Wisconsin Judicial Election:
April 2nd, 2019
Why This Race
Have you ever wondered why your federal and state representatives are who they are? Why you have a different member of congress than your friend across town? Or why some congressional district maps look like this?
The lines that determine the boundaries of a federal or state legislative district are no accident. And where those lines fall has a big impact on whether a Democrat or a Republican gets elected to represent the district.
In most states, state legislatures redraw the maps following the federal census every ten years—the next time in 2021. In the past, partisan state legislatures have drawn maps to concentrate their party’s power and make it easier for them to win elections. After the maps are drawn in Wisconsin, they go to the governor for approval. If the governor approves the maps, they become law. If they reject the maps, the decision goes to the State Supreme Court. In Wisconsin, which now has a Democratic governor and Republican-dominated Legislature, the courts will likely serve as the battleground where disputes over district lines will be resolved.
We’re working to help elect Lisa Neubauer to the Wisconsin State Supreme Court. She’s running against conservative Brian Hagedorn—former counsel for disgraced ex-governor Scott Walker. A liberal justice is retiring this year, leaving her seat open. Judge Neubauer must win this seat to keep the court within reach for the next Supreme Court vacancy next year—when we may be able to take back a 4-3 liberal majority in time for redistricting.
Current Gerrymandering in Wisconsin
The last time state and federal legislative maps were drawn was in 2011 after the 2010 census. The 2010 Tea Party wave resulted in a Wisconsin state house that was 38 Democrats to 60 Republicans in the State Assembly and 14 Democrats to 19 Republicans in the State Senate. Conservatives also controlled the State Supreme Court. Republican lawmakers used their majority to draw maps that disproportionately concentrated Democratic and Republican voters in a way that gave Republicans a surplus of seats in the Wisconsin legislature, despite popular vote totals that favored Democrats—a process known as “gerrymandering”. These gerrymandered maps were approved by then-Governor Walker, and represent some of the most unfair political boundaries in the country. The recent 2018 elections are a perfect example of how gerrymandering has affected the state.
Meet Lisa Neubauer
Judge Lisa Neubauer has served more than a decade on Wisconsin’s Court of Appeals. During that time she’s distinguished herself as a fair, independent judge who believes in equal treatment under the law. First appointed to the Court of Appeals by Governor Jim Doyle in 2007, she was re-elected in 2008 and then again in 2014 before being appointed Chief Judge of the court in 2015. She has the endorsement of more than 300 current and former Wisconsin judges.
Her opponent, Brian Hagedorn, was Governor Scott Walker’s Chief Legal Counsel until 2015, when Walker appointed him to the state Court of Appeals. As Scott Walker’s lawyer, Hagedorn helped support the many anti-democratic measures taken by his administration, including the gerrymandered maps drawn in 2011.
To ensure fair maps are drawn in 2021, the eminently qualified Judge Neubauer must win this race. Click here to be contacted by an organizer in Wisconsin if you’re ready to take on this fight!
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