Freedom Writers 2/25/25
Wisconsin Takes on the Gerrymander
Hello, Freedom Writers!
In Today’s Post:
Wisconsin Takes on the Gerrymander
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Wisconsin Takes on the Gerrymander
The legend of ‘gerrymandering’ began in 1812 at a meeting between Federalist political leaders and newspapermen in Boston. The Jeffersonian Republicans had crafted an oddly shaped district that arranged the voters to their advantage, and complaints had been pouring in. At this event, it is told, there was a certain Elkanah Tisdale, an artist, who was inspired to add a head and wings to an outlined map of a new senatorial district in Essex County. He named it the “Gerrymander” after the leader of the Jeffersonians, Governor Elbridge Gerry … and the rest was history.
Gerrymandering is the art of drawing lines on maps to suppress the other party’s vote. It works like this: say a state has a 60-40 balance of Democratic to Republican voters. For state-wide elections, like for Governor or for each state’s 2 US Senators, there are no issues. Each person has one vote in the same pool. But, for the elections where different districts of the state elect different representatives, like for the US House of Reps, somebody has to draw those district lines.
Depending on where those lines are drawn, even though the Democrats have the majority, the Republicans could get more district representatives.
But it’s even worse than that. Once the minority (Republicans) gain control, they can control how the lines are drawn going forward, so they can stay in power forever. Gerrymandering is the gift that keeps on giving.
Fast forward to February of 2024 where supporters of fair maps in Wisconsin FINALLY won after a long and bloody battle. At the time, Allan Smith of NBC News described the state's newly adopted maps like this:
“The existing map heavily favored Republicans — who controlled 64 of 99 seats in the state Assembly and 22 of 33 in the state Senate — in a battleground state that has seen razor-thin margins of victory in recent U.S. Senate and presidential races. According to a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel analysis, the new maps have a roughly even split of Democratic and Republican-leaning state Assembly districts, which will all but guarantee a wave of Democratic gains this fall.[01]”
But of course, that wasn’t the end of the story. It never is.
Litigation has been filed to test the strength of the new maps in the Wisconsin Supreme Court. In the middle of all this, Justice Ann Walsh Bradley just retired from the Wisconsin Supreme Court, and Susan Crawford and Brad Schimel are running against each other to fill her seat in a special election on April 1, 2025.
The outcome of this race will either maintain the court’s liberal majority or change it to a conservative majority. It will definitely impact how the court rules on not only redistricting, but abortion laws and union rules as well.
University of Wisconsin-Madison professor Barry Burden said, “I think the Supreme Court races have become as important as any other race in the state. It’s become the one election that really decides the direction of the state.”
So, get out your colored pens, Freedom Writers! In addition to doing a few ‘5 Calls,’ we are writing to WI voters to GOTV on April 1st.
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