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Anya van Wagtendonk
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers speaks at the state Capitol in Madison in early 2025. Evers, who won't seek another term in office, is seeking a constitutional amendment that would ban partisan gerrymandering in Wisconsin. Morry Gash/AP hide caption
MADISON, Wis. — As state lawmakers across the U.S. engage in a kind of redistricting arms race, with the major political parties both trying to redraw congressional maps in ways that favor them, Wisconsin Democratic Gov. Tony Evers says he wants a disarmament in his swing state.
Although the state legislature has adjourned, Evers is calling lawmakers back to Madison for a special session to consider a constitutional amendment that would ban partisan gerrymandering.
"Politics should stay out of redistricting from start to finish," said Evers, who's in his last term, when he called for the special session this month.
His announcement comes as a national redistricting battle continues, after President Trump encouraged Republican-led states to redraw their maps mid-decade, spurring a tit-for-tat response from Democratic-led states. Virginia and Florida may soon be in the mix, with Virginia Democrats putting a special referendum on congressional redistricting to voters, and with Florida Republicans convening their own special session.
Politics The next redistricting battle might be who is counted in state legislative districts In Wisconsin, Evers' special sessions don't usually go anywhere in the Republican-led legislature. But experts say he may have an unusual window of opportunity.
"The environment has changed in Wisconsin and nationally over the last couple of years that make this a possibility in a way it wouldn't have been for many years," said Barry Burden, who directs the Elections Research Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
That's because Wisconsin has its own long history with redistricting — one that has led to no clear advantage for either party in the coming years. Unlike California or Texas, Wisconsin's electorate is nearly perfectly divided between Democrats and Republicans. Presidential elections are frequently decided by less than a percentage point.
But until recently, that wasn't well reflected in the state legislature. State legislative maps enacted under Republican Gov. Scott Walker in 2011 were some of the most gerrymandered in the country, giving the Republican Party a nearly 2-to-1 advantage in seats. Those maps survived years of court challenges.
But when liberals took a majority on the Wisconsin Supreme Court in 2023, they threw those out. The new maps are more favorable to Democrats.
That has created a new swing-state calculus, Burden said.
Elections Only a fraction of House seats are competitive. Redistricting is driving that lower "For many years since the 2010 census, Republicans felt like they had such a durable majority in both chambers that they didn't need to worry about this before," he said. "Now, with divided government and uncertain election results on the horizon, I think both parties have an interest in doing maybe something they think is right, rather than something that will advantage their party, because it's not clear that they will have the ability to lock in those advantages."
So while the governor's seat has reliably gone back and forth between parties since the 1960s, it's newly possible, for the first time in more than a decade, that Democrats could hold at least one chamber of the legislature come November. That means either side will be vulnerable when new maps are drawn after the 2030 census.
Wisconsin leaders are "trying to game out three election cycles in advance here," said Anthony Chergosky, a political scientist at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. "They're basically saying, like, 'I wonder what's going to happen in 2026, and based on that, I wonder what will happen in 2028, and based on that, I wonder what will happen in 2030.'"
And rather than playing 3D chess in a purple state, Chergosky said, perhaps lawmakers would be more strategic to put the board away entirely.
People cast ballots during early voting in Waukesha, Wis., on March 18, 2025. Jeffrey Phelps/AP hide caption
Wisconsin's powerful Republican Assembly speaker, Robin Vos — who, like Evers, is also retiring — has said he has qualms with Evers' proposal. But, unlike in past special sessions, he's not dismissing the idea out of hand.
"The way that [Evers' proposed constitutional] amendment was, it would take how people vote and factor that into how we draw districts. That shouldn't matter, because it should be based on the person, not the party," Vos told reporters at a recent event in Madison. "So if we could negotiate and try to find something that is truly nonpartisan, you never know. I'd be open to that."
Yet Wisconsin's fellow Democratic leaders haven't responded to Evers' proposal with enthusiasm. In a statement, Wisconsin State Senate Minority Leader Dianne Hesselbein indicated that Wisconsin Democrats may be loath to put down their arms under the Trump administration.
"We now live in a time when the Trump administration has shown its utter disregard for our courts and our democratic system," she said. "I am a fighter and my commitment is to make sure the people of Wisconsin have a strong voice in their democracy and that Democrats have the resources and tools to fully participate in whatever redistricting processes may occur in the future."
Regardless of where leaders stand on the issue, voters generally dislike gerrymandered maps, according to Sachin Chheda, a Milwaukee-based Democratic strategist who was a leader in efforts to overturn Walker's Republican gerrymander.
"People are against this," he said. "Democrats are against it; Republicans are against it; independents are against it; all Americans are against partisan gerrymandering. We just need a political system that's responsive to that desire."
In Wisconsin, the details of banning partisan gerrymandering are scarce. Evers' proposed constitutional amendment is just two sentences long. And while it says maps can't create a "disproportionate" partisan advantage, it doesn't define that term.
This could mean that, if the proposal does end up in the legislature, it could get heavily amended before eventually reaching Wisconsinites' ballots.
Burden, the UW-Madison expert, said this could still be a first step toward making maps fairer in Wisconsin.
"It puts both parties on the spot, in a way that they need to take a position," he said.
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