The state Assembly approved a new set of legislative districts, but Gov. Tony Evers vowed to veto the lines, effectively letting the state Supreme Court pick new Senate and Assembly maps in the next month.
Lawmakers signed off on a proposal first offered by the state Senate on Jan. 23, when senators altered and passed maps Evers had submitted to the Supreme Court earlier this month.
But Evers and legislative Democrats have been skeptical of the proposal, which comes after the high court struck down the current lines in a bombshell December ruling and ordered new maps be drawn ahead of the 2024 elections.
Ultimately the maps will influence who has power in the Wisconsin Legislature — and how tight the margin of error is for the majority party — and that outcome will dictate which policies are brought for a vote and which are sidelined.
Under the ruling, the Legislature could draw new lines and, provided they meet with the court’s approval, could become law without the justices having to pick from a half dozen maps submitted earlier this month. If Evers vetoes the Legislature's proposal as he promised, the ball would remain in the court's hands.
Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, said after Evers’ State of the State address that he was open to passing the governor’s favored maps without alterations. Assembly Republicans then conferred for much of the night and last Wednesday morning on the matter.
Vos said he was confident Republicans could still win under Evers’ lines, which are viewed as less hostile to his GOP caucus than other lines submitted to the court.
But on Wednesday, Vos said the changes made by the Senate were vital to avoid having some of his members moved out of their current district and be drawn in largely unfamiliar terrain.
The final product, Vos said, was “99%” of what Evers and Democrats wanted. He argued the fact that 30 GOP legislators were paired together in the governor’s map was not done by accident and on the Assembly floor labeled the Evers plan "awful."
“With these small tweaks, we are attempting to make the map as purple as Gov. Evers claimed it was when he was submitting it,” Vos said at a press conference before the Assembly vote.
The Senate proposal garnered criticism from Democrats and the governor’s office.
On social media, Evers’ spokesperson Britt Cudaback said that if Republicans made changes to the governor's map proposals, “then they aren’t the governor’s maps. Period.”
Speaking with WSAU radio after an event in Wausau, Evers said he would not sign the proposal.
"The only one that I will sign are my maps," he said, "and those are not my maps."
Republican vs. Democrat balance
The exact impact on the competitiveness of the lines is not yet known, with both parties disagreeing over how the changes would affect the maps’ fairness.
Under Evers’ initial proposal, Democrats would significantly improve on their current number of seats in the Legislature, although the exact gains would vary depending on which metrics are used. Republicans currently have a 64-35 majority in the Assembly and a 22-11 supermajority in the Senate.
GOP leaders framed their latest proposal as a compromise that could be embraced by all sides. Republicans have feared that some of the other maps submitted to the court could be more damaging to their hopes of remaining in power than the lines offered by Evers.
Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu, R-Oostburg, said the idea was to “put the redistricting saga behind us” but argued Evers’ maps unfairly paired too many incumbent legislators in the same district, pointing to one Green Bay-area Senate district that included three sitting Republican senators.
“Our map maintains the partisan makeup of the governor’s map but preserves the incumbents who live close to the district boundaries,” LeMahieu said.
Rep. Nate Gustafson, R-Fox Crossing, said that Evers’ maps would have left him 15 feet shy of being drawn in what is mostly his current district. If the maps were vetoed, Gustafson said he would move to represent the Neenah area, where he grew up.
“This is my home and I plan on representing it, and I plan on doing what I know is best for my community,” Gustafson said.
Democratic legislators argued it was nothing more than a cynical attempt by their Republican counterparts to cling to power. Senate Minority Leader Dianne Hesselbein, D-Middleton, labeled it the “Republican protection act of 2024” and said Democrats were not given the chance to review the lines before the legislative session began.
“Let's also be honest that Republicans are scared,” Hesselbein said at a press conference before the Senate convened. “This is their last ditch, disingenuous and desperate attempt to hold on to power. They don't care about fair maps. They're not listening to the will of the people.”
In a statement Wednesday, Assembly Minority Leader Greta Neubauer, D-Racine, said that by "changing district lines in favor of a few key individuals, Republicans are prioritizing their own positions over the people of Wisconsin."
The changes, LeMahieu said, would maintain the partisan breakdown of Evers’ map proposal.
But not all Republican legislators supported the idea. Four GOP senators joined all of their Democrat colleagues in opposing the maps.
One member, Sen. Joan Ballweg, R-Markesan, noted that the bulk of her existing district — which encompasses Adams, Portage, Wisconsin Dells, Ripon, Poynette, Waupaca and points between — would be moved elsewhere, while she would still be paired with another incumbent senator.
Overall, she said the proposed maps would move over 600,000 Wisconsinites from the Senate districts that are on the ballot in the fall to those which won't be up for re-election until 2026.
“I feel that I need to speak up for them because they are the ones that are being drastically affected by what the governor’s maps do in disenfranchising the majority of members of the 14th Senate District,” Ballweg said on the Senate floor.
Two court-appointed consultants are reviewing the six maps submitted to the court earlier this month, with a report set to be delivered on Feb. 1 that outlines how the new districts fare on factors the Supreme Court justices said they will use in evaluating the new lines.
