Gov. Tony Evers signs new election maps, ending Wisconsin Republicans' grip on legislative power

MADISON – Wisconsin Republicans lost their more than decade-long grip on control of the state Legislature Monday after Democratic Gov. Tony Evers signed into law new electoral maps that reshape down-ballot races in this battleground state.

Evers signed a bill put forward by GOP lawmakers last week implementing new legislative maps the Democratic governor drew himself that dramatically weaken the advantages Republicans have enjoyed each election cycle since 2011.

"It is a new day in Wisconsin, and today is a beautiful day for democracy," Evers said at a press conference in the state Capitol. "Of the 1,869 days I’ve been proud to serve as your governor, few have been as consequential as this one."

The new map gives Democrats a chance to compete with Republicans for control of the Legislature for the first time in more than a decade. Even so, the vast majority of Democratic lawmakers voted against the plan, arguing the state Supeme Court should pick new boundaries instead.

State Sen. Mark Spreitzer, D-Beloit, voted against the maps but stood behind Evers on Monday to celebrate signing them into law. He was one of just four Democratic lawmakers to join Evers at the bill signing ceremony.

"My vote was never about the map itself. It was about the process. It was about making sure we looked at all the legal angles to make sure there wasn't a Republican trick here to avoid fair maps. And I trust the Gov. Evers has done that," Spreitzer said Monday.

The move by Republicans to diminish their own power comes two months after the Wisconsin Supreme Court struck down the GOP-drawn legislative maps as unconstitutional and ordered lawmakers to come up with a new plan or allow the court to create a new set of legislative boundaries.

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, said Republicans chose to pass Evers' maps because they were "the most Republican-leaning maps out of all the Democrat-gerrymandered maps" being considered by the court.

"We sent him those maps, not because they are fair, but because the people of Wisconsin deserve certainty in state government," Vos said in a statement. “This fall Republicans will prove that we can win on any maps because we have the better policy ideas for the State of Wisconsin."

The maps "are not perfect," Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu, R-Oostburg said, but they "have the most competitive districts of the remaining maps the court was considering."

“Senate Republicans have won competitive races for twenty years. We don’t plan on stopping now," LeMahieu said in a statement.

Under the current gerrymandered maps, Republicans hold 64 of 99 Assembly seats and 22 of 33 Senate seats.

More: Confused by Wisconsin redistricting terms? Here's what they mean.

Republican leaders decided to pass a proposed map Evers submitted to the court as part of their order, characterizing the move as the lesser of evils.

“We kind of have a gun to our head, frankly,” Sen. Duey Stroebel, R-Town of Cedarburg, said during Tuesday's floor debate on the bill.

The 99 Assembly districts proposed by Evers are about evenly split between Republican and Democratic-leaning districts. Forty-five districts are more Democratic than Republican, and 46 districts are more Republican than Democratic.

That leaves eight districts that are more likely to be a toss-up between Democrats and Republicans.

See the new state Assembly districts

This map shows Wisconsin state Assembly districts under the previous 2022 map on the left, and the new 2024 map on the right. Each district is colored according to whether itleans Democrat, leans Republican, or is acompetitive district (within 5%).

Old maps (2022)

New maps (2024)

Note: The partisan lean of districts is calculated based on voting data from national and local elections from 2016 to 2022. Districts with less than 5% difference in Republican and Democratic votes are considered competitive districts.

Map by Andrew Hahn and Eva Wen / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The state Senate districts drawn by Evers are about evenly split between Republican and Democratic-leaning districts. Fourteen districts out of 33 are Democratic-leaning, while 15 districts are Republican-leaning.

The other four districts are competitive, where either party has a fair chance of winning them.

See the new state Senate districts

This map shows Wisconsin state Senate districts under the previous 2022 map on the left, and the new 2024 map on the right. Each district is colored according to whether itleans Democrat, leans Republican, or is acompetitive district (within 5%).

Old maps (2022)

New maps (2024)

Note: The partisan lean of districts is calculated based on voting data from national and local elections from 2016 to 2022. Districts with less than 5% difference in Republican and Democratic votes are considered competitive districts.

Map by Andrew Hahn and Eva Wen / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The Journal Sentinel based its analysis of the districts on precinct-level voting data calculated by Dave's Redistricting App based on national and local elections from 2016 to 2022. The Journal Sentinel defined districts that are 5% more Democratic than Republican as Democratic-leaning and vice versa. Districts where there is a less than 5% difference in the number of Republican and Democratic votes are considered competitive districts.

More: In a 50/50 Wisconsin electorate, what does a 'neutral' election map look like?

Andrew Hahn and Eva Wen of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel contributed to this report.

Molly Beck and Eva Wen can be reached at molly.beck@jrn.com and qwen@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Gov. Tony Evers signs new election maps, ending Wisconsin gerrymander