.

The time is now.”