Wisconsin has traditionally been, and continues to be, politically purple. In 2022, when Tony Evers edged out Scott Walker for the governor’s seat, he did so by a 1 percent margin. In that same election, Republicans claimed a whopping 64% of State Assembly seats, a benefit of having engineered the nation’s most-gerrymandered state legislative districts in 2011.
The upcoming fall election has the potential to vindicate that undemocratic strategy and hand Republicans a veto-proof supermajority. This would have drastic, if depressingly predictable, consequences for everything from voting and reproductive rights, to the environment, to public education, to our municipalities’ ability to fund basic services like roads and emergency response.
For now, Tony Ever’s veto pen remains a reliable check on the Republicans’ worst inclinations, and a vote for him on November 8 is absolutely crucial to maintain some semblance of balance in Wisconsin politics.
But for those of us here in newly-redrawn Assembly District 33, additional hope comes in the form of Don Vruwink, whose old-school, pavement-pounding commitment to his constituents is as refreshing as his lack of partisan vitriol. Vote for Don and let’s help keep Wisconsin purple.
Ben Knowles,
Fort Atkinson
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