CONTACT:
Will Hoverman; press@progressivetakeover.org; 612-991-9492
Progressive Takeover, a new grassroots political action committee, has issued a formal statement in reaction to the Supreme Court’s latest decision on the much-anticipated Wisconsin partisan gerrymandering case, Gill v. Whitford.
“While the court leaves Wisconsin’s blatantly gerrymandered districts unresolved, the justices clearly express that partisan gerrymandering undermines democracy,” said Katie Miller, Executive Director of Progressive Takeover. “If the courts won’t act to overturn these maps, it is on us to vote Republicans out of office in November and ensure the next round of redistricting values the voice of every Wisconsinite.”
Progressive Takeover invested in both Wisconsin Senate special elections earlier this year, each of which resulted in Democratic flips. With the election of Senators Patty Schachtner and Caleb Frostman, Democrats now only need two more seats in the Wisconsin Senate to gain a majority.
In 2010, for the first time in over forty years, Republicans in Wisconsin took control of both chambers of the state legislature as well as the governor’s mansion. Quickly after gaining power, the Republican leadership devised district maps to guarantee a Republican majority under virtually any likely voting scenario.
Since the bill was signed into law in 2011, it has faced legal challenges on both constitutional and statutory grounds. The plaintiffs asserted that the redistricting plan “generated an excess of wasted Democratic votes, thereby violating the plaintiffs’ First Amendment right of association and their Fourteenth Amendment right to equal protection.” Though the Supreme Court today ruled the plaintiffs didn’t have standing to challenge the map statewide, the Court did leave the door open for further challenges to individual districts.
“Wisconsin voters deserve fair maps. We must ensure the election of Democrats this election cycle and next, so the 2020 redistricting process can finally bring fair representation to Wisconsin communities,” said Miller.
Progressive Takeover was founded to target the most competitive state legislative contests in the country. Republicans currently control two-thirds of all state legislatures.
