MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin’s Republican-controlled Senate planned to vote Tuesday on legislative maps that were proposed by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers — a move that could ultimately prevent the liberal-controlled state Supreme Court from implementing its own maps.
Evers said last week that he would sign the bill into law should the Republican-controlled Legislature pass it. Once passed by the Senate, the plan could be taken up by the Assembly as soon as Thursday. If approved there, it would go to Evers.
It marks the second time in less than a month that the Legislature has tried to enact new Senate and Assembly boundaries before the court issues its order drawing the lines. Evers vetoed the Legislature’s last attempt, which was based on maps he proposed but that made changes to protect Republican incumbents.
This time, GOP legislative leaders proposed passing the Evers maps without any changes. When asked last week if he would sign his own maps into law, Evers said he would, though he was skeptical that the Legislature would approve them.
Senators broke to discuss the proposal in private caucus shortly after Republicans introduced the bill, which would need at least 17 votes to pass.
The political stakes are huge in the presidential battleground state, where Republicans have had a firm grip on the Legislature since 2011 even as Democrats have won statewide elections, including for governor in 2018 and 2022.
Consultants hired by the Wisconsin Supreme Court last week said that maps submitted by the Republican Legislature and a conservative law firm were gerrymandered. They did not raise concerns about any of the four Democratic-drawn maps, including one submitted by Evers, but left the question of constitutionality to the state Supreme Court.
Analyses of the Evers maps show they would likely greatly reduce Republican majorities in the Legislature, which stand at 64-35 in the Assembly and 22-10 in the Senate.
Under the Evers maps, there would be 15 incumbents in the Assembly who would be forced to run against another incumbent and six such pairings in the Senate. Only one of the Assembly pairings would pit one Democratic incumbent against another one. In the Senate, the only Democratic pairing includes an incumbent who has already decided not to run this fall.
The state elections commission has said the new maps must be in place by March 15 in order to meet deadlines for candidates running for office in November.
Litigation continues in more than a dozen states over U.S. House and state legislative districts that were enacted after the 2020 census.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court also has been asked by Democrats to take up a challenge to the state’s congressional district lines. The lawsuit argues that the court’s decision to order new state legislative maps opens the door to challenging the congressional map. Republicans hold six of the state’s eight congressional seats.
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This story has been corrected to reflect that under Evers’ maps, there would be 15 incumbents in the Assembly, not 16, who would be forced to run against another incumbent.
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