Wisconsinites will vote for state Assembly and Senate candidates in the general election Nov. 5, 2024.
This is the first election under newly-competitive district maps.
What do the Wisconsin Senate and Assembly do?
The Wisconsin Legislature is made up of 99 Assembly representatives and 33 Senators from across Wisconsin. Together, they have the power to create, amend and repeal laws.
The Legislature plays a major role in deciding how to use taxpayer-funded state revenue every two years in the biennial budget. Whether more or less money is spent on education, economic development, tax relief — that is decided by the majority in the Legislature, along with Wisconsin's governor, who has to sign the budget, and other bills, into law.
What's at stake?
The Wisconsin Legislature has been firmly controlled by Republicans for more than a decade, under gerrymandered legislative maps.
Those maps were thrown out by the liberal-majority Wisconsin Supreme Court last year, which prompted the Legislature to approve new maps proposed by Gov. Tony Evers.
Democrats now have a chance of winning the majority in the Assembly, if they win a handful competitive districts.
In the Senate, only half of the seats are up for election, which means Republicans are likely to hold a majority in that chamber for the next two years at least. But Democrats are still working to flip some of the seats.
Senate District 22
Wisconsin Senate District 22 contains most of the city of Kenosha, the south side of the city of Racine, the villages of Somers and Sturtevant, most of the village of Mount Pleasant, and the northern half of Pleasant Prairie.
The district is currently represented by Democrat Robert Wirch, who is running for re-election unchallenged.
According to WisPolitics, the district leans 56% Democratic.
Meet the candidates
Robert Wirch (Democrat)
Wirch did not respond to WUWM's candidate questions. The information below is from his campaign website and the Wisconsin Legislature website.
Wirch has served in the Wisconsin Senate since 1996. Before that, he served in the Assembly and on the Kenosha County Board of Supervisors.
Wirch says he is a "champion for labor rights, working families, access to quality and affordable healthcare, and for the environment."
He also lists mental health coverage, education, and economic development as priorities.
