Are Wisconsin Politics a Bellwether for Texas Politics? (Elections Mini)

Go Behind The Ballot

The podcast we reference is ‘The Run-Up’ from the New York Times. The episode is titled ‘The Maps’ and can be found here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-maps/id1142083165?i=1000583278773 or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Join us as we react to the political climate in Wisconsin. We discuss the election of Scott Walker as governor of Wisconsin in 2011 and the consequent emergence of a new style of politics that’s best characterized as zero-sum, meaning that what’s good for you is bad for your enemies. It began as a movement to strip collective bargaining from workers and continued as a means of amassing power through a secretive redistricting process.

Wisconsin serves as a prime example of gerrymandering characterized by ‘cracking’ and ‘packing’ districts to favor one party significantly over another and in this case it has solidified Republican power. With the ousting of Republican Governor Scott Walker and the election of Democratic Governor Tony Evers, Republicans, under the leadership of Robin Vos, were able to gut the powers of the governor in order to further augment their power before Evers was able to assume office.

We will keep our eyes on Wisconsin to see how Democrats are able to push back against Republican power in their upcoming State Supreme Court Race. Most importantly, we question whether Wisconsin offers important lessons for us here in Texas when power is accumulated in one party significantly over the other.

What can we learn from Wisconsin and how can we apply it here at home?

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