After years of Republican efforts to stave off their loss of power, Democratic Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers approved the new legislative district maps that will likely finally end more than a decade of gerrymandered Republican dominance of the state Legislature, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports.
The 99-seat State Assembly, now with a near-GOP supermajority of 64 Republicans to 35 Democrats will now have 36 districts leaning Republican and 35 favoring Democrats, with eight deemed by state political pundits as toss-ups. Fearing a liberal-leaning state Supreme Court would impose a far less-moderate solutions, Republican leaders in the state accepted a map drawn by Evers after losing every court battle as they sought to secure a highly gerrymandered map they created to stay in power.