By Joe Handrick for the Dairyland Sentinel
A recent push has emerged to convince the Wisconsin Supreme Court to interfere with the state’s 2026 congressional elections. The goal? To unseat two Republican representatives under the dubious pretense that our current congressional map is a “partisan gerrymander.” It’s a political Hail Mary—and a desperate one at that.
Let’s set the record straight.
The current congressional map wasn’t the result of a partisan plot. In fact, the 2011 map was a bipartisan effort, crafted not by a GOP-controlled legislature but by Wisconsin’s entire congressional delegation—including Democrat Tammy Baldwin. (This historical fact was recently reaffirmed by WisPolitics’ JR Ross.) When Governor Evers submitted his congressional map in 2022, the state Supreme Court accepted it largely because it made only modest changes to that bipartisan foundation.
Incredibly, those same liberal justices who approved Evers’ map in 2022 are now being asked to declare it unconstitutional and to reverse their own 2024 ruling rejecting a challenge to that very map. To call this judicial gymnastics would be generous.
The real reason Democrats struggle to win a proportional number of congressional seats in Wisconsin isn’t the map—it’s the candidates. In statewide races, liberal candidates like Janet Protasiewicz, Doug LaFollette, and even Tammy Baldwin have won in 4 of the 8 current congressional districts. That’s right—half of them. Governor Tony Evers carried three districts in 2022 and nearly tied in a fourth, while the Republican candidate for governor carried the remaining four. That’s about as proportional as it gets in a politically divided state.
And yet, in congressional races, Democrats consistently underperform compared to their statewide standard bearers, and the campaigns they run. For example, in 2008, Barack Obama carried 7 of Wisconsin’s 8 districts—yet Democrats won just 5 congressional seats. In 2012, Obama carried 4 districts, but Democrats only won 3 seats. In 2022, Evers won 3 districts while his party took home just 2 congressional seats.
The narrative that Republicans “stole” seats through gerrymandering falls apart under scrutiny. Consider this: the shift from a 4-4 congressional delegation to the current 6-2 split didn’t result from a map change. Dave Obey retired in 2010—before the new map—and Democrats lost his seat. Later, despite the 2011 map being drawn to bolster Democrat Ron Kind by adding Democratic-voting Portage County to his district, his seat flipped Republican anyway. These changes were driven by voters, not lines on a map.
Now, plaintiffs in this new lawsuit want the court to forcibly engineer a 4-4 balance by turning competitive districts into safe Democratic seats. That’s not democracy—that’s partisan manipulation. Ironically, their proposed “fix” would require even more county splitting, while they simultaneously argue that the current map splits too many counties. It’s incoherent.
Their argument is eerily reminiscent of the worst kind of gerrymandering—like what we see in Illinois, a state notorious for districts shaped purely for political gain.
Wisconsin doesn’t need to follow Illinois down that road.
Let’s be clear: our congressional map isn’t perfect—but it’s fair. It reflects the political reality of our divided state. The real problem for Democrats isn’t the district lines. It’s their candidates.
So, to the Supreme Court: don’t fall for the spin. Don’t punish voters by eliminating competitive districts. Don’t distort democracy to satisfy a partisan agenda. Wisconsin deserves better than a judicial rewrite of fair and functional maps.
Follow Joe on X @JoeMinocqua
Previously on Dairyland Sentinel
