Democrats flipped control of the state Senate today by winning three GOP-held seats and defending the district of Sen. Jeff Smith, D-Brunswick.
The sweep of the targeted races gives them a 18-15 majority to start the next session. Dem Leader Dianne Hesselbein, D-Middleton, vowed her caucus will fully fund public schools, rein in property taxes and “stand up for our brothers and sisters in labor.”
“Wisconsin elected a new majority that will put money back in your pocket, make life cost less and build a future in Wisconsin where the minimum wage is a livable wage,” Hesselbein said while addressing Gov.-elect David Crowley’s election night party in Milwaukee.
GOP Sen. Pat Testin, who led Senate Republicans’ campaign effort this fall, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
In the 5th SD, state Rep. Robyn Vining, D-Wauwatosa, had 56.8% of the vote in her race with Mike Roberts, the Pewaukee founder and owner of a locally based healthcare practice.
In the 17th SD, state Rep. Jenna Jacobson, D-Oregon, had 53.9% of the vote in her race with Sen. Howard Marklein, R-Spring Green, for the southwestern Wisconsin districts.
In the 21st SD, Dem Trevor Jung, Racine’s transit director, had 58.4% of the vote in his race with small business owner Jim Croft.
And in the 31st SD, Smith had 58.4% of the vote in his race with Republican Michele Magadance Skinner, a member of the Eau Claire County Board.
Each of the races had topped seven figures for spending by last week, according to a WisPolitics tally of campaign finance reports, independent expenditure filings and data from AdImpact.
That included $10.3 million that had been spent in the 17th SD, where Marklein and those backing him had dished out almost $5 million, while Jacobson and her supporters had hit $5.3 million.
That was still short of the record $11.6 million dropped in 2024 on the 8th SD matchup between Whitefish Bay Dem Jodi Habush-Sinykin and then-Sen. Duey Stroebel, R-Saukville.
Spending in the race for the 21st SD hit $6.8 million.
After new maps were put in place for the 2024 elections, Dems picked up four seats, helping them climb out of the 22-11 minority they found themselves in under the old maps that were in place for the 2022 campaign. That also put them in position to start a session with the majority for the first time since 2009.
Dems lost the majority in the 2010 GOP wave. They briefly won it back in 2012 after a series of recall elections that occurred after the legislative session adjourned but lost the majority again that fall.