State Republicans Pass New Legislative Voting Maps

Wednesday, January 24th, 2024 -- 1:00 PM

(Rich Kremer, Wisconsin Public Radio) Republican state senators Tuesday afternoon introduced and passed new legislative voting maps they claim will resolve the ongoing legal dispute over redistricting in Wisconsin.

According to Rich Kremer with Wisconsin Public Radio, the surprise move comes as the state Supreme Court’s new liberal majority reviews new map proposals to replace those drawn by GOP lawmakers.

The state Senate was originally scheduled to vote on a GOP state Assembly bill supporters say would create an “Iowa-style” nonpartisan redistricting process for Wisconsin, but that didn’t happen.

Instead, Republican Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu, R-Oostburg, amended the bill to strip its original language and replace it with new maps he claims are based on ones Democratic Gov. Tony Evers submitted to the Supreme Court as part of the ongoing redistricting lawsuit.

The GOP maps introduced by LeMahieu Tuesday haven’t had a public hearing, and Democratic senators said they hadn’t seen them before the start of the Senate floor session.

In a social media post before the maps were unveiled, Evers’ spokesperson Britt Cudaback stressed that any GOP changes to the governor’s maps “aren’t the governor’s maps. Period.” During debate on the bill, LeMahieu attacked Evers’ submission to the court.

He said the governor’s maps would draw several Republican state senators into one another’s districts, meaning those lawmakers would have to face one another in a primary election or move and run for election in another district.

LeMahieu said that would result in “disenfranchisement of voters all around the state.” Democratic Senate Minority Leader Dianne Hesselbein, D-Middleton, called the new maps introduced by her Republican colleagues “pure partisan garbage.”

She said the maps will give some GOP incumbents new “gerrymandered districts.”

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