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 as 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.
Assembly District 63
Assembly District 63 covers areas of northeast Racine County and southwest Milwaukee County, including most of the city of Franklin and the village of Caledonia.
According to WisPolitics, no current legislators were drawn in to the district. Republican Robert Wittke is running for the new District 63, which includes part of his old district.
District 63 leans approximately 59% Republican.
Meet the candidate
Robert Wittke (Republican)
Robert Wittke did not respond to WUWM's candidate questions. The information below is from his campaign website.
Racine native Robert Wittke has served since 2019 as a representative for Assembly District 62. He is currently seeking reelection in District 63 under new legislative maps. His platform emphasizes lowering taxes on families and businesses, fiscal responsibility, workforce development, improving K-12 education outcomes, and affordable secondary education.
"The next term will pose unprecedented challenges in rebuilding our economy," Wittke says on his website. "Bob will be a tireless advocate for solutions that do not over-burden our citizens or businesses and place us back on a path to prosperity."
Wittke has a background in finance and accounting. Before his time in the assembly, he served as Board of Education President for the Racine Unified School District.
"Bob believes in a smaller government that wisely invests each one of your hard-earned tax dollars to produce the best outcome possible for taxpayers. Bob understands that difficult choices are required to draft prudent state budgets, and he's prepared to make them. He will leverage his financial expertise to establish state spending that drives prosperity and the high quality of life that will ensure our families prosper."
