MADISON, Wis. — WisPolitics.com President Jeff Mayers sat down with Spectrum News 1 Political Anchor Anthony DaBruzzi to discuss the potential impact of the new legislative maps in Wisconsin that were signed into law in February.

You can watch their full conversation above.

 

Does one party have an advantage over the other?

“Well, I think the pundits seem to agree that Republicans will maintain control of both the Assembly and the Senate. If the Senate, all the Senate seats, all the 33 seats had been up, then it might be a different story, because, you know, I think that a lot of those seats would be more in play,” Mayers explained.

“But you know, the Democrats have such a long way to go in the Assembly, this is their best chance in this cycle. They had such a long way to go though. They're down 64 to 35 seats, and Robin Vos, Republican Assembly Speaker, the longest serving speaker in Wisconsin history, predicts that [Democrats] will come up with 45 seats. So, that really seems to be the agreement among the pundits that Republicans will have a narrower majority, but they'll still maintain the majority.”

Are supermajorities out of the question?

“Yes, I think that, right now, the Republicans have a supermajority in the Senate and a near supermajority in the Assembly. But, you know, the way these maps so drastically changed the lines, you’re going to have narrower majorities in each house,” Mayers said.

What could more balanced chambers mean for policy going forward?

“I think—this is theoretical now—it's been a long time since we've had narrower margins. I mean, Republicans have really dominated the Legislature since 2011. So, the hope, I think, from good government people and Governor Tony Evers, is that there will be more reasonable policy, more compromise emerging from the Legislature, even if it is controlled by one party,” Mayers responded.

“You know, some people say, though, that that might not be the case because the Republicans will hold together more because they have smaller majorities. They're going to really, very few of them will stray. My personal belief is I think you'll have more representatives, more senators who are from swing seats, and therefore not so much leaning to the extremes of either way, and I think that that could lead to better policy.”

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