(The Center Square) – There are lots of words of support from Democrats at the Wisconsin Capitol for Gov. Tony Evers special session on redistricting, but the state’s Democratic leaders are measuring their words.
Evers on Tuesday ordered lawmakers back to the Capitol in Madison in April to “ban partisan gerrymandering.”
“Here’s the rub: new maps are redrawn every 10 years, and while Wisconsin has fair maps today, we have no guarantee we’ll continue to have fair maps in the future,” the governor said. “If the Legislature doesn’t act now, our maps could go right back to being rigged, and Wisconsinites could go right back to living under undemocratic maps – we cannot let that happen.”
Evers threatened to call for a special redistricting session during his State of the State speech last month.
Just a few weeks ago, however, he said he did not have buy-in from top Democrats at the Capitol. He said it again Tuesday.
“I feel confident that Democrats feel we are in a good position with fair maps, and I believe they’ll be supportive,” Evers added. “Are there some that may want to see something a little different, a little shaded this way or that way? But at the end of the day, everybody knows that fair maps means what it says.”
Immediately folllowing Evers’ threat in the State of the State, Republicans rejected the idea.
“Purely political and downright hilarious that he’s calling for a special session to ban partisan gerrymandering after he gerrymandered our maps,” Sen. Juian Bradley, R-New Berlin, told The Center Square after the speech. “In 2023, the legislature passed a bill giving him a redistricting commission, and he vetoed it after nearly every Democrat voted against it.”
Evers has proposed redrawn political maps in the past, including the People’s Maps.
Wisconsin Republicans agreed to a new set of legislative maps in 2024, though it was largely because they feared what the liberal-majority Wisconsin Supreme Court would do if they got to draw the maps. The court is currently waiting on a three-judge-panel to make suggestions for Wisconsin’s congressional maps.
Wisconsin’s top legislative Democrats, on Tuesday, mostly talked around the governor’s specific request to end gerrymandering, while claiming to support the idea of “fair maps.”
“The fair maps we passed two years ago have made a difference in Wisconsin,” Democratic Senate Leader Dianne Hesselbein said in a statement. “We now live in a time when the Trump administration has shown its utter disregard for our courts and our democratic system. In Texas, Trump showed he is focused on doing everything he can to create Republican advantages in critical upcoming elections. I am a fighter and my commitment is to make sure the people of Wisconsin have a strong voice in their democracy and that Democrats have the resources and tools to fully participate in whatever redistricting processes may occur in the future.”
“Many of us as Legislative Democrats served under Republicans’ gerrymandered maps for years,” Assembly Democratic chief Greta Neubauer added in a statement of her own. “We deeply understand the importance of competitive maps and remain committed to supporting a redistricting process where the voters’ voices are heard.”
