Senate Democrats at a press conference on Nov. 12. (Baylor Spears | Wisconsin Examiner)

With elections over, the Wisconsin State Legislature is beginning to organize itself for the coming term. Assembly Republicans reelected Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) Tuesday to serve another term in the position and Senate Democrats reelected Dianne Hesselbein (D-Middleton) as Senate minority leader. 

Vos is the longest serving Assembly speaker in Wisconsin history, having first been elected to the position in 2013. He was challenged Tuesday by Rep. Scott Allen (R-Waukesha) but held on to the top position. The caucus was closed to press, and the vote count wasn’t shared. 

Vos will continue in the position with a smaller caucus after Democrats won 10 additional seats this month. He said that Wisconsin’s split election results are a message that voters want lawmakers to “focus on what’s important to them.” 

“If you talk to most folks, they know the price of groceries. They know that rent is higher, and the cost of just about everything is higher,” Vos said. “We have a record surplus… we are not in a rush to spend that.” 

Democrats in the Assembly and Senate were able to compete more closely for seats because of new voting maps in Wisconsin that went into effect this year. The maps were passed by Republican lawmakers and signed into law by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers in February after the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that the previous maps were an unconstitutional gerrymander. Republicans have held a majority in the state Legislature since 2011. 

Assembly Majority Leader Tyler August (R-Walworth), who was elected to another term in his leadership position, said Democrats had an “atrocious” election night after the new, more competitive voting maps were  “engineered to put themselves in the majority.”

When asked whether he would approach the job any differently with the slimmer margins, Vos said the caucus would still be seeking to get “consensus” from the majority of its members before bringing proposals to a vote, and that for some issues it could be harder to bring proposals forward. For example, he said a proposal on an issue such as legalizing medical marijuana could be more difficult.

“Reducing the size of government, not expanding welfare, making sure we invest in our priorities, returning the surplus back to taxpayers — I think the vast majority of things that we put on the table will be things that all 54 people in our caucus will unite behind,” Vos said. 

Lawmakers will spend considerable time in the coming months debating the next two-year state budget and how to use the state’s $4.6 budget surplus. Assembly Republicans said they want to cut taxes  as a way of returning the money to Wisconsinites and don’t want to grow the size of government. 

Vos said the budget surplus only exists because Evers vetoed Republicans’ tax cut proposals in the last budget, and that one proposal they will likely look at again is a tax cut for retirees. He also said the proposal put forth by Department of Public Instruction Superintendent Jill Underly to dedicate an additional $4 billion to public education in the state budget wasn’t “serious.” 

Other members of the Assembly Republican leadership include: 

• Rep. Scott Krug (R-Nekoosa) will serve as assistant majority leader.
• Rep. Kevin Peterson (R- Waupaca) will serve as speaker pro tempore.
• Rep. Rob Summerfield (R- Bloomer) will serve as caucus chair.
• Rep. Cindi Duchow (R-Town of Delafield) will serve as caucus vice-chair 
• Rep. Treig Pronschinske (R-Mondovi) will serve as caucus sergeant-at-arms. 
• Rep. Nancy VanderMeer (R-Tomah) will serve as caucus secretary.

Hesselbein leads Senate Democrats 

Hesselbein will lead Senate Democrats again in the upcoming term. She was first elected to the leadership position in December 2023 to replace Sen. Melissa Agard, who was just elected to serve as Dane County Executive.  

Senate Democrats are entering next year with four additional members to the caucus, including Jodi Habush Sinykin, Sarah Keyeski, Jamie Wall and Kris Alfheim. That increases the number of  Democratic-held seats to 15 and cuts the Republican majority to 18 seats.

Hesselbein said she was “absolutely devastated” that President-elect Donald Trump won a second term in office and carried Wisconsin, however, she said that her growing caucus is proof that Democrats worked hard  and won over voters. She added that Senate Democrats have a path to winning a majority in 2026 when the odd-numbered Senate seats will be up for election. 

“This is the state of Wisconsin. Just a few years ago, [on] the same night we elected Tony Evers and Ron Johnson,” Hesselbein said. “This is nothing new to the state, but going forward in two years, it’ll be a new dawn and a new day.” 

Until then, Hesselbein said that she is looking forward to more conversation and compromise with Republicans going forward. 

“Right now, we’re sitting on billions of dollars in our state coffers. A record number of schools this year went to referendum because we’re not funding schools adequately,” Hesselbein said. “We need to stop that trend and we need to fund K-12 schools in the state of Wisconsin. We need to be investing in public universities and our technical colleges, working to keep tuition affordable.” She also promoted  investing in young families, infrastructure, transportation systems and protecting the state’s natural resources. 

“We will fight tirelessly to get that job done,” Hesselbein said. 

Her “door is open” for Republican lawmakers, she said. 

Sen. Jeff Smith (D-Eau Claire) was elected to continue serving as assistant minority leader, Sen. Mark Spreitzer (D- Beloit) was elected to serve as caucus chair and Sen.-elect Dora Drake (D-Milwaukee) was elected to serve as caucus vice-chair. 

Last week Senate Republicans reelected Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu, who has led the caucus since 2021. Assembly Democrats plan to meet next week to hold leadership elections.

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"Fire Duey Stroebel" sign at Habush Sinykin Election night party. (Baylor Spears | Wisconsin Examiner)

Tuesday’s election results for the Wisconsin State Legislature were mixed. Wisconsin Democrats won several key state Senate races, breaking the Republican 22-seat supermajority and laying the groundwork for Democrats to compete for a majority in 2026. In the Assembly, Republicans appear to have held their majority with many incumbents defeating their challengers. 

New legislative maps, which were adopted in February after the state Supreme Court ruled the old maps were an unconstitutional gerrymander, gave Democrats the opportunity to run in competitive districts in many cases for the first time in over a decade. 

Half of the state Senate was up for reelection this year, and Democrats ran in each Senate district.

Democrats won five districts they were targeting on Tuesday — ousting Republican incumbents, winning newly created open seats and keeping a Democratic incumbent in office. The results bring the Senate makeup to 18 Republicans and 15 Democrats. The previous makeup was 22 Republicans and 10 Democrats.

Minority Leader Dianne Hesselbein (D-Middleton) celebrated in a statement Wednesday morning.

“Senate Democrats defeated Republicans’ manufactured supermajority, and we are on a pathway to the majority in 2026,” Hesselbein said “Our candidates knocked on thousands of doors, listened to voters, and clearly articulated their vision for Wisconsin. Senate Democrats will tirelessly defend our shared values and uplift working families.”

Democrat Jodi Habush Sinykin of Whitefish Bay declared victory over Sen. Duey Stroebel of Saukville, ousting the lawmaker who has served in the Senate since 2016. The race was one of the most expensive state legislative races in the state with spending surpassing $10.2 million, according to a review by WisPolitics. 

The district sits north of Milwaukee and includes Whitefish Bay, Fox Point, Bayside, River Hills, Menomonee Falls, Germantown, Mequon, Cedarburg, Grafton and Port Washington.

This will be Habush Sinykin’s first time holding public office. She ran for office once before in a special election for an open seat in 2023, but lost to Sen. Dan Knodl. 

Hesselbein welcomed Habush Sinykin in a release, saying that she and her team ran an “incredible” campaign. 

“As the underdog, she did not shy away from the hard work necessary to win this race,” Hesselbain said. “Jodi’s deep ties to the community, thoughtful decision-making, and experience as an attorney will allow her to effectively legislate for the needs of this community.”

At an election night party in Theinsville, Habush Sinykin started the night greeting, thanking and talking to her supporters, though results of the race hadn’t been called by 2 a.m. when the party ended. Signs declaring “Fire Duey Stroebel” were placed throughout the party.

Democrat Sarah Keyeski, a mental health provider from Lodi, declared victory over incumbent Sen. Joan Ballweg just after midnight in the race for the 14th Senate District. Keyeski is a political newcomer, and this will be her first term in office. 

The district sits north of Madison and covers parts of Dane, Columbia, Sauk and Richland counties, including the cities of Deforest, Reedsburg, Baraboo, Lodi, Columbus, Portage, Richland Center and Wisconsin Dells. The district changed under new legislative maps, and Ballweg, who has served in the Senate since 2021, was drawn into another district but decided to move to remain in the 14th district.

Hesselbein said she is “confident that Sarah will be a strong voice for folks living in the 14th Senate District.”

Democrat Jamie Wall, a business consultant from Green Bay, declared victory over Republican Jim Rafter in the race for the open 30th Senate District. The newly created district sits in Brown County, representing Green Bay, Ashwaubenon, De Pere, Allouez, Bellevue. 

Democrat Kristin Alfheim, a member of the Appleton Common Council, defeated Republican Anthony Phillips, a cancer physician, in the race for the 18th Senate District in the Fox Valley, including Appleton, Menasha, Neenah and Oshkosh.

Democratic Sen. Brad Pfaff of Onalaska, won reelection over Republican challenger Stacey Klein, clinching his second term in office. Pfaff was first elected to the Senate in 2020, and previously served as the secretary-designee of the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection, after being appointed by Gov. Tony Evers, though Republicans later denied his nomination. 

Highly contested Assembly races

All of the Assembly’s 99 seats were up for election this year, and after the new maps were implemented, Democrats saw an opportunity to make gains, and potentially flip the body. The new majority is likely 54 Republicans to 45 Democrats.

While Republicans held onto enough seats to retain their majority this year, Democrats cut the previous 64-seat Republican majority by 10 seats and had all their incumbents reelected. 

“Fair maps have allowed voters to hold legislators accountable, and this will change how policy is written and what bills move through the legislature,” said Assembly Minority Leader Greta Neubauer (D-Racine) in a statement Wednesday. “I hope and expect that this shift will result in more collaboration and bipartisan work in the legislature, because that is what the people of Wisconsin have asked us to do.”

The Assembly Democrats will add 23 new members to their caucus.

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester), told reporters Wednesday afternoon that the party was proud of those who won. He said the Republican Assembly caucus will have eight new members in the Legislature. 

“We are at 54 strong,” Vos said. “Many people, especially the minority leader, spent the last three months telling everybody, they were going to be in the majority. They were clearly wrong, and again now we get the chance to set the agenda for the rest of the state with our colleagues in the state Senate.”

Vos and Assembly Majority Leader Tyler August (R-Walworth) said the results were a sign of Republican strength, and that Democrats were only able to pick up seats because the maps, which were proposed by Evers and passed by the Republican-majority Legislature, were drawn to favor them. 

“The only way that Democrats picked up seats was by having a map that was clearly gerrymandered to give them a result,” Vos said. 

“We were able to fight against that because we have better candidates, a better message and we are right on the issues when it comes down to it,” August said. 

Vos, the longest speaker in state history, said he will run to lead Assembly Republicans again. He said the caucus’ priorities for the session will need to be discussed in the coming weeks, but one will likely focus on the state’s budget surplus. 

“We are not going to spend that. It’s going to either go back to the taxpayers as relief, or it’s going to stay in the budget as a surplus because I am not going to support a plan that says if Evers vetoes tax cuts, we’re going to spend it on growing the size of government,” Vos said. 

Many Republican incumbents defeated their Democratic challengers. Republican Rep. Jessie Rodriguez of Oak Creek defeated Democratic challenger David Marstellar in the race for the 21st Assembly District, which sits in Milwaukee County.

Republican Rep. Todd Novak of Dodgeville defeated Democratic challenger Elizabeth Grabe in the race for the 51st Assembly District, which represents part of Lafayette, Iowa and Grant counties. 

Republican Rep. Shannon Zimmerman of River Falls defeated Democrat Alison Page in the 30th Assembly District, which represents the cities of Hudson and River Falls as well as the towns of Troy and St. Joseph. Zimmerman has served in the Assembly since 2016. 

Republican Rep. Bob Donovan defeated Democrat LuAnn Bird in their rematch to represent  Assembly District 61, which covers Greendale and Hales Corner in Milwaukee County. 

Republican Rep. Patrick Snyder defeated Democratic challenger Yee Leng Xiong, executive director at the Hmong American Center and a member of the Marathon County Board, in the race for the 85th Assembly District. The district represents Wausau and other parts of Marathon County. Snyder has served in the Assembly since 2016.

Republican Rep. Clint Moses, who has served in the Assembly since 2020, defeated Democratic challenger Joe Plouff, in the race for Assembly District 92, which covers Menomonie and Chippewa Falls. 

Democratic candidate Joe Sheehan, former superintendent of the Sheboygan Area School District and executive director of the Sheboygan County Economic Development Corporation, defeated Republican Rep. Amy Binsfield, a first-term representative from Sheboygan, in the race for Assembly District 26. 

Democrat Tara Johnson, a former La Crosse County Board member, defeated Rep. Loren Oldenburg (R-Viroqua), who was first elected to the Assembly in 2018, in the race for the 96th Assembly District. 

Democrat Ryan Spaude, a criminal prosecutor, defeated Republican Patrick Buckley, who serves as the Brown County Board chairman, in the race for the 89th Assembly District, which covers parts of Brown County including Ashwaubenon and Green Bay. 

Democratic Rep. Jodi Emerson of Eau Claire defeated Republican challenger Michele Magadance Skinner in the race for the 91st Assembly District. 

Democrat Christian Phelps defeated Republican James Rolbiecki in the race for the 93rd Assembly District, which represents part of Eau Claire. The seat represents a gain for Democrats in the area.

Democratic Rep. Deb Andraca, who flipped a district when she was first elected in 2020, said Tuesday night at the Election party in Thiensville that Democrats adding seats in the Assembly was a “different day” and Democrats in the Assembly would no longer be trying to just save the governor’s veto. She declared victory in her reelection bid on Tuesday night.

“The gerrymander is dead,” Andraca said. “We’re no longer saving the veto. We are going to go back in the Wisconsin State Assembly with more seats than we have had in over a decade. We are going to be looking at the ability to negotiate, bring our bills forward and it’s going to be a completely different day.” 

“We are going to be able to make much more of a difference in the Wisconsin State Assembly, and that’s because of all of the hard work that people in this room have done election after election and year after year.” 

The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, the national organization that works to elect Democrats to state legislatures, celebrated the Wisconsin results in a statement. 

“Thanks to fair maps and a smart strategy, the GOP’s stranglehold on Wisconsin’s Legislature is coming to an end,” DLCC President Heather Williams said. “Our 2024 wins mark just the beginning. Seat by seat, the DLCC is committed to continuing to build and defend Democratic power in the Wisconsin Legislature. Republicans have been put on notice: the DLCC is poised to make Wisconsin a future Democratic trifecta.”

This report has been updated.

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Wisconsin State Capitol (Wisconsin Examiner photo)

Control of the Wisconsin State Senate is unlikely to change this year even with new legislative maps in place, as only half of the seats are up for election. However, a handful of the Senate races will be key to determining how much the current 22-seat Republican supermajority changes and will set the stage for either Republicans or Democrats to win the majority in the 2026 election cycle.

Wisconsin’s state legislative races are the most competitive they’ve been in over a decade due to the new legislative maps that were adopted in February after the state Supreme Court ruled the old maps were an unconstitutional gerrymander. Democrats are running candidates in all 16 Senate seats up for election, while Republicans are running in 11 districts. Senators serve for four-year terms and make a salary of $57,000 per year. 

With just over two weeks until Election Day, the Wisconsin Examiner took a look at four state Senate races, which are among the most competitive, happening across the state.

Senate District 8

The race for Senate District 8 pits Republican Sen. Duey Stroebel against Democrat Jodi Habush Sinykin, an attorney and environmental advocate from Whitefish Bay. The district sits north of Milwaukee and includes Whitefish Bay, Fox Point, Bayside, River Hills, Menomonee Falls, Germantown, Mequon, Cedarburg, Grafton and Port Washington.

An analysis by John Johnson, a fellow at Marquette Law School, shows the seat has a 53% Republican lean when compared to 2022 election results. CN Analysis rates the race a toss-up. 

Stroebel was first elected to the state Senate in a 2015 special election after serving four years in the Assembly. In his last two elections, he faced no opposition in either the primary or the general election. 

If elected, it would be Habush Sinykin’s first time holding public office. She ran an unsuccessful but close campaign for the state Senate last year in a 2023 special election against Sen. Dan Knodl. With the new maps, Knodl decided to run for the Assembly this year to avoid running against Stroebel, who currently represents Senate District 20 under the old maps. 

It is already one of the most expensive legislative races in state history with close to $2 million in spending as of October. 

Democrats in the race have sought to highlight reproductive health — and Stroebel’s record on the issue. 

“Couples across Wisconsin are worried whether they will have the availability of IVF in the future. Doctors are worried about whether they could provide life-saving care to patients under Republican abortion bans… Students considering Health Care careers worry about the possibility of not being able to safely practice without threat of prosecution and women worry about whether or not they will be able to make decisions about their own bodies,” Habush Sinkykin said at a recent roundtable event. “I am running to help alleviate these worries and to  secure reproductive freedoms across the state.” 

Habush Sinykin has been critical of Stroebel’s past record on abortion and other reproductive health issues, pointing to his cosponsorship of a failed proposed amendment in 2019 that would have included fetal personhood in the state constitution. 

The amendment would give embryos the same rights as pregnant women, she said. “This is important because, as we heard and saw in Alabama, this would deprive women and families of opportunities for IVF here in Wisconsin,” Habush Sinykin said. 

Stroebel was also the only senator to vote against a bill that would have expanded postpartum Medicaid coverage. He, along with other Republicans senators, also rejected Democrats’ attempts to bring a bill to the floor that would have implemented protections for contraception and fertility treatments. 

Stroebel’s campaign recently sent a cease and desist order to Habush Sinykin’s campaign because of an ad, which accused the lawmakers of voting to end IVF.

“I have never voted to restrict access to IVF, and I never will. Any assertion otherwise is a lie,” Stroebel said in a statement. 

Habush Sinykin’s campaign has stood by the statement. 

Stroebel, meanwhile, is seeking to place his work in the Senate at the centerpiece of his campaign. He has served on the powerful Joint Finance Committee since 2019, and has recently helped advocate for the passage of a massive expansion of Wisconsin’s school choice program, a new literacy law that changes how reading is taught in the state and repealing the personal property tax, which was included in Act 12.

Stroebel said during an interview on the Political Power Hour on 620 WTMJ that inflation is the issue that he is discussing the most with voters at their doors. He said that he has knocked over 25,000 doors this election year.

“The cost of living is really crushing people. I mean, we’re talking about people on fixed incomes, we’re talking about retired people, we’re talking about young families,” Stroebel said. “We, as government, can do a lot more to help that situation out.” 

Stroebel said that the state’s budget surplus should be given back to taxpayers. The most recent report from the Department of Administration found that the state ended its 2024 fiscal year with a $4.6 billion state budget surplus — outpacing previous projections. He noted that the Legislature sent Gov. Tony Evers several tax cut proposals — many of which were vetoed. 

Stroebel said he supports a “middle class tax cut” — meaning one that wouldn’t touch the state’s highest tax bracket and would also focus on taxes on retirement income.

Habush Sinykin said in an interview with WisEye that the state’s budget surplus needs to be used to invest in Wisconsin’s K-12 schools, including increases to per-pupil and special education funding, and the university system as well as workforce development. She has said that tax cuts should be targeted towards working families and retirees.

Senate District 14

Republican incumbent Joan Ballweg and Democrat Sarah Keyeski, a mental health provider, are running against each other in the race for Senate District 14. The district sits north of Madison and covers parts of Dane, Columbia, Sauk and Richland counties, including the cities of Deforest, Reedsburg, Baraboo, Lodi, Columbus, Portage, Richland Center and Wisconsin Dells.

An analysis by Marquette Law School showed that the seat is a 53.3% Democratic lean. CN Analysis rates the district as ‘Tilt .’

Ballweg has served in the Assembly from 2004 to 2018 and was elected to the Senate in 2020. During her time in the Legislature, she has served in leadership positions, including currently as majority caucus vice-chair and is also a member of the Joint Finance Committee. She also previously served as the mayor of Markesan. 

Under the new maps, Markesan was drawn into the new 13th Senate District, which is represented by Sen. John Jagler (R-Watertown). Ballweg has said she now lives in Pardeeville. 

Keyeski is a mental health provider from Lodi, and a political newcomer.

Reproductive health care is again one of the issues at the center of the race. At a candidate forum hosted by Lodi Optimists Club last week, both candidates were asked whether they would vote to “protect women’s reproductive health” by putting legal abortion into law.

Keyeski, who supports codifying Roe v. Wade protections into law, said people have the right to make choices over their own bodies. Ballweg, meanwhile, sought to focus on other parts of reproductive health care, rather than abortion.

“Before you get to the abortion, first of all, I totally agree that women should be participating or using whatever type of contraception processes that they are comfortable with… in consultation with their doctors, of course,” Ballweg said. 

Many Republican candidates at the state and  federal levels have stepped back from restrictive abortion positions this election cycle. A recent poll found that most Wisconsinites oppose criminalizing abortion. 

Ballweg has previously talked about her opposition to abortion.

According to the Ripon Commonwealth Press, Ballweg explained that she was anti-abortion at a listening session in 2022 and she didn’t think that the 1849 law, which stopped abortion care in Wisconsin for over a year, should be changed to include exceptions for rape and incest. 

“I believe that life begins at conception. … Even if it is started in a very terrible way, that’s still life,” Ballweg said. “… If a woman is raped and it results in a pregnancy, that person who raped her was terrible, but she wasn’t.”

“I believe there are options. … She has the choice to love that child and keep that child with her, or she can leave that baby at the hospital, walk out the door and that baby will be taken care of.”

In an interview with WisEye, Ballweg said the issue isn’t currently the responsibility of the Legislature. The Wisconsin Supreme Court has accepted two cases filed by Attorney General Josh Kaul and Planned Parenthood that will determine if Wisconsinites have a right to abortion care. 

“I expect that we’ll be getting an answer from them in the not too distant future, so it’s out of the Legislature’s hands at this point,” Ballweg said. When asked again about whether she has a position on whether abortion should be limited after a certain number of weeks, Ballweg noted that she supported a 20-week limit a couple of years ago.

Ballweg has said one of her top priorities if reelected would be to help pass a bill to extend postpartum Medicaid coverage to a year. Wisconsin is one of two states that hasn’t accepted it. She was the lead Senate author on a bill that would have done this last year, but it never received a vote in the Assembly. 

“It’s important that we have mom there for our youngest Wisconsinites, so that mom and baby can be healthy together,” Ballweg said in an interview with WisconsinEye. 

Keyeski, meanwhile, has said she supports full Medicaid expansion. Wisconsin is one of 10 states that haven’t accepted the federal Medicaid expansion. Medicaid eligibility, under the expansion, would be extended to adults under age 65 with incomes up to 138% of the federal poverty level.

“Approximately 90,000 people, if we expanded Medicaid, would have better access to care and that’s really important. One of the things that’s also really important about expanding this is that our rural communities really depend on our small clinics, our small hospitals, really depend on Medicaid money,” Keyeski said at the forum. “Many of our rural communities have people that are on Medicaid and so that is what keeps those smaller hospitals and clinics viable. We’ve seen some having to close down now in the Eau Claire area Chippewa Falls area, and that is a travesty and that could have been somewhat helped by having this Medicaid expansion.”

Education funding has also represented a key issue in the race. The focus comes as more than 100 school districts across the state will go to voters to ask for additional funding in November.

Keyeski has said that she wants additional state funding to go towards public schools across Wisconsin, including by increasing special education funding. 

“We need to change the school funding formula, so that we have more money coming toward our schools,” Keyeski said at the forum, noting that the state has a significant budget surplus.

Keyeski has also said she doesn’t believe that private schools should receive public funding.

Ballweg also said she supports increasing special education funding. 

“We’re at about 33% of coverage right now. School districts can have a problem if they have one or two really difficult cases, and we do some things for those high cost special needs students also, but in general, the No. 1 stressor on our school districts is filling the need for special needs kids, so yes, keep making sure that we increase that,” Ballweg said during the WisEye interview. 

Senate District 30

Republican Jim Rafter and Democrat Jamie Wall are running against each other in the race for the newly created 30th Senate District, which covers Green Bay, Ashwaubenon, De Pere, Allouez, Bellevue. 

The district has a 52.6% Democratic lean, according to the Marquette Law School analysis. CN Analysis rates the race as “Lean D.”

Wall is a business consultant from Green Bay. He helped create New North, an economic development organization that seeks to promote business growth in Brown County and northeast Wisconsin. He ran for public office once before in 2012 for Wisconsin’s 8th Congressional District seat, losing to former U.S. Rep. Reid Ribble 55% to 44%. 

Wall said Wisconsin’s new maps are a major reason he felt he could step into the race this year. The new maps placed three lawmakers in the 30th Senate District together. Sen. Eric Wimberger (R-Green Bay), who is the current incumbent, decided to move to another district because of the new maps under, while the other lawmakers are leaving the Senate.

“I wouldn’t have bothered under the old system, since that would have been a fool’s errand,” Wall said in an interview. “The Green Bay Metro here was kind of the poster child for the old gerrymander.”

Wall said he hasn’t been happy with the direction of the Legislature for the last 15 years. 

“They made it so it was illegal for them not to be in power and they got to be their bad selves. They didn’t have to think about the voter in the middle… They could just go straight down the far right side of the highway and only worry about their primary voters… I don’t think it was good for the state,” Wall said. 

Wall said the costs of housing, health care and child care are three of the issues that he would want to work to help address. 

“We need to take a hard look at barriers to building more houses and not just houses, but apartments, condos, duplexes, to increase the housing supply,” Wall said. He said more could also be done with programs that the Wisconsin Economic Development Association (WEDA) has to help first-time home buyers afford down payments and their first mortgage. 

When it comes to health care, Wall said he supports Medicaid expansion and would also want to have conversations about ways of streamlining and making care more efficient, though he said that doesn’t mean depriving people of care.

Rafter said in a WisEye interview that he is running for the Senate so that he can help bring people together to work towards finding solutions to issues facing Wisconsinites. He said that his experience as village president would help him do this. 

His campaign did not respond to an interview request from the Examiner. 

Rafter said his top priority in the Legislature would be to work on bills that would help with the cost of living including  the cost of housing, food, clothing, child care. One potential bill to do this would be a tax cut bill. He said that most, if not all, of the budget surplus needs to go back to taxpayers.

“The state of Wisconsin has overcharged or overtaxed its citizens,” Rafter said. “We’ve got to figure out how not to do that.” 

Wall has said that when it comes to the budget surplus he would also support some tax relief. 

“The state’s running record surpluses and we should give some of that money back to the people who need it to help them at a time where many people rightly feel a little bit pinched,” Wall said. He said he liked  Evers’ middle class tax cut proposal for the 2023 budget, which was rejected by Republican lawmakers.

Rafter said that there need to be conversations about increasing funding to schools, and he noted that Green Bay is one of the schools going to referendum. 

Senate District 18

Democrat Kris Alfheim and Republican Anthony Phillips are running against each other in the race for the 18th Senate District in the Fox Valley, including Appleton, Menasha, Neenah and Oshkosh. 

The open district has a 55.5% Democratic lean, according to the Marquette Law School analysis. The current 18th Senate District incumbent Sen. Dan Feyen (R-Fond du Lac) was drawn into the 20th Senate District under the new maps. 

Alfheim has served on the Appleton Common Council since 2020. She previously ran a campaign for the state Senate in 2022, losing to Sen. Rachael Cabral Guevara (R-Appleton) 54% to 45.9%.  

Alfheim has said that she is running for the Senate on the “simple idea” that “people in Wisconsin like me are tired of the bickering, of the gridlock, of the dysfunction and are ready to actually get things done.”

Alfheim has said that, if elected, she will be a “pragmatic” legislator . One of her goals  is  using the state’s budget surplus to invest in schools and municipalities. 

The best way the state can help lower taxes is to invest in local needs, Alfheim said during an interview with WisEye. “When you hold back revenue from the state, to our school systems, to our municipalities, that forces the school systems and the municipalities to then raise taxes. The best way to control those rising costs are to actually fund the systems that we account for on a regular basis.”

Phillips, a cancer physician in the Fox Valley, is a political newcomer. He has said that he wants to help keep the district in Republican hands and has described himself as a “right-center” candidate. His priorities for office include keeping law enforcement funded, income and property taxes low, bolstering parental oversight of education and ensuring families have access to health care.

Phillips has made transgender issues a focal point of his campaign. In his campaign announcement, he highlighted Evers’ veto of a bill that would have barred transgender girls from participating on girls athletic teams. The issue also came up in a primary debate where Phillips talked about Alfheim. 

[Alfheim has] “got to normalize this crazy notion of biological males playing girls’ sports,” Phillips said during the debate. 

Alfheim is a member of the LGTBQ+ community, and a spotlight candidate for the LGTBQ+ Victory Fund, which is a political action committee dedicated to growing the number of out LGBTQ+ public officials in the U.S.

Democrats have also highlighted abortion and reproductive health issues in the race. Alfheim has said that she wants to work towards restoring women’s access to reproductive health care. Phillips, meanwhile, lists “advocating for a culture of Life to protect the lives of the unborn” as one of the issues that matter to him, and has previously said he would support a referendum on abortion restrictions, and believes people would favor some level of restriction on abortion access.

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Democratic candidate Sarah Keyeski, a mental health professional from Lodi, answering questions at a forum hosted by Main Street Alliance, the Wisconsin Farmers Union and Wisconsin Early Education. Her opponent, Sen. Joan Ballweg didn’t attend. Organizers set up a vacant chair in the Yahara River Learning Center classroom next to Keyeski. (Baylor Spears | Wisconsin Examiner)

Christy Updike, a farmer and full-time health care professional from Plain, Wisconsin, said she’s been avoiding the television and news this election cycle — she doesn’t necessarily trust the information being shared this way. She said she’d rather hear from candidates directly. 

One of Updike’s top concerns is bringing more resources to rural communities, especially mental health support. 

Updike also works with the Farmer Angel Network, an organization dedicated to suicide prevention and mental health for rural communities in Wisconsin. She said that she is open to hearing from candidates across the political spectrum.

“I am not straight down ever. I look at individual people and if they happen to be a politician already, I look at their history,” Updike said. 

With Wisconsin’s new, more competitive legislative maps changing the dynamics of state-level races this year, rural voters like Updike will play a decisive role in shaping the state Legislature. Democrats, seeking to pick up additional seats in the state Assembly and Senate, are looking to win them over in November by meeting voters where they are. 

Wisconsin’s 14th Senate District sits north of Madison, covering parts of Dane, Columbia, Sauk and Richland counties, including the cities of Deforest, Reedsburg, Baraboo, Lodi, Columbus, Portage, Richland Center and Wisconsin Dells. It is one of Democrats’ top targets this year as they look to lay the groundwork for flipping the state Senate in future election cycles.

Democrat Sarah Keyeski, a political newcomer, and Republican Sen. Joan Ballweg, who is seeking her second term in the Senate, are vying for the seat. Updike attended a candidate forum last week focused on rural and small business issues hoping to hear from both candidates.

Ballweg didn’t attend the forum, however, which was hosted by Main Street Alliance, the Wisconsin Farmers Union and Wisconsin Early Childhood Association. Organizers set up a vacant chair in the Yahara River Learning Center classroom next to Keyeski. 

Keyeski, a mental health professional from Lodi, told attendees her work has mostly focused on helping people when they were “drowning.” In the state Legislature, she would want to go “upstream” to “keep people from falling in.” She expressed support for increasing the minimum wage, making health care more accessible by expanding Badgercare and for increasing funding for public schools. She also emphasized her rural roots — she grew up on a small dairy farm in Cashton.

While Updike said it’s not a done deal, she left the forum leaning toward voting for the Democrat in November.

“The Republicans aren’t at the table discussing the things that are important to me,” Updike said.

Democratic newcomers seeking to connect with rural voters

To succeed in rural parts of the state, “what it boils down to is that we have to engage with people in rural communities, and we have to listen to them,” said Wayde Lawler, chair of the Vernon County Democratic Party.

Lawler described the county, which is in the Driftless region in western Wisconsin, as a “swing county in a swing region in a swing state.” He said the county, which continues to have a strong family farm presence, is no different than the rest of rural America in that it has been trending red for the last decade.

The county voted for Gov. Tony Evers in 2022, and liberal Justice Janet Protasiewicz in 2023. But the county also voted in 2022 for Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson over Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes and U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden over Democratic state Sen. Brad Pfaff. In the state Legislature, the county is currently represented by Pfaff in the Senate, but hasn’t been represented by a Democrat in the state Assembly in decades.

Lawler said he believes there is an “underlying truth” to the idea that the Democratic Party has become more of a party of urban centers, of college educated folks, of suburban areas, and has, to some extent, stopped paying attention to rural and working class voters. He said the dynamic can change, but it takes a commitment of time and resources.

“Political campaign operations are always a question of how best to use a set amount of resources, and what that translates to generally is people focusing on denser, more urban areas, and even out here in a rural county, you know, that looks like door knocking in Viroqua or Westby or some of the villages, rather than going out into the rural areas,” Lawler said. 

As a result, he said many rural voters are only exposed to candidates via ads and social media. 

“That is not a great way to learn about a candidate. It’s not in depth. It’s not nuanced. It’s not real. It’s a caricature based on what opponents want to say or what that candidate wants to say,” Lawler said. “If you make that commitment to go talk to people most of the time, you can find some common ground, and that’s another thing we’re focusing on.”

Breaking the trend

Under the new maps, Vernon County is included in Assembly District 96, which also covers part of La Crosse and leans Democratic. The race also represents a test of Democrats’ commitment to reaching some of those rural communities.

Rep. Loren Oldenburg (R-Viroqua), who was first elected to the Assembly in 2018, faces Democrat Tara Johnson, a former La Crosse County Board member. 

Lawler said a win in the district is not a given, and Democrats are focusing on making the commitment to go down the “gravel roads” and talk to voters. 

“We have had decades and decades of various kinds of maps and not had a Democrat in the State Assembly,” Lawler said. “This time around I think many of us are hopeful that we will break that 70-year trend in the State Assembly and elect a Democrat there, but that wouldn’t be able to happen without a solid candidate who is willing to put in the work.” 

Johnson said she thinks some voters in the rural parts of the county “feel neglected.” She said she had one conversation with a voter whose door hadn’t been knocked since former President Bill Clinton ran for office. 

“It isn’t just Democrats, it is any politician doing that kind of outreach, and I mean, to me, that’s just kind of human nature, right?” Johnson said. “You want somebody to come and introduce themselves and tell you what they stand for and answer your questions and ask for your vote. … I think a lot of rural doors have not been knocked on in a long time by anybody.” 

Johnson decided to enter the race for the district because of the new maps, the potential for Democrats to win a majority in the Assembly and because she wanted to help “get sh*t done.” During the primary Johnson’s opponent questioned how well her progressive positions would play in rural Vernon County, though she won the Democratic primary handily, including with about 60% of the Vernon County votes.

Johnson, who described herself as a “radical pragmatist,” was critical of the idea that the term “progressive” was being used in a negative way. She said many progressive ideas are popular throughout the rural areas where she is speaking with voters.

Rural communities “care about clean air and clean water,” she said, “and the way that clean air and clean water happens is that there are expectations and standards put into place.”  

She also hears from a lot of voters “that comprehensive health care, including reproductive care, including dental and vision and mental health care, is something that everybody has a right to,” Johnson added. “That’s a progressive idea that is very popular.”

“This state was built on progressive ideals, and when I talk to voters at doors, when I talk to voters at events, when I hear from people, they are supportive of those very common sense, very progressive, all-boats-rise ideas,” Johnson continued.

In August, Lawler recalled door knocking at a house with a Trump sign in the yard. The person, he learned, was a supporter of Bernie Sanders two election cycles ago and this year is likely to vote for former President Donald Trump. He said the voter expressed concerns about women’s ability to access abortion and protecting the environment.

“I would imagine that [Johnson] would find a lot of common ground with that person, and maybe even earn their vote even if they still voted for Trump at the top of the ticket,” Lawler said. “That’s the kind of approach that we’re adopting — listening to people, searching for that common ground.” 

Former Boys and Girls Club exec comes out of retirement

Karen DeSanto, the Democratic candidate for Assembly District 40, is taking a similar approach throughout the district — leaning on her ability to converse and connect with people. DeSanto faces Sauk County Republican Party Chair Jerry Helmer in November for the seat that represents parts of Sauk and Columbia counties, including Spring Green, Portage and Baraboo. 

On a Monday afternoon in downtown Baraboo in mid-August, a woman yelled from her car at DeSanto, who was explaining to the Examiner how she decided to go to clown college in her 20s.

“Karen! Good luck with everything,” the woman said.

“Thank you,” DeSanto yelled back. The woman quipped that she would vote for her as mayor of the town as well if she could. DeSanto laughed. It was not the only time throughout the day that DeSanto, who is depicted in a mural on one of the buildings downtown, was stopped by people in town. 

When asked about the interaction, DeSanto said that she has met a lot of people through her work in the Boys and Girls Club of West Central Wisconsin. DeSanto retired as CEO last year after 12 years with the organization and in her retirement, Rep. Dave Considine (D-Baraboo), who decided he wouldn’t run for reelection this year, approached DeSanto about running for the seat.

“I said ‘Get out of my house, Dave. I’m retired,’ ” DeSanto said. Then, she said, she did some soul-searching. 

“Here’s what I discovered is — I believe in peace and I believe strong communities make great places to live and our schools are better and our kids and families are better,” DeSanto said. Those values brought her to the decision to run, she said. 

DeSanto said her conversations at the doors were a major part of her success and she’s continuing that in the general election. She said she thinks her values and understanding of issues resonated with voters. Through her work with the Boys and Girls Club, she said she saw the hurdles that families in rural parts of the state face, including having access to broadband internet access, food disparities, and she’d like to see some of those issues addressed in the Assembly.

“I love looking at states that provide lunches to every kid. Food is a real disparity for many, many, many families in Wisconsin,” DeSanto said. 

One sitting Democratic lawmaker tries to expand her reach

Experienced lawmakers running for reelection are also being pushed into rural parts of the state in a way they haven’t been in previous years.

When Rep. Jodi Emerson (D-Eau Claire) was first elected in 2018, the 91st Assembly District covered only the city of Eau Claire. The new 91st district includes part of Eau Claire as well as smaller cities, towns and villages including Altoona, Seymour, Fall Creek, Ludington, Bridge Creek and Otter Creek. 

While Emerson won in her prior general elections with more than 60% of the vote, the new district has only a slight Democratic lean. Emerson will face Republican Michele Magadance Skinner, an Eau Claire County Board supervisor, in the race for the seat in November. 

“It’s a very tight district now, but it should be,” Emerson said.

Rural voters in new parts of the district could play a key role in whether Emerson retains the seat. She said she’s been knocking on a lot of rural doors this year, which means a change in logistics “Doing doors is a big piece of how we, as Democrats, do things for an election,” Emerson said. “Last weekend, I was in an area where it was like, ‘OK, go knock out a door, get back in the car, drive a half mile to the next door.” 

Emerson said there has been a “learning curve” with the new district. She said she’s been taking the time to meet new voters and to learn more about issues, including rural broadband, the way that townships interact with cities and counties and looking at school issues from a new perspective. Her old district included just one school district, while the new one includes all or part of eight.

Despite the shift, Emerson said, “I think at the same time we all have the same Wisconsin values of hard work and wanting our communities to be better. And that doesn’t change, no matter whether you’re in a city or in a rural area.”

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