What Went Down In Elections In Minnesota, Wisconsin, Vermont And Connecticut
Filed under 2022 Election
How Redistricting Has Affected Wisconsin’s Congressional Races
Polls are closing shortly in Wisconsin. Because Wisconsin’s governor is a Democrat and its legislature is controlled by Republicans, they couldn’t agree on a new congressional map for the state. So the Wisconsin Supreme Court imposed the map below, with six Republican-leaning districts and two Democratic-leaning ones.
In a loss for Democrats, the court decided early on that it would draw a new map that was as close as possible to the old one (which Republicans drew). That precluded a map that was more proportional to how the state votes, such as this 5-3 map produced by the largely ceremonial Wisconsin People’s Maps Commission.
However, in a loss for Republicans, the court picked the map that was proposed by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, which made the suburban Milwaukee 1st District somewhat competitive, with a FiveThirtyEight partisan lean of R+6. Although this seat, held by GOP Rep. Bryan Steil, probably won’t be vulnerable in a year such as 2022, it could fall to Democrats sometime down the road.