(The Center Square) – There is not much of an appetite from Wisconsin’s Republican lawmakers for a summer session to draw a new congressional map for the state.
Gov. Tony Evers used his final State of The State speech on Tuesday to push lawmakers to agree to a new map for the state’s eight congressional districts.
“I’m announcing that I’ll be calling a special session of the Legislature this spring to take up a constitutional amendment to ban partisan gerrymandering once and for all in Wisconsin,” Evers said during his speech. “And let me be clear: I won’t hesitate to bring the Legislature into special session later this year in August. Or September. Or October. Heck, I’m old enough to remember when the Legislature was willing to meet in December!”
Sen. Julian Bradley, R-New Berlin, said he doesn’t buy what the governor is selling.
“Purely political and downright hilarious that he’s calling for a special session to ban partisan gerrymandering after he gerrymandered our maps,” Bradley told The Center Square. “In 2023, the legislature passed a bill giving him a redistricting commission, and he vetoed it after nearly every Democrat voted against it.”
The Republican-controlled legislature did agree to redraw the state’s legislative maps in early 2024.
Lawmakers at the time said they feared the liberal-majority Wisconsin Supreme Court may have ordered something worse for them. It’s not clear if they will make the same calculation this year.
The state’s high court has already taken up a redistricting case. The court has asked a three-judge panel to come up with a new map for the state’s members of Congress.
It does not appear that those new maps will be ready in time to be used in November’s midterm elections.
