MADISON, Wis. — As most voters focus on the presidential race results tonight, it’s important for Wisconsinites to also pay attention to the state legislature.
There are about a dozen races where Democrats could flip the seats in their favor, and that would have a big impact on the makeup of the legislature.
Currently Republicans have a majority in both houses. There are 18 Republicans to 13 Democrats in the state Senate and 63 Republicans to 34 Democrats in the Assembly. Both branches have two open spots.
“In the 2018 elections, when you take a look at the statewide elections, 53.7% of the voters voted for Democrats,” said Dennis Dresang, Professor Emeritus of Public Affairs and Political Science at the University of Wisconsin – Madison. “So (Republicans) hold almost two thirds of the seats in the Assembly, even though they only got 46% of the votes.”
He said the reason why the legislature does not reflect the views of Wisconsinites is because of gerrymandering during the redistricting in 2011.
“We are the most gerrymandered state in the country,” said Dresang.
Dresang said it’s unlikely Democrats will get the seats needed to take over the majority, but he does think they could flip a handful of seats. He said in the last 10 years, only one seat has been flipped by Democrats.
If more Democrats are elected to the state legislature, that will play a big role in next year’s redistricting.
“We’re talking about a redistricting, it’s only done every 10 years. So if we have more gerrymandering that occurs, particularly at the level that we’ve had the last 10 years, if we have that for another 10 years, it’s not good for democracy. And not good for public policy — it’s hard to justify that,” he said.
It could also effect the way the state responds to coronavirus. Many of the guidelines Governor Tony Evers attempted to put in place to stop the spread, were fought by Republicans.
“The state is very, very polarized. Not so much the voters, but the legislators. That was not the case, except for the last 10-12 years, that Republicans would just vote for Republican issues and Democrats for Democratic issues once they’re in the legislature,” said Dresang.
Many of the seats that could be flipped are in Milwaukee-area suburbs, where Democrats have focused a lot of their spending.
