In these days of heavy division, there may be no love lost between Democratic and Republican legislators around the country. But in Wisconsin, a Valentine’s Day tradition from an elementary school teacher-turned-lawmaker is a pitch for bipartisanship.
Although she wouldn’t call herself that, Deb Andraca, a Democratic state representative from suburban Milwaukee, is a legislative cupid of sorts. Sporting a hot pink blazer and a red, polka-dotted tote bag, she crisscrosses the sprawling wings of the Wisconsin State Capitol. Every so often, she reorients herself by visiting the domed rotunda in the center, checking if she’s going north, south, east or west.
“Sometimes I can get my 10,000 steps in just by walking around the building,” remarks Andraca. She knocks on the office door of Republican Rep. Patrick Snyder, who hails from a village in central Wisconsin.
“Hi! Can I give you a valentine?” she asks cheerfully, explaining she’s hand-delivering them to all 98 of her Assembly colleagues.
“Oh, that’s very nice of you,” responds Snyder.
He recites the poem rubber-banded around his box of conversation hearts, the candy that’s proclaimed “Be Mine” and “Call Me” since 1901.
“With our state legislature more evenly split, when we work together, we all benefit," Andraca's rhyme proceeds. "Though one person alone can't fix all frustrations, I hope we might start with bipartisan conversations."
"I’m all for it,” responds Snyder. “Doesn’t mean we always agree, but we have to talk and listen.”
Up until recently, Wisconsin had some of the most lopsided legislative voting maps in the nation. Republicans got used to controlling the discussions on everything from education to gun policy to the powers of the governor.
When Andraca flipped her roughly 50-50 district in 2020, she says one of the main requests she heard from her constituents was for lawmakers to work together.
“And so even before I was sworn in, I was reaching out to my Republican colleagues, asking for their advice,” she says. “What is their advice for me? I have been elected to represent a district that is split, so how would you recommend that I work across the aisle? I was not welcomed with open arms.”
One day, she stumbled upon photos of a Valentine’s Day exchange from her past job student-teaching third graders. “And I thought, wouldn't it be fun to just distribute some valentines and maybe spark some conversations across the aisle?” she recalls. “So, I got out my craft scissors, made some valentines, made up a rhyme, and I just walked around to try to make those connections.”
One year she went with “Republicans are red, Democrats are blue, but Wisconsin is purple, so I hope to work with you.” She stuck it to small jars filled with purple foil-wrapped chocolate kisses.
Another year it was: “Some voters are blue, some voters are red. Bipartisan conversations move Wisconsin ahead.”
“I’m a big fan of Dr. Seuss,” she says. “And if anybody ever needs a rhyme, pretty much I can produce one on demand.”
After new maps went into effect last year, Democrats flipped 14 seats, but Republicans were still able to keep the majority in both houses. Even so, GOP Rep. Snyder says bipartisanship just makes sense.
“One day, we'll be in the minority,” he says. “And I hope that [Democrats] feel like, you know, we can go to them and work with them. So I think that's the best for Wisconsin.”
But powerful GOP Assembly Speaker Robin Vos hasn’t seemed interested in fostering a shift. At a press conference after the November elections, a reporter asked him whether a more even balance in the legislature would mean more compromise.
“If the Democrats compromise is expanding welfare, having boys play girls sports and all the craziness that the National Democratic Party stands for, which is echoed by the Democrats here in Madison. No,” said Vos. “If it's saying, ‘How do we get the money that we think should be back in the hands of the taxpayers in their hands?’ I'm all ears to do that.”
He said in a different interview late last year that the slimmer the majority, the less that gets done, noting that the Legislature was able to get some big ticket items done in the previous session.
"I think if you look at the freshman class of Assembly Democrats, they are far left," Vos assessed. "So trying to find consensus in the middle I think would be really hard for them, but only time will tell."
Republicans also have to get through Democratic Gov. Tony Evers’ veto pen — as they rewrite the budget and try to push through priorities like tax cuts.
Coursing through the state Capitol, a bouquet of cherry Tootsie Roll pops in tow, Andraca has a token for her Democratic colleagues as well. She hands one to Democratic representative Alex Joers of Madison, and he chuckles at the message. It says, “let’s work together on some POPular bills.”
Andraca says she has no illusions that a valentine is going to suddenly break Wisconsin’s divided government partisan log jam. But she says, if you start small and deliver a smile to someone, even an adversary on most policy programs, that’s a start.
