Rep. Gordon Hintz, who’s stepping down as Assembly minority leader Jan. 10, says the challenge for the next leader will be to address several issues, including Dems’ demographic challenges.
The party’s numbers are falling significantly in rural areas while having such large advantages in urban parts of Wisconsin that they’re still able to win statewide. He also noted the changing media landscape, which he said makes it tougher to reach voters outstate because there are fewer outlets delivering local news.
“Sometimes in the minority, you’re not just trying to hold the majority accountable, you want to make sure you’re highlighting what kind of government is possible that doesn’t have to be this way,” Hintz said in a year end interview with WisPolitics.com.
Since the Dec. 14 interview, the caucus elected Greta Neubauer, D-Racine, to the minority leader post.
Assembly Dems also elected Kalan Haywood, D-Milwaukee, to become the new assistant minority leader. He will take over Feb. 14 after Dianne Hesselbein, D-Middleton, leaves the post to focus on her run for state Senate.
Also in the interview, charged Assembly Republicans are looking to extend former Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman’s 2020 election probe as long as they can and may take it past the 2022 election. The Oshkosh Dem said doing so would imply there was something wrong with how the 2020 election played out and avoid having to finally admit to some in the GOP base that the review’s results will be disappointing.
“For some of them, if Trump isn’t reinstated, they didn’t get to the bottom of it,” Hintz told WisPolitics.com.
*Note: This item was updated to reflect the results of the Assembly Dem leadership elections.
