Democrats are set to take control of the Wisconsin State Senate for the first time in more than 15 years, giving the party full control of state government.
The Associated Press has declared Democrats the winners in eight state Senate races, enough to give them a majority in the chamber. Democratic leaders, including Senate Minority Leader Dianne Hesselbein and Governor-elect David Crowley, were celebrating a trifecta in Madison Tuesday night.
Combined with Decision Desk HQ calling the governor’s race for Crowley and Democrats leading in enough Assembly races to flip that chamber, Wisconsin is headed for one-party Democratic rule.
The Senate was the Republican firewall. It held through Scott Walker’s two terms and Tony Evers’ two terms, and it was where bad ideas went to die. Senate Republicans rejected Evers appointees who wouldn’t follow the law, blocked tax increases in budget after budget, and made sure the state’s spending didn’t run away from its taxpayers.
That firewall is gone. Starting in January, a Democratic Senate will confirm whoever Crowley sends over, pass whatever budget his office writes, and stop nothing.
Democrats spent years building toward this. New legislative maps, adopted after the liberal majority on the Wisconsin Supreme Court threw out the old ones, put Senate seats in play that Republicans had held for a decade. Liberal groups poured money into those districts, and in a year when voters were frustrated with Washington, the Senate fell.
Republicans held the Senate through four governors’ terms. It took one bad night to lose it.
Conservatives now have two years to rebuild, recruit, and win these seats back. Until then, the only check on Democrats in Madison will be the voters who live with the results.
