Campaigning for the Bench

Grassroots powerhouse Tammy Bockhorst has discovered her niche — campaign manager.

The local resident ran Carolina Stark’s successful campaign for Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge, Branch 17, against many odds, and a well-known incumbent. Bockhorst added Stark decided to run in the 11th hour and was underfunded by all standards.

Last February, Stark invited Bockhorst at the behest of another to a focus group when deciding whether to run. Bockhorst went, and the rest is a very fast, intense race to victory that culminated Tuesday night.

“I didn’t decide ‘Now I’m a campaign manager’ and seek a client,” said Bockhorst. “I just knew Carolina Stark needed help in a county-wide race, and I believed in her abilities, and she’s incredibly smart. I knew she was the right person for the job.”

Bockhorst started by creating Stark's campaign website, and found that the two were a good fit for putting together a strategic project from start to finish. Doing the site also gave Bockhorst a full range of Stark’s experience, education and current aspirations.

Bockhorst’s background, though she is very quick to say that it was all Stark’s ability and intelligence that made it an easy job, encompasses a full 360 degrees of talent, skill and confidence needed to run a campaign in Wisconsin's political climate.

A degreed professional who is bilingual in English and Spanish, Bockhorst is a marathon runner (if you go on a lit drop with her, bring water and your cell phone for backup) who has keen radar and a personality that can mesh with many cultures across many boundaries. 

She credits Emerge Wisconsin for an excellent training program she attended which promotes women in politics. She also has years of experience in website design, social media, campaign assistance, statistics, database management, and even designing, folding, stuffing and stamping mailings. She can squeeze water from a turnip with a small budget because she can gauge the resources and get the most visibility for the money. She is often recruited to go door-to-door with candidates because of her energy and skill with total strangers. Two years ago she helped a candidate navigate a contested school board race, guiding him to the win through carefully monitoring public questions and requests, and guiding the communication through all media. 

Bockhorst said Stark was very methodical and always asked questions about the direction of the campaign.

"Sometimes it helped me to slow down and articulate our plans," Bockhorst said. "Then, when she made a decision, she was completely OK with it. It was a good match, because we could move fluidly that way."

And, Bockhorst said it didn't hurt to listen to what the voters had to say.

"There is a very engaged and informed electorate here right now," she said. "People across the county helped shape the campaign, and because neither of us had a paradigm of 'first this, then this'; we were able to move in ways that felt natural to this campaign. It was also very female-dominated, which is a little unusual in politics."

In contrast with the often-divisive nature of politics, she describes her approach as the “northern strategy": Appeal to people’s noble principles, encouraging them to use their own creativity to help the campaign.  

“It went organically, by area, according to what people wanted to do," Bockhorst said. "Local people did big things in their own communities with their people, and it made sense.”

Now that she has caught up on sleep, Bockhorst says she has to evaluate her options, which are coming in spades. She’s been called, texted, emailed and messaged quite a bit since the victory on Tuesday. She has a lot to think about.