U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin says she’d like to see all states move to a nonpartisan redistricting process done only once a decade.
But short of that or a U.S. Supreme Court ruling banning partisan gerrymanders, blue states can’t “fight with one hand tied behind our back,” the Madison Democrat told reporters Tuesday.
The U.S. Supreme Court in 2018 declined to hear a partisan gerrymandering challenge to the legislative maps Wisconsin had in place at the time. The court also ruled in a separate case that the federal courts can’t decide a partisan gerrymandering claim.
With Texas and other GOP-led states now looking at redrawing their maps to create more Republican districts, Baldwin said she can’t criticize governors in blue states looking to do the same. She declined to comment on the congressional map in Illinois, which Republicans have criticized as a gerrymander favoring Dems.
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“I’d rather see us move in that direction,” she said of a nonpartisan process. “But in this particular moment where this administration is desperately in need of a check and a balance and is trying to put their thumb on the scale, trying to make sure that they don’t lose the House of Representatives the midterms, which may have strong headwinds for the president’s party, I don’t think we should be fighting back with one hand tied behind our back.”
Baldwin also declined to weigh in on the Dem guv field, saying she doesn’t think the field has formed yet.
“I have been talking to prospective candidates. I am really excited about the talented field that we will see in this election,” she said.
Baldwin toured La Follette High School on Madison’s east side today, seeing improvements made since voters approved a referendum in 2020 to update all four of the city’s main high schools.
She also took a jab at Trump’s efforts to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education, saying there is bipartisan support to continue funding the agency.
“I have to say that I feel like we have momentum in standing up against this president’s plans with education,” she said.
