Wisconsin Republicans make last-ditch effort to pass new legislative maps

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin Republicans made a last-ditch effort Tuesday to avoid having the liberal-controlled state Supreme Court put in place new legislative district boundaries for the November election.

The Republican-controlled Senate passed new Senate and Assembly maps just over an hour after unveiling them, not giving the public or Democrats a chance to review them ahead of their release. Democrats said they didn’t have time to analyze the proposal before the vote.

Republican Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu said that the new maps were the same as what Democratic Gov. Tony Evers proposed, but with fewer incumbent lawmakers having to face one another in November. Two fewer senators and six fewer Assembly incumbents would be paired with other incumbents in the same districts, LeMahieu said.

The governor’s map was “clearly a partisan attack on us,” LeMahieu said.

“We just wanted to make things somewhat fair,” he said.

Democrats said the maps, detailed in a 169-page amendment, were an attempt by Republicans to protect their majorities that sit at 22-11 in the Senate and 64-35 in the Assembly.

“This is not a serious proposal that we have before us,” Democratic Sen. Mark Spreitzer said. “These maps make changes that protect Republican incumbents.”

The Senate passed the bill 17-14, with four Republicans joining 10 Democrats against. No Democrats voted for it. The Assembly could pass it Thursday.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court last month tossed the current Republican-drawn district boundaries as unconstitutional and ordered new maps. Evers, Republicans, Democrats and others submitted maps that two consultants hired by the court are now reviewing. Their recommendation is due Feb. 1, and the court is expected to release new maps shortly after.

But the court said it would defer to the Legislature if it could pass maps that Evers would sign into law.

Evers and Democrats appeared unlikely to back the new Republican maps released Tuesday.

“This is about one thing: Republicans desperately trying to retain power,” Evers’ spokesperson Britt Cudaback posted before the maps were released. “Full stop.”

Cudaback said in a post on X, formerly Twitter, that any maps that differ from the maps as Evers submitted them to the Supreme Court “aren’t the governor’s maps. Period.”

If Evers vetoes the new Republican maps, it ”will just show his true intent of trying to disenfranchise Republican voters around the state,” LeMahieu said.

All maps under consideration by the Wisconsin Supreme Court are expected to shrink Republican majorities.

Under the Evers map, Republicans would have a seven-seat majority in the Assembly, down from 29 seats now, and just a one-seat edge in the Senate, based on an analysis by Marquette University Law School research fellow John D. Johnson. His analysis used a statistical model to predict the results of the 2022 state legislative election had they taken place in the newly proposed districts.

LeMahieu said the changes Republicans were proposing to Evers’ maps would not affect the partisan breakdown of each district.

This isn’t the first time Republicans have tried to take control of redistricting. In September, three months before the court ordered new maps, the Assembly passed a sweeping plan that takes the power of drawing maps out of the hands of lawmakers and gives it to nonpartisan staff.

But Evers rejected the plan, calling it “bogus,” even though it largely resembled a nonpartisan redistricting plan he’s pushed for years.

It was that bill that Senate Republicans amended before passing it Tuesday. It was passed just hours before Evers was to deliver his State of the State address.