Senate passes governor’s legislative maps, a move that could keep case out of Supreme Court

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By SCOTT BAUER
Associated Press

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin’s GOP-controlled Senate on Tuesday passed legislative maps that were proposed by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers — a move that could ultimately prevent the liberal-controlled state Supreme Court from implementing maps that could be even worse for Republicans.

The plan now heads to the Assembly, which was expected to pass it later Tuesday. Once approved there, it would go to Evers, who last week promised to sign it into law.

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.

This 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, the Senate passed the Evers maps without any changes to the lines. Republicans cast it as their best remaining option.

“We really have a gun to our head, quite frankly,” said Republican Sen. Duey Stroebel.

Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos said at a news conference before the vote that passing the maps would be the end of costly litigation.

“I think our members realize we’ve been dealt a very difficult hand,” Vos said. “I have said from the very beginning that I think we can win under the maps presented because we have better candidates, a better message and the ability to have hard-working people explain across the state why having Republicans in charge of the Legislature is best for Wisconsin.”

Democrats argued that the Wisconsin Supreme Court should be allowed to implement the maps, arguing against adopting the maps proposed by the Democratic governor.

Democrats said they didn’t trust Republicans from trying to trick them by approving the Evers maps. They argued that the bill should first be subject to a public hearing.

“It’s the governor’s map with some extra language added,” said state Sen. Mark Spreitzer, who raised concerns about a provision of the bill that wouldn’t put the maps in place until the November general election.

That means they wouldn’t be in effect for any special or recall elections before the November election. If the effort to force a recall election of Vos succeeds, the vote would take place under the current map and not the new one.

“We don’t have clarity on that,” Spreitzer said. “Somebody is going to have to go to court on that.”

The bill passed 18-14, with one Democrat joining 17 Republicans in favor and five Republicans joining nine Democrats against.

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.

Associated Press writer Todd Richmond also contributed to this report.