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.
Assembly District 20
Wisconsin Assembly District 20 includes Cudahy, South Milwaukee, St. Francis, and some parts of southern Milwaukee.
According to WisPolitics, Democratic Rep. Christine Sinicki was drawn in to the new District 20. Sinicki is running for re-election, against Republican Mike Moeller.
The district leans approximately 63% Democratic.
WUWM sent a questionnaire to the candidates. Their responses below may be edited for length and clarity.
Meet the candidates
Christine Sinicki (Democrat)
Sinicki did not respond to WUWM's candidate questions. The information below is from her campaign website.
Sinicki has served as a state representative since 1998. Her campaign website highlights issues important to her, including gun control.
“We must increase safety by supporting better access to mental health services, banning assault weapons, and expanding background checks,” her website says.
For public education, Sinicki says children deserve access to high-quality public schools.
Sinicki says she has supported every proposal for federal Medicaid expansion funds.
“The only reason this federal funding continues to be rejected is nothing more than partisan politics,” her website says. “If we continue to reject these funds, Wisconsin will miss out on $2 billion dollars that will go to other states.”
Sinicki is supports abortion. She describes the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade as archaic.
“It muddies the waters in cases of miscarriage, still birth, and ectopic pregnancy, and it puts the government in a place where is has no business to be: in the private space between a pregnant person and their healthcare provider.”
Christine Sinicki campaign website
Mike Moeller (Republican)
Moeller did not respond to WUWM's candidate questions. The information below is from his campaign website
Moeller is a third-generation business owner and CEO at Remy Battery.
Moeller says if elected, people can rely on his “hardworking work ethic, being approachable and a dedicated elected official that would regularly be seen in the community.”
His website lists several issues including education.
“Our secondary education system needs to focus on making students work ready by the time they receive their high school diploma,” his website says. “Many of the needs in the region’s employment marketplace are in trades, healthcare and transportation, entry level careers that provide very competitive entry level wages and very little, if any, expensive post-secondary education.”
