At the location of the future Moss Universal Park, surrounded by about 50 people, including Democratic lawmakers and community members, Vining focused her remarks on creating a world where everyone can thrive. (Photo by Baylor Spears/Wisconsin Examiner)

WAUWATOSA — Continuing Senate Democrats’ effort to flip control of the state Senate next year, Rep. Robyn Vining (D-Wauwatosa) announced her campaign late Thursday afternoon for Wisconsin’s 5th Senate District, which is currently represented by Sen. Rob Hutton (R-Brookfield). 

At the location of the future Moss Universal Park, surrounded by about 50 people, including Democratic lawmakers and community members, Vining focused her remarks on creating a world where everyone can thrive.

“It’s going to take some construction — just like at this park,” Vining said, referring to the playground, which is designed to be accessible to children with disabilities and open to everyone in the community. “If we want a world that works for everyone, we need a government that works for everyone — not the few and the connected, but for everyone. That is the world I want to fight for. That is the world that we all deserve, and when we flip this seat and when we win the majority, we will work hard to create that world. We will move closer to a government that works for everyone.” 

November 2026 will be the first time new, more competitive legislative maps adopted in 2024 will be in effect for the 17 odd-numbered Senate seats up for election. All the seats in the  state Assembly and the governor’s office will also be up for election.

“We’re going to have a trifecta,” Senate Minority Leader Dianne Hesselbein (D-Middleton) told reporters. “We’re finally going to be able to get things done for the very first time in a very long time. We’re going to be able to fund K-12 education, higher education, child care and all the priorities that we’ve been fighting for for over a decade.”

Whether Democrats achieve “trifecta” control of both houses of the Legislature and the executive branch of state government hinges in part on a Democrat holding the governor’s seat. Gov. Tony Evers has not yet announced whether he’ll seek a third term in office, but the decision could come any day. 

“It’s my understanding that Gov. Evers is going to make up his mind in the next week and a half,” Hesselbein said. “If the governor wants to run again, we’re behind him all the way.” 

“It’s either going to be him or it’s going to be someone from the absolutely fabulous bench that we have, so we’re not worried,” Vining said. 

The path to the Senate majority, Vining and Hesselbein said, runs through Senate District 5. Republican lawmakers currently hold an 18-15 Senate majority, meaning Democrats need to flip two seats and hold all of their current seats to win the majority for the first time in more than 15 years. Two other competitive seats include Senate District 17, where Sen. Howard Marklein (R-Spring Green) is up for reelection and Rep. Jenna Jacobson (D-Oregon) announced her candidacy last week, and Senate District 21, where Sen. Van Wanggaard (R-Racine) is up for reelection. 

Senate District 5 includes portions of Milwaukee County, encompassing West Allis and Wauwatosa, and Waukesha County, including Pewaukee, Brookfield and Elm Grove. 

According to data from the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, the current 5th Senate District went for former Vice President Kamala Harris by 6 percentage points and Sen. Tammy Baldwin by 5 percentage points. The three Assembly districts that make up the Senate District are split — represented by Vining, Rep. Angelito Tenorio (D-West Allis) and Rep. Adam Neylon (R-Pewaukee).

“We see this as like a 50-51-ish… race where we’re favored ever so slightly,” Vining told reporters. “I mean, that’s the challenge.”

Vining is not the first Democrat in the race. Sarah Harrison, a Brookfield small business owner who ran a failed campaign for the Assembly in 2024, launched her campaign for the seat last month.

The incumbent, Hutton, hasn’t said whether he will run for another term in office. 

Hutton was first elected to the seat in 2022. In the Senate, he currently serves as the chair of the Senate Universities and Technical Colleges Committee and vice-chair of the Senate Transportation and Local Government Committee and has introduced legislation related to transgender Wisconsinites, including banning transgender girls from sports teams that align with their gender and allowing for civil action against medical professionals who provide gender affirming care, and some criminal justice bills, including some related to parole revocation and Wisconsin’s John Doe law.

Prior to the Senate, Hutton served in the Assembly from 2012 to 2018 and on the Waukesha County Board of Supervisors from 2005 to 2012.

Vining said of Hutton that constituents are “frustrated because they don’t know where he stands” on many issues, adding that education funding should be one of the top priorities for lawmakers. 

“What’s the special ed reimbursement rate that he supports? What is it? He’s not going to tell you. There’s going to be issue after issue where you really don’t know where he stands because he’s not going to tell you. I’m going to tell you, I support a 90% special ed reimbursement [rate], I’m going to tell you where I stand on issues,” Vining said. 

Vining has some experience running in competitive races. She flipped Assembly District 14 in 2018, beating out Matt Adamczyk, a former Wisconsin State Treasurer, by slightly more than 130 votes — less than half of 1 percentage point. In her reelection campaign in 2020 with Republicans targeting the seat, Vining beat the Republican candidate by 8 percentage points. In 2024 with new legislative maps in place, Vining ousted one of her Republican colleagues with whom she shared the new district.

“I’ve been the same person in politics the whole time — fighting for families as if they’re my own, fighting for affordable health care. I’m fighting for the things that people care about. People care that you A) listen to them and B) act on it,” Vining said. “I want to continue being the person that hears that you want a 90% special ed reimbursement rate and write the bill to do it and when your EpiPen is too expensive, I’m going to write a bill to try to make that better.”

Showing up to talk to constituents helps win tough districts, Vining said. She has represented about two-thirds of the new Senate district and said she is excited to get out and meet voters in areas she is less familiar with. 

“We have events. We talk with people. We listen. We build relationships,” Vining said.

“Democrats want to take the majority, and we can now spend the next 16 months casting vision for what it would mean to Wisconsinites for us to be in the majority,” Vining said. “It’s our job to cast vision so that people can latch onto it.” 

Vining’s vision focuses on finding the best way to serve people. She listed a number of issues that would be her priority to work on if she were elected and Democrats won the majority, including boosting education funding, improving child care, finally passing postpartum Medicaid expansion and addressing gun violence. She also said she wants to finally pass some of the bills she has proposed over the years while in the Assembly minority, including mental health related measures and a bill that would mandate universal adult-sized changing stations in restrooms in public buildings and encourage businesses to install them as well to help ensure accessibility for those who need it. 

“What we do as representatives is we need to see what we’re missing, and then make sure that we’re talking about those things,” Vining said. In the Assembly, Vining currently serves on the Children and Families Committee, the Health, Aging and Long-Term Care Committee, the Mental Health and Substance Abuse Prevention committee and the Small Business Development Committee. 

Constituents brought the issue of universal changing stations to her attention, she says  — something that other states across the country, including Alabama, have taken action on. A voter named Sarah and her son Matthew, who is disabled, had trouble going to public events because he would have to be changed on the floor of restrooms, she said. 

“Sarah came into my first office hours in February of 2019, right after I was elected, with Matthew [her son]. I met them, then she told me about the problem,” Vining said. “We wrote the legislation. We introduced the legislation and I’ve introduced it every cycle since.” 

Vining said she plans to introduce the legislation again next week. 

“Getting the majority also means making Wisconsin more accessible,” Vining said.