A roll of "I voted" stickers is ready for voters at Union Congregational Church in Green Bay during the spring primary election Feb. 15, 2022. PC: Fox 11 Online
(WTAQ-WLUK) — Federal races, especially who will be in the White House, have perhaps overshadowed the state races on ballots Tuesday and in November.
Redrawn maps at the Wisconsin state level have led to the most primary races we’ve seen in at least the last 10 years.
Between the state Assembly and Senate, 115 seats are up for election this year. Of those, there are 48 primary races. Northeast Wisconsin has 10 of those primaries. All but one are on the Republican side.
“I think the reason you have so many primaries too is that Republicans control a lot of seats in Northeast Wisconsin, so hence you have a lot of Republican primaries,” said Brian Schimming, the chair of the Republican Party of Wisconsin.
In the Assembly, the seven Republican primary races in our area include two instances of incumbents squaring off.
In District 6, the Shawano area, Peter Schmidt is taking on Elijah Behnke, who moved after representing District 89. If he hadn’t moved, the redrawn maps would have put Behnke against another incumbent, David Steffen. Steffen is instead facing a primary challenge from Behnke’s father, Darwin Behnke.
The other incumbent vs. incumbent Assembly race for our area is the 55th District, covering mostly Winnebago County. Nate Gustafson is taking on Michael Schraa, who was drawn into the district after representing the 53rd.
“My focus as state party chairman is making sure whoever gets through these primaries on Tuesday night is in a strong position to fight the Democrats all the way to November,” said Schimming.
“I think the Assembly is really going to be flipping this year to Democratic control and I know in the state Senate we’re going to be getting more towards the majority, so I’m really excited people have this opportunity to vote for the fair maps,” said State Sen. Dianne Hesselbein, D-Middleton, the Senate Minority Leader.
Hesselbein says for her chamber, she’s interested to see who wins the Republican primary for District 18. Blong Yang and Anthony Phillips are trying to advance to face Kristin Alfheim for a seat that is open due to the new maps. It covers the northwestern area around Lake Winnebago.
“It’s really giving viewers a chance at the ballot box to let people know who they want representing them in Madison,” said Hesselbein.
Republicans have controlled the state Senate and Assembly since 2011.
Democratic Governor Tony Evers proposed the new legislative maps, which Republicans passed in February. They did so because they had concerns the liberal-leaning state Supreme Court could implement maps less favorable for Republicans.
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