Former President Donald Trump won the election in Wisconsin by a narrow margin, as did Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin. But there were many other important races on the ballot.
After the Wisconsin Supreme Court ordered new state legislative maps, Democrats had a chance to win a majority in the state Assembly for the first time in more than a decade. But JR Ross of WisPolitics.com says the odds weren't in their favor.
Democrats did win more seats than they had under GOP-gerrymandered maps, but not enough to gain a majority.
According to the AP, unofficial results Wednesday afternoon showed Democrats had flipped 10 Republican seats, narrowing the GOP's edge from 64-35 in the last session to 52-44, with four races still undecided.
Republicans won in both competitive suburban Milwaukee Assembly races: Jessie Rodriguez narrowly defeated David Marstellar in District 21, and Bob Donovan garnered more votes than LuAnn Bird in District 61.
"The margins are more narrow for Republicans in both houses. They maintain control of the Assembly, which they were favored to do going into Tuesday, but Democrats had a good night in the Senate."
"The margins are more narrow for Republicans in both houses. They maintain control of the Assembly, which they were favored to do going into Tuesday," says Ross. "But Democrats had a good night in the Senate."
Unlike the Wisconsin Assembly, only half of the seats in the Wisconsin Senate were up for re-election this year, meaning Democrats didn't have a chance to flip the majority — yet.
Ross explains, "The key for Democrats was: could they net at least 3 seats?"
"This [constitutional amendment] makes sure that if you are a municipality you can't allow non-citizens to vote in like, a school board election."
Statewide, Wisconsin Senate Democrats were able to win four crucial elections, including Senate District 8 in Milwaukee's suburbs. That gives them a potentially wider path to a majority in 2026 when the rest of the seats are up for reelection.
Wisconsinites overwhelmingly voted in favor of a constitutional amendment, prohibiting non-citizens from voting in elections in Wisconsin. Non-citizens already don't vote in Wisconsin, but Ross says the amendment may have been created to thwart attempts at changing that.
"This makes sure that if you are a municipality you can't allow non-citizens to vote in like, a school board election," he explains. "We've seen [laws like that] in some places like out east and out west, where they've allowed non-citizens to vote in those races... this [amendment] shuts off that avenue."
