A certain disclaimer has long been a staple of the identity politics office-seeker: “But I’m really here to serve all the citizens of” whatever electoral district said candidate is running for. For proof of how this works out in real life, look no further than Wisconsin, where a Democrat nominee for Secretary of State who has made her career on strident racial and sexual identity posturing has revealed her entire purpose for running is to advocate on a larger platform for her personal ethnic group.
A why-are-we-surprised? “shocking” quote by Milwaukee Common Council member JoCasta Zamarripa has gone viral for representing what critics describe as the warped priorities of progressive candidates for higher office. “I believe I can use the office as a platform. I’ll be able to use my soapbox,” Zamarripa, a third-generation Mexican-American, told Madison television station WMTV in an interview published Oct. 14. “My number one priority is to see the governor sign driver’s licenses for undocumented Wisconsinites into law. And I hope that that governor will be [Democrat nominee] David Crowley.”
The Secretary of State post in the Badger State has been stripped of much of its power in recent years. Wisconsin is one of 13 states in which the SoS does not oversee elections, that authority being delegated to a bipartisan Wisconsin Elections Commission. The office “keeps a record of all official acts of the legislature and executive department of the state,” Ballotpedia notes. And not much else.
Despite becoming a largely toothless position, however, it still maintains a rather high profile. The Secretary of State is second in the gubernatorial line of succession in Wisconsin after the lieutenant governor.
‘Vamos con JoCasta!’
Zamarripa, who served in the state Assembly from 2011-21 representing an overwhelmingly Hispanic part of south Milwaukee, has never hid the fact that expanding Latino political power in the state is a personal mission. “JoCasta’s public service career began in 2010 when she made history by becoming the first Latina elected to the Wisconsin State Legislature,” her Milwaukee Common Council bio proclaims. Indeed, this was the defining storyline of that original victory. “Throughout her career, JoCasta has been a dedicated community activist working to better the lives of others by creating positive change,” her bio continues.
That community is Hispanic, a surging voting demographic in the state. “Latinos are Wisconsin‘s largest minority group, making up about 5% of the state’s eligible voters,” WMTV reported in 2024.
“Serving a district that is home to the largest Latino population in the great state of Wisconsin... JoCasta believes it is her responsibility to be a leader and champion in supporting pro-immigrant policy at the state level,” her bio at Emerge Wisconsin, an influential Democrat women’s political organization, declares, referring to her time in the state Legislature.
“She champions drivers’ cards for undocumented drivers to make everyone driving on the roads safer and increase the number of insured drivers. She fights against bills that would turn the community’s police officers into immigration agents, keeping people in the shadows and all of the neighborhoods less safe. And she supports empowering cities and counties to be able to issue local IDs to their residents who can’t get a state-issued ID, so everyone living here can participate fully in civic life.”
Fighting the ‘Anti-Latino’ Opposition in Wisconsin
A glance at Zamarripa’s official Facebook page further displays her hyper-focus on her ethnic bloc.
“Join me for a bilingual phone bank at Brew-Jas Coffee House MKE! Let’s call folks to remind them to vote for JoCasta Zamarripa for WI Secretary of State and all of the Democrats this Nov. 3rd, so that we can deliver for families and workers and fight against Trump and [GOP gubernatorial candidate] Tom Tiffany’s anti-Latino, anti-immigrant agenda!” an Oct. 18 post exclaims.
As with many of her social media posts, the text is also written in Spanish. The home page art accompanying her Facebook account features multiple images of a poster declaring “Vamos con Jocasta!” It looks for all the world like a campaign poster one would find in Latin or South America.
But Zamarripa has another identity she aggressively promotes. Zamarripa “served in the [state] Legislature for five terms before making history once again in 2020 by becoming the first Latina and the first openly LGBTQ member of Milwaukee’s Common Council,” her council bio reads.
She also found a way to make this news by officially “coming out” as bisexual in an exclusive account to the state’s largest newspaper in 2012.
‘Freddie Mercury Is My Spiritual Father’
“It’s part of my life, like being a south sider and the only Hispanic in the Legislature, and I’m happy to share it with my constituents,” Zamarripa told The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Twelve years later, in a telling interview with the Wisconsin LGBTQ History Project, she described how this identity impacts her political career. To not define her by her sexuality is to be part of the problem.
Free with the Daily Briefing
85EssaysUnravel the Constitution
Hamilton, Madison & Jay’s complete case for America, free and searchable in the Publius Reader.
Free with the Daily Briefing. Unsubscribe anytime.
“It actually offends me when people say, ‘who cares?’ and ‘why does it matter?’ she told the website. “Some of these people consider themselves allies, and I know they’re well-meaning, but it’s so dismissive and diminishing because it does matter. This is my existence. This is the existence of many people. If it’s not your existence, perhaps this is an opportunity to educate yourself on what’s going on here.”
The world needs bisexual heroes, Zamarripa stressed.
“I’ve never shared this before, but Freddie Mercury is my spiritual father. He’s very special to me – someone I look up to as [a] bisexual icon. His story is very inspiring to me,” she stated. “If you come to my office, you’d also see pictures of Wonder Woman. I see her an iconic bisexual superhero. When I was a little girl, I was just so inspired by her. I wore my Wonder Woman Underoos and just spun around and around. She’s been a constant in my life ever since.”
“We need to continue advancing the equality agenda. We need to remove the stain of the marriage amendment from the Wisconsin State Constitution,” she concluded. “We need to address conversion therapy on the state level,” she told the site, describing her legislative goals.”
The personal is the political. The purveyors of identity politics fully embrace this to the strongest degree, without hesitating to label you a bigot if you point out how that affects their long-range plans for America.
