Redistricting and Control of Wisconsin's Legislature in 2024

Frederica Freyberg:
For the first time in more than a decade, control of Wisconsin’s Legislature is actually up for grabs this fall. Because of a new round of redistricting ordered by the liberal majority on the Wisconsin Supreme Court, voters across the state are learning they actually live in a competitive district. Nowhere is that more apparent than in the Green Bay area, where there are three 50/50 races with no incumbents. “Here & Now” senior political reporter Zac Schultz spent a week in Green Bay to meet the candidates and bring us this report.

Pat Buckley:
Hello. How are you?

Christy Welch:
I’m running for State Assembly.

Man:
Yes.

Christy Welch:
So wanted to introduce myself.

Jim Rafter:
What’s important to you, if I can ask?

Ryan Spaude:
Can I give you a flier, John?

John:
Sure.

Ryan Spaude:
Okay. I mean…

John:
Is that you?

Ryan Spaude:
Oh, yeah. That’s me.

Man at door:
You got my vote.

Jamie Wall:
Well. Thank you.

Ben Franklin:
All right. Well, good seeing you, man. All right. Take care.

Zac Schultz:
All across the Green Bay area, candidates for the legislature are knocking doors, talking to voters and asking for their support. But often, the first thing they have to do is explain which district they live in under the new maps.

Pat Buckley:
I’ve knocked a lot of doors in the last couple of months here, and a lot of people aren’t aware of the changes yet, and a lot of it is just educating them.

Ryan Spaude:
I would say the majority of folks whose door I’m knocking on, they’re aware that there’s new maps. They know about it. Do they know what number they’re in? No.

Zac Schultz:
Democrat Ryan Spaude and Republican Pat Buckley are facing off in the new 89th Assembly District.

Ryan Spaude:
My name is Ryan Spaude. I’ll keep it real short and sweet. I’m a candidate for State Assembly.

Zac Schultz:
Spaude is a prosecutor in the Brown County district attorney’s office. He says the new district fits the definition of a fair map.

Ryan Spaude:
So it’s a nice compact, contiguous, competitive district.

Zac Schultz:
Pat Buckley is a retired police officer who sits on the Brown County Board.

Pat Buckley:
My name is Pat Buckley.

Another man at another door:
Hey.

Pat Buckley:
I’m running for the 89th Assembly.

Another man at another door:
Okay.

Pat Buckley:
And that’s a new district created with Ashwaubenon.

Zac Schultz:
When the incumbent Republican decided not to run in this district, Buckley was recruited to run.

Pat Buckley:
On the county, we’re nonpartisan or we’re supposed to be nonpartisan even though we have people that lean left and people that lean right. And as the chair, it’s my job to bring those people together to help get things done.

Ben Franklin:
Hey, sir. Ben Franklin from a couple doors down. How you doing?

Zac Schultz:
Across the Fox River, Republican Ben Franklin is running against Democrat Christy Welch in the new 88th Assembly district.

Christy Welch:
My name is Christy. I live over in East De Pere and was stopping by today because I’m running for State Assembly this fall.

Zac Schultz:
Welch is the chair of the Brown County Democrats, but only got invested in politics in the last couple of years.

Christy Welch:
When Roe v. Wade was overturned, that point was not just a tipping point but a shoving point.

Zac Schultz:
Franklin is a veteran and a small business owner who only moved to Wisconsin in the last couple of years.

Ben Franklin:
I’m new to politics myself. I’m not a career politician. This is our first go around.

Zac Schultz:
The 88th and 89th Assembly seats make up two thirds of the new 30th State Senate district.

Jim Rafter:
I’m Jim Rafter. I’m the Allouez Village president, and I’m running for State Senate.

Zac Schultz:
Which features Republican Jim Rafter and Democrat Jamie Wall.

Jamie Wall:
My name’s Jamie Wall. I’m running for the State Senate around here. Yeah, I actually just live a few blocks up that way.

Zac Schultz:
Wall is a business consultant.

Jamie Wall:
I work with people and try to get them together around the table, get the facts and, you know, to solve problems together. And that’s the kind of mindset I’d want to bring to Madison.

Zac Schultz:
Rafter is the Allouez village president.

Jim Rafter:
I run a village board of Democrats and Republicans. We’re a nonpartisan board. I’ve done that for ten years, and all we do is focus on the job. We don’t focus on party.

Zac Schultz:
There’s no guarantee all three races go the same way on Election Day. But there are a number of striking similarities, starting with the fact redistricting made all three districts competitive open seats.

Ryan Spaude:
You could just tell that. That old map, it was, it was rigged. It ran parts of Brown County that really didn’t have a whole lot to do with each other. And now it’s contiguous. It’s compact.

Zac Schultz:
The candidates are all hearing similar things at the doors.

Man at door:
Number one issue would be economics.

Ben Franklin:
Economics?

Man at door:
Yeah.

Ben Franklin:
Meaning inflation, cost of living?

Man at door:
Both.

Jim Rafter:
Number one issue I hear: Economy, cost of living.

Zac Schultz:
Democrats are hearing about costs, too. But not just the price of eggs.

Christy Welch:
People are concerned about costs. And there’s lots of different buckets of costs. But, you know, costs at the grocery store, housing costs, childcare costs.

Jamie Wall:
Oh, boy, childcare. You know, anybody who’s got young kids now? I mean, it’s about like sending your kids to college.

Zac Schultz:
Another topic at the doors is abortion.

Woman at door:
First and foremost, I think it’s been the whole Roe v. Wade.

Zac Schultz:
It’s a topic all three Republicans are looking to avoid.

Jim Rafter:
The issue of abortion is a tricky one.

Pat Buckley:
It’s a very divisive topic and I think that, you know, it’s not as simple as left and right.

Zac Schultz:
They all pitched a version of Republican Senator Ron Johnson’s idea of a statewide referendum on abortion.

Ben Franklin:
I would recommend putting it up for a vote and a referendum, so to speak, and then just let the people decide on if they want to put a timeline on that.

Zac Schultz:
However, Republicans in the legislature talked about this last session and never brought the issue to a vote in either chamber. Democrats feel the issue still resonates with voters across the political spectrum.

Christy Welch:
There are a lot of women and men that are unhappy that that’s what we’re operating under now.

Jamie Wall:
I think women should have the freedom to make choices and work with their doctor and without their state senator being in the middle of some of these, some of these decisions.

Zac Schultz:
Surprisingly, none of the candidates were eager to talk about Donald Trump.

Ben Franklin:
I will certainly vote for Donald Trump. Do I think that his final word is gospel? No, I don’t, but I think that at the end of the day, we’re all conservatives.

Pat Buckley:
Going back to the primary, you know, it wasn’t necessarily my first choice in the primary, but he’s on that part of the ticket. So we’ll look at the policies. I prefer to look at the policies.

Jim Rafter:
I’m not getting involved at the federal level in those races. I’m focused on the people of the 30th district.

Zac Schultz:
Are you voting for Donald Trump?

Jim Rafter:
Like I said, I will make that decision and I’ll vote for who I vote for.

Zac Schultz:
For legislative Republicans in a 50/50 district, disavowing Trump completely risks having his supporters skip your race. But coming out as full MAGA risks turning off moderates who don’t like Trump but might vote Republican down ballot.

Man at door:
Somehow, I want to get that SOB in jail.

Ben Franklin:
Who’s that?

Man at door:
Mr. Trump.

Ben Franklin:
Oh.

Zac Schultz:
In Green Bay, Trump is creating his own kind of swing voter.

Ben Franklin:
There’s a lot of people I’ve talked to, particularly swing voters, like liberals, like conservatives that they’re not necessarily going to vote a straight ticket. And those are where I get in really meaningful conversations.

Zac Schultz:
Ryan Spaude understands those conversations as before Trump, he was a Republican.

Ryan Spaude:
There are so many people like me in this district. That’s — there’s so many folks I’ve lost count how many people I normally vote Republican, or I consider myself a Republican, but I find myself voting for a lot of Democrats lately. It’s like, yes, like I was there.

Zac Schultz:
In the end, 50/50 districts often come down to which candidate outworks the other and makes sure voters are energized to get to the polls.

Christy Welch:
It’s going to be won by whoever knocks the most doors, raises the most money, makes the most phone calls, connects with voters.

Ryan Spaude:
I’m feeling excited. My first time running for office. I’m excited. I’m energized. I think there’s going to be a lot of exhausted people though by November 5th.

Pat Buckley:
A lot of people haven’t really thought about it yet and haven’t been putting that much energy into it. I just haven’t seen that much energy yet as some of the pundits on TV like to portray.

Jim Rafter:
Is there still apathy? There’s still apathy. There are still people who say I’m tired of polarization. I’m not even going to deal with politics. Everyone’s tired of polarization. I’m tired of polarization. Big reason why I’m running.

Jamie Wall:
It’s crazy when you think about it. I mean, there’s no shortage of politics in Brown County. The downside of living in the epicenter of American politics is you got to deal with a lot of politics, you know, and that can be exhausting for people, I think.

Ben Franklin:
It is the battleground of the battleground states, meaning that as Green Bay votes, we already know different places around the state that they’re going to vote red or blue. But this will likely decide if Wisconsin goes red or blue.

Zac Schultz:
Reporting from Green Bay, I’m Zac Schultz for “Here & Now.”