MADISON, Wis. — In a move that doesn’t come as a surprise in the battle over Wisconsin’s political boundaries, Democrat Gov. Tony Evers vetoed the latest maps passed last week by Republicans in the state legislature.
Shortly before attending a WisPolitics event at the Madison Club Tuesday afternoon, the governor issued his veto message, and posted a video to social media in which he called the maps introduced and passed by Republicans last week “more of the same.”
“What they put together [are] not my maps,” Gov. Evers told reporters Tuesday. “If they were my maps, I certainly would’ve signed them.”
The governor also defended his decision to veto an attempted Republican compromise on legislative maps when asked during Tuesday’s luncheon hosted by WisPolitics.
“Because it was bad,” Gov. Evers explained to host Jeff Mayers. “I mean, they claimed it was my plan, and it wasn’t my plan. It changed it in ways that, frankly, I found absolutely wrong, and it’s something I couldn’t support, so it was easy. It was an easy veto.”
Last week, following Gov. Evers’ annual State of the State address, Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos told reporters his party could win on the governor’s maps, so members of his caucus were “perfectly happy” to adopt them. However, tweaks were made to scale back the number of Republican incumbents who would have to face each other in November.
“I am disappointed but not surprised by Gov. Evers’ veto,” Vos said in a statement Tuesday. “His claim that the maps he proposed were, ‘responsive to the will of the people, avoided partisan bias and increased competitive legislation seats,’ fell completely apart by a 0.3% change to stop a few politically vindictive incumbent pairings. By signing, he would have gotten 99.7% of the maps he’s proposed in court. This was never about fair maps.”
Late last month, the 4-3 liberal majority on the Wisconsin Supreme Court struck down the previous boundaries drawn by Republicans. Gerrymandering, however, was not directly cited as a reason. Rather, it was because some districts weren’t contiguous, which means parts of some were located inside others.
“Gov. Evers speaks of compromise but governs as an extreme partisan,” Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu, R-Oostburg, said in a statement after Tuesday's veto. “The legislative map he vetoed today is more than 99% identical to the one he proposed to the Wisconsin Supreme Court. The changes the legislature made would have disenfranchised fewer Wisconsinites than the governor’s submission, and would have undone a small handful of the governor’s most egregious incumbent gerrymanders.”
With the lawsuit by Democratic voters already in the hands of the State Supreme Court, the majority of justices had hoped the GOP-led legislature and governor could come to some sort of agreement without intervention.
However, as it has now become clear that won’t happen between the two political parties, it will be up to the court itself to adopt new boundaries.