While Wisconsinites can register to vote on Election Day, data showed five years ago that as long as someone registered to vote BEFORE election day, there was an 83% chance they will cast a ballot. If you miss an opportunity to register someone to vote this year, there is only a 19% chance they will vote in November 2026.

With voter registration as our mission for the coming year, the Wisconsin Faith & Freedom Coalition (WIFFC) invites Wisconsinites to sign up here to reserve a spot at our first Salt & Light event on January 29 at Souls Harbor Baptist Church (3800 S Howell Ave, Milwaukee, WI 53207; https://shbcmilwaukee.com/leadership). This kickoff event will launch our voter registration drive and introduce our new Executive Director (center photo), Chris O’Brien, with presentations by national guests and our Board Member Pastor Michael Larson (right photo) of Luther Memorial Chapel & University Student Center at UWM, a university where a voter registration event was recently held.

You may also RSVP by replying to cobrien@wisconsinffc.com with “attend January 29” in the subject line.

At Noon Mass at the Church of the Gesu today, a pastor’s comment captured our mission well: “We come here to church where it is easy to connect with God so we can go out into the world where it is more difficult to connect with God.” In the same spirit, this event mirrors Faith & Freedom Coalition gatherings of thousands in states like Georgia, Iowa, and North Carolina (pictured), which equip faith-based voters to connect, then go out into the world of unregistered voters, making it four times as likely each person they get to register will vote.

For Wisconsin conservative leaders currently serving in Washington, DC, we also invite you to meet National Faith & Freedom Coalition leaders tomorrow night at the Kennedy Center, at the invitation of the White House Faith Office.
Tickets: Noel: Jesus is Born! | Kennedy Center – https://www.kennedy-center.org (nominal registration fee)

About Chris O’Brien

Chris currently leads Life Cards, a Wisconsin-based nonprofit combating abortion misinformation through targeted postcard mailings that provide education and connect families with pregnancy resources. Before his promotion to Executive Director, he led WIFFC’s Church Outreach operation, mobilizing pastors, congregations, and volunteers to distribute large quantities of candidate comparison guides. WIFFC was the only organization responsible for an area that shifted 10 points more conservative during that election, as reported by Restoration News.

Chris is a longtime pro-life leader and faith-based organizer, with experience that includes:

• Executive Director of Connecticut Right to Life (past role)

   

• Founder/Leader of Life Cards, a Wisconsin nonprofit delivering pro-life education and pregnancy resources via mailed postcards

   

• Paramedic and campaign veteran, saving lives professionally while serving in offices ranging from local town council to national campaigns (e.g., Mike Huckabee, 2016)

   

He has now been promoted to Executive Director & Church Outreach, overseeing organizational leadership and year-round church engagement efforts, with a primary focus on voter registration. Chris is known for combining principled conviction with practical strategy, translating faith into sustained civic engagement that delivers measurable results.

Event Details

Join Chris and the senior WIFFC team (John Pudner, President; Spencer LaVerde, State Director; Holly Klucarich, Director of Strategic Engagement & Field Operations) at Souls Harbor Baptist Church on January 29,

We thank https://joinouramerica.org/, whose Wisconsin Director Joshua Naponiello began as an intern for John a decade ago, for sponsoring the event and being our co-hosts.

Faith and Freedom Coalition Salt and Light events are among the largest conservative gatherings in battleground states like Georgia, North Carolina, and Iowa. This event will also launch WIFFC’s statewide voter registration drive, our first major non-election cycle initiative.

Even in a state with same-day registration, voters who are registered prior to Election Day are more than three times as likely to vote (83% in 2020 – 3.1 million of 3.7 million) than those who are not registered as of election day (less than 25% or 220,000 of 900,000, even with the Covid-rules that allowed votes to be cast extremely easily). Adjusted for the act that just over three-quarters as many vote for Governor as for President, the numbers this year should be only 19% of unregistered voters showing up election day to register and casting a ballot.

Year-after-year progressive groups like Souls to the Polls start registering voters the day after every election, while conservative groups wait until the final months. Registering a voter – even 10 months before an election – makes it four times as likely they will vote.

Church Outreach Leadership Context

“Chris rebuilt a church network from scratch with emphasis on Lutheran and Catholic outreach, since his work ran alongside Daniel Degner, then Church Ambassador Network Director at Wisconsin Family Council, who grew relationships with more than 1,000 churches focusing on other Christian Congregations. Degner’s promotion by WFC to succeed legendary pro-life leader Julaine Appling, inspired WIFFC to consider a similar promotion from the person running the same position.  Elevating our own Church Outreach leader to Executive Director will expand voter registration even further,” said WIFFC President John Pudner.

Please see bios on our whole team at https://wisconsinffc.com/bios/.