Current:Home > MyWisconsin GOP to pursue nonpartisan redistricting to avoid having state justices toss maps -RiskWatch
Wisconsin GOP to pursue nonpartisan redistricting to avoid having state justices toss maps
View
Date:2025-04-15 03:52:13
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin Republican lawmakers, in a surprise move on Tuesday, reversed their long-held position and proposed a nonpartisan redistricting plan they want to enact ahead of the 2024 election to preempt the liberal-controlled state Supreme Court from tossing the current GOP-drawn maps.
The move comes as Wisconsin justices are considering two Democratic-backed lawsuits seeking to toss the Republican maps, first enacted in 2011, that are among the most gerrymandered in the country and have helped Republicans increase their majority.
Republicans have long opposed plans put forward by Democrats to enact a nonpartisan redistricting process. But now, faced with the likelihood that the state Supreme Court was going to throw out their maps ahead of the 2024 election, Republicans are proposing enacting a new system modeled after neighboring Iowa.
“If you’re sick of the arguing, if you’re sick of the vitriol, if you want people to work together, this is a better way for us to do it,” Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos said at a news conference.
The Assembly was going to vote on the measure Thursday. It would then head to the Senate, where Republicans hold a 22-11 majority. If approved there, it would then go to Democratic Gov. Tony Evers.
Neither Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu nor Evers immediately responded to requests for comment.
Vos said the plan offered a way to avoid two pending redistricting lawsuits and a possible impeachment fight. He and other Republicans have floated the possibility of impeachment if newly elected Justice Janet Protasiewicz doesn’t recuse from the redistricting cases because she called the current maps “unfair” and “rigged” and accepted nearly $10 million in campaign donations from the Wisconsin Democratic Party.
Protasiewicz’s win in April flipped majority control of the court from conservative to liberal for the first time in 15 years.
Republican support for a nonpartisan redistricting plan came days after the Wisconsin Democratic Party announced a $4 million campaign to pressure Republicans to back down from impeaching Protasiewicz. A six-figure TV ad buy targeting 20 Republican lawmakers to run on Fox News was announced hours before Vos announced his plan.
veryGood! (229)
Related
- Louvre will undergo expansion and restoration project, Macron says
- Danelo Cavalcante escape timeline: Everything that's happened since fugitive fled Pennsylvania prison
- Rail infrastructure in Hamburg is damaged by fires. Police suspect a political motive
- Amid stall in contract talks with UAW, GM, Stellantis investigated for bad faith by NLRB
- A South Texas lawmaker’s 15
- 'The Long Island Serial Killer': How cell phone evidence led to a suspect in 3 cases
- Peter Navarro convicted of contempt of Congress for defying Jan. 6 committee subpoena
- 2 new 9/11 victims identified as medical examiner vows to continue testing remains
- Will the 'Yellowstone' finale be the last episode? What we know about Season 6, spinoffs
- Nicki Minaj paints hip-hop pink — and changes the game
Ranking
- Moving abroad can be expensive: These 5 countries will 'pay' you to move there
- Horoscopes Today, September 8, 2023
- Joe Burrow shatters mark for NFL's highest-paid player with record contract from Bengals
- 3 former deputy jailers sentenced to prison in Kentucky inmate’s death
- What were Tom Selleck's juicy final 'Blue Bloods' words in Reagan family
- Former British police officers admit they sent racist messages about Duchess Meghan, others
- After summit joined by China, US and Russia, Indonesia’s leader warns of protracted conflicts
- How to Watch the 2023 MTV VMAs on TV and Online
Recommendation
EU countries double down on a halt to Syrian asylum claims but will not yet send people back
3 former deputy jailers sentenced to prison in Kentucky inmate’s death
Stephen Strasburg's planned retirement hits a snag as Nationals back out of deal
A menstrual pad that tests for cervical cancer? These teens are inventing it
Tree trimmer dead after getting caught in wood chipper at Florida town hall
The Photo of the Year; plus, whose RICO is it anyway?
Danelo Cavalcante escape timeline: Everything that's happened since fugitive fled Pennsylvania prison
Sri Lanka’s ruling coalition defeats a no-confidence motion against the health minister