MENOMONEE FALLS, Wis. ― When Jodi Habush Sinykin, the Democratic candidate for the Wisconsin state Senate, explained why she was running, she spoke of Wisconsin at a “tipping point” for abortion rights, “democracy” and “the well-being of our local communities. .”
But Habush Sinykin, a lawyer with a lilting Great Lakes accent, also talked about neighboring states where Democrats have more power: Minnesota, Michigan and Illinois.
After Wisconsin’s abortion ban goes into effect in 2022, Wisconsin women are “suddenly put back into this second-class status. [relative to] Michigan, Illinois and Minnesota,” he told a crowd of voters at an informal fundraiser in a funky suburban art gallery on March 23. “That’s where this legislature has put us.”
Democrats celebrated midterm election results that put them in control of state governments in Minnesota and Michigan for the first time in years and kept the trifecta in Illinois. The victory gave the party power to challenge conservative decisions by the US Supreme Court and the actions of Republican leaders in other states.
In Minnesota, Governor Tim Walz (D) sign the bill provide every public school child in the state with free breakfast and lunch, regardless of parental income. In Michigan, where voters enshrined the right to abortion The November referendumGov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) signed a bill to repeal the state “right-to-work” status.clearing the way for the trade union to once again collect the dues of all the legitimate members must be represented.
And in Illinois, last year, the Democrats even a commotion congressional district maps that offset the effects of GOP gerrymandering in states like Texas and Florida, and could help the party retake the U.S. House of Representatives in 2024.
But in Wisconsin, where the Republicans spent more than a decade ruthlessly consolidating power, the results of the Democrats have been more modest and fitful.
In November, the Democratic governor, Tony Evers, and the attorney general, Josh Kaul, were re-elected, but so was Republican US Senator Ron Johnson.
“This is not a hypothetical threat. This is real and this will happen.
– Jodi Habush Sinykin, Democratic candidate for Wisconsin state Senate
In addition, the ironclad Republican majority in the Wisconsin Legislature, abetted by favorable district boundaries, has largely limited Evers to block GOP bills with an unprecedented number of vetoes. Meanwhile, GOP gerrymandering helped Republicans come within inches of getting a veto-proof supermajority in the state legislature in November.
The policy implications of this gridlock are already significant. Among others, Wisconsin is the last state in the Midwest not to use federal money provided under the Affordable Care Act to expand Medicaid to include all families at or near the federal poverty level. The federal government picks up 90% of the tab for any state that chooses to guarantee Medicaid for people with incomes up to 138% of the federal poverty level.
In an interview with HuffPost after his remarks at the fundraiser, Habush Sinykin said the state legislature’s refusal to expand Medicaid “makes no sense.”
Even though Habush Sinykin sees Minnesota as a positive model, he doesn’t like the negative comparisons that cause fear about the direction Wisconsin is headed. Some supporters, who attended the HuffPost interview with Habush Sinykin, said it was unusual for Wisconsin Democrats to be concerned about the prospect of the state becoming “Wississippi” – a play on the conservative, poor state to the south.
In Tuesday’s election, the race to fill an open state Supreme Court seat in Wisconsin is clearly drawing national attention and resources.
Justice Patience Roggensack, a conservative, is not seeking a third term on the court, where conservatives currently hold a 4-3 majority.
Roggensack’s retirement has sparked one of the most heated and expensive judicial races in Wisconsin history. Justice Janet Protasiewicz, a liberal, is competing with former Justice Dan Kelly, a conservative, for the open seat that will determine the ideological balance of power on the court.
The Democratic Party of Wisconsin has transferred millions of dollars to Protasiewicz’s cause in the hope that his ascent will overturn an abortion ban dating back to 1849 that went into effect after repealing the federal right to abortion last June. Attorney General Kaul has demanded that the law be repealed, but pending clarity on the law, the state’s reproductive health clinics have stopped providing abortions.
Democrats are also counting on a more liberal high court to overturn state legislative and congressional maps that Republicans have gerrymandered to their advantage.
Given the potential for a new map, Joe Zepecki, a Wisconsin Democratic strategist, described Protasiewicz’s victory as “an opportunity to have an opportunity.”
Republicans and conservative legal experts alike are invested in Kelly’s victory, though most support Kelly through more indirect channels than their Democratic counterparts. He painted the race as an Alamo moment to thwart the kind of liberal judicial activism that undermines the authority of state lawmakers who pass laws and the voters who elect those lawmakers.
And the Knodl / Facebook Campaign
“There’s a lot of talk right now about preserving democracy. And if you want to talk about the 2020 election being stolen, I think it’s a lot of hooey,” said Rick Esenberg, president of the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Freedom, a conservative law firm and influential think tank. “But there is another type of threat to democracy. And empowering the judiciary to defeat elected representatives when there is no clear constitutional guarantee to do so is itself a threat to democracy.
But in the state Senate special election where Habush Sinykin is competing, Republicans and Democrats have a more traditional partisan standoff.
Although little attention has been received on judicial contests, the politics and politics of such contests are important.
Habush Sinykin, a Harvard-educated lawyer who married into a family that owns a unionized textile mill, is running against state Assemblyman Dan Knodl (R) for a chance to succeed retiring Sen. Alberta Darling (R).
Darling’s departure on December 1 deprived the Republicans of a two-thirds majority in the state Senate. A victory for Habush Sinykin in the newly open seat would ensure that the GOP continues to lack a majority in the state Senate for the foreseeable future.
Republicans need a two-thirds majority in both chambers of the legislature to override Evers’ veto, and some votes remain in the Assembly. But complementing a simple majority in the Assembly with a two-thirds majority in the state Senate would allow him to impeach Evers and remove him from office.
Referring to the prospect of Evers’ impeachment, Habush Sinykin said at a March 23 fundraiser, “This is not a hypothetical threat. This is real and this is going to happen.
In making his case to voters, Knodl actually mentioned the power of impeachment that his victory would unlock. But in an interview with PBS, he focused on the need to blame liberal prosecutors and judges who “don’t follow the law.” He was noncommittal about impeaching Evers, saying he didn’t see it on his “radar screen” and that he wanted to work with the governor.
Many Democrats quietly see Habush Sinykin’s chances of victory as lower than Janet Protasiewicz’s — not least because Knodl defeated a right-wing figure, Assemblywoman Janel Brandtjen, in the Republican primary. Brandtjen, who has used his perch to try to retroactively decertify the results of the 2020 presidential election, has former President Donald Trump’s endorsement.
But Habush Sinykin noted that Knodl joined Brandtjen in signing a letter dated January 5, 2021, to Vice President Mike Pence asking him to delay the certification process on January 6 in Congress to “give more time to our nation to properly review 2020.” election.”
For Charlie Sykes, an anti-Trump conservative pundit who lives in Mequon, Wisconsin, Knodl’s name in the letter was more than enough to convince him to vote for Habush Sinykin.
“This is something that doesn’t feel right to me,” Sykes told HuffPost.
HuffPost could not reach Knodl’s campaign for comment for this story.
Andy Manis/Associated Press
For years, the conservative tilt in three suburban “WOW” counties around Milwaukee – Waukesha, Ozaukee and Washington – propelled Republicans like former Governor Scott Walker to power.
An additional shift from many suburban communities to Democrats — in 2020 because many traditional Republicans dislike Trump and in 2022 because of the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade – was a driving factor in the Democratic comeback in Wisconsin.
The changes have been particularly noticeable in Ozaukee County, where Mequon is located. In 2018, Evers received only 36% of the vote in the district, but in 2022, he received 44% of the vote.
Habush Sinykin’s fortune may depend on Protasiewicz’s ability to generate support in the suburbs, but Protasiewicz can benefit from Habush Sinykin’s strong showing as well, the state Senate candidate said.
“I hope for a positive synergy,” Habush Sinykin told HuffPost.
Senate District 8, which Habush Sinykin seeks to represent, has been gerrymandered into a strange shape that includes more liberal suburban communities in Lake Michigan, closely divided battleground communities like Mequon and Menomonee Falls, and other conservative redoubts like Germantown, from where Knodl hails.
In remarks to supporters on March 23, Habush Sinykin sketched a path to victory that included 50% of the vote in Mequon, 40% in Menomonee Falls and 20% in Germantown, while scoring in more Democratic precincts.
The Democratic candidate said he heard from many Republican voters who supported him because of concerns about abortion rights or a fair administration in the 2024 election.
To help structure the permit to elect Democrats, Habush Sinykin emphasized his interest in providing “balance” in the GOP-controlled chamber and finding compromises if possible, possibly including areas such as tax policy.
Does the compromise extend to abortion rights, where Republicans in Wisconsin have signaled that they are open to something less strict than the criminal penalties in the 1849 law?
Habush Sinykin insisted that the Democrats should not begin negotiations until the 1849 law was repealed.
“It could be something different than what was in Roe v. Wade,” she said, describing a scenario where compromise legislation is created in consultation with women, doctors, lawyers and other stakeholders. “But it won’t happen based on the shaky foundations of the 1849 law.”