2024 Wisconsin Senate Election

The 2024 Wisconsin Senate election was held on Tuesday, November 5, 2024, at the Fall general election in Wisconsin, alongside the election for the State Assembly. Sixteen of the 33 seats in the Wisconsin Senate were up for election—the even-numbered districts. Before the election, 22 Senate seats were held by Republicans, 11 seats were held by Democrats. The primary election was held on August 13, 2024, and the filing deadline to appear on the ballot was June 3, 2024.

This was the first Wisconsin Senate election after the 2024 redistricting. Democrats won all five of the most competitive Senate races, flipping four Republican-held seats. Republicans maintained their majority, with Democrats breaking their two-thirds supermajority in the chamber.

After the elections, Republicans entered the 107th Wisconsin Legislature with 18 of 33 seats.

Background

Redistricting

This election was significantly affected by the legislative maps drawn as a result of the Wisconsin Supreme Court decision in '' Clarke v. Wisconsin Elections Commission'', which declared the previous legislative district map to be unconstitutional on December 22, 2023. The court was in the process of selecting a remedial plan, when the legislature chose to embrace the remedial map proposal from Governor Tony Evers. Evers signed the plan into law on February 19, 2024.

Under the new maps, Democrats were expected to gain seats in the Senate, but they were not expected to be able to win a majority because only even-numbered seats were up for election in 2024. Five of the sixteen seats up for election had no incumbents due to the shifting legislative boundaries. Both parties spent heavily on the competitive races in this cycle.

Democrats last won a majority of seats in the state senate in the 2012 recall elections, but they last seated a majority of seats in the session following the 2008 elections.

PFAS Legislation

To combat the threat of PFAS contamination, the Wisconsin legislature included $125 million in the state budget. Despite this, Republicans on the Joint Finance Committee (JFC) have refused to release the funds to be used by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR). On April 9, Evers vetoed a piece of legislation which would have created grants to fight pollution due to PFAS chemicals, in explaining his veto, Evers cited the restrictions the legislation would have placed on the DNR to prosecute polluters. Evers also continued calling for the release of the $125 million which was set aside in the budget for combatting PFAS contamination. In response to Evers' veto, JFC members said they would hold the funds hostage.

On April 16, Evers called the JFC to session, but its Republican members refused to attend, denying the committee a quorum to do business. In response to this inaction, Wisconsin Democrats launched a six-figures campaign called "No More Games" which served the purpose to pressure and target members of the Committee from competitive districts. Among their targets were Senate Republicans Joan Ballweg, Howard Marklein, Duey Stroebel, and Eric Wimberger, from the 14th, 17th, 20th and 30th districts respectively.

Results summary

Close races

Seats where the margin of victory was under 10%:
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Outgoing incumbents

Retiring

* Robert Cowles (R– Green Bay), the at the time longest currently-serving Wisconsin legislator, representing district 2 since 1987, retired.

Seeking other office

* Melissa Agard (D– Madison), representing district 16 since 2020, retired to run for Dane County executive.
* Dan Knodl (R– Germantown), representing district 8 since 2023, announced in February 2024 that he would not seek reelection to the district after the 2024 redistricting put him in an incumbent-vs-incumbent matchup. Instead, Knodl ran for Wisconsin State Assembly in Wisconsin's 24th Assembly district.

Vacated

* Lena Taylor (D–Milwaukee), representing district 4 since 2004, resigned on January 26, 2024, after her appointment as a Wisconsin circuit court judge in Milwaukee County and was replaced by Dora Drake following a special election on July 30, 2024.

Lost re-election

* Joan Ballweg (R– Markesan), representing district 14 since 2020, lost reelection to Sarah Keyeski (D– Lodi)
* Duey Stroebel (R– Saukville), representing the 20th district since 2016, lost reelection to Jodi Habush Sinykin (D–Whitefish Bay) in the 8th district

Special elections

There was one special election scheduled in 2024 for the Wisconsin state Senate.

Predictions

Race summary

Detailed results

District 2

Incumbent Republican Robert Cowles declined to seek re-election. Following redistricting, fellow Republican Eric Wimberger decided to move to this district to avoid a potential defeat. He avoided facing a primary against Cowles after the latter decided against seeking re-election. Wimberger defeated Democrat Kelly Peterson in the general election.

District 4

Incumbent Democrat Dora Drake ran for re-election unopposed. In the primary she defeated state representative LaKeshia Myers in a rematch from the special election primary earlier in 2024.

District 6

Incumbent Democrat La Tonya Johnson ran for re-election unopposed.

District 8

Incumbent Republican Dan Knodl declined to seek re-election after redistricting put fellow Republican Duey Stroebel into his district. Stroebel faced Democrat Jodi Habush Sinykin, who was a candidate for this district in a 2023 special election. This election was highly contested, with it becoming the most expensive senate race in the state in 2024. Stroebel was defeated by Habush Sinykin in the general election.

In years past, the 8th district was strongly Republican, voting for Republicans by double digit margins, but over time the Milwaukee suburbs and surrounding communities have become more liberal due to the election of Donald Trump in 2016, which saw the 8th district give Trump around 56% of the vote. In 2020 the district gave Donald Trump around 53% of the vote. In 2023, the district was won by Knodl with less than two points.

District 10

Incmbent Republican Rob Stafsholt ran for re-election. He defeated Democrat Paul Hambleton, a former teacher and chair of the St. Croix county Democrats, in the general election.

District 12

Incumbent Republican Mary Felzkowski ran for re-election. She faced and defeated Democrat Andi Rich in the general election.

District 14

Incumbent Republican Joan Ballweg ran for re-election after being drawn out of this district due to redistricting. In the general election she faced and was defeated by Democrat Sarah Keyeski.

District 16

Incumbent Democrat Melissa Agard declined to seek re-election, leaving the seat open. Following Agard's declaration, Democratic representatives Jimmy Anderson, Melissa Ratcliff, and Samba Baldeh; of the 47th, 46th, and 48th assembly districts respectively, all filed to succeed her. All three ran on similar platforms, including expanding Medicaid access and enshrining abortion rights. To differentiate themselves, the three emphasized their different experiences, voter coalitions, and endorsements; with Anderson emphasizing his fight for disability rights in the Wisconsin legislature, Ratcliff emphasizing her support for the LGBTQ+ community, and Baldeh cited his personal experiences as a black, muslim immigrant to the United States. Ratcliff defeated Anderson and Baldeh by a wide margin and was unopposed in the general election.

District 18

Incumbent Republican Dan Feyen was moved into the 20th district due to redistricting, leaving the district open. After Feyen was moved, two Republicans filed to succeed him, physician Anthony Phillips and restaurant owner Blong Yang. During the primary Phillips campaigned as a center right Republican, supporting a standard set of Republican policies such as increased police funding, low taxes on income and property, and giving parents further oversight of their children's education. Yang in his campaign ran to the right of Phillips, and was opposed recognizing transgender people. Yang also attempting to use his race, as he is Hmong, to attack Kristin Alfheim, a member of the Appleton Common Council and the only Democrat to file for the race. Phillips ultimately defeated Yang by a margin of 25 points. Alfheim went on to defeat Phillips in the election by a 7 point margin.

District 20

Incumbent Republican Duey Stroebel was drawn into the 8th district as a result of redistricting, while Dan Feyen was drawn into this district from the 18th due to redistricting. One other Republican filed to run against Feyen, former Republican representative and election denier Timothy Ramthun. In the primary, Ramthun ran to the right of Feyen, supporting removing ballot drop boxes from the state and opposing incumbent Republican leadership in the state legislature, garnering the support of figures such as Mike Lindell. Feyen ran with the support of Republican legislative leadership in the legislature, gaining the endorsements of majority leader Devin LeMahieu and U.S. congressmen Glenn Grothman and Scott Fitzgerald, as well as gaining the support of the conservative PAC "Stronger Wisconsin Fund", which sent out fliers and other material in opposition to Ramthun's candidacy. Ramthun also garnered controversy during the campaign when he shared content on social media which threatened violence against Feyen. While some Republicans feared Ramthun could defeat Feyen, Feyen defeated Ramthun by 29 points. He advanced to the general election, where he defeated Democrat Michael Rapp.

District 22

Incumbent Democrat Robert Wirch ran for re-election unopposed.

District 24

Incumbent Republican Patrick Testin ran for re-election. In the general election he faced and defeated Democrat Collin McNamara.

District 26

Incumbent Democrat Kelda Roys ran for re-election unopposed.

District 28

Incumbent Republican Julian Bradley ran for re-election after being drawn out of this district due to redistricting. In the general election he faced and defeated Democrat Megan Lach.

District 30

Incumbent Republican Eric Wimberger declined to seek re-election in this district, instead opting to run for the neighboring 2nd district, leaving this district open. In the general election, Democrat Jamie Wall defeated Republican Jim Rafter. As a result of redistricting, the district became one of the most competitive in the Senate. During the campaign, both candidates touted their moderate credentials and desire for bipartisanship in the legislature. During the campaign, they both campaigned on tax cuts and sending some of Wisconsin's $3 billion dollar surplus towards funding local communities. The two candidates also had their major differences, as Wall campaigned on codifying abortion rights in Wisconsin, while Rafter took a more moderate approach. Rafter also made closing the Green Bay Correctional Institution a central part of his campaign. In the general election, Wall defeated Rafter by a 5 point margin.

District 32

Incumbent Democrat Brad Pfaff ran for re-election. In the general election he defeated Republican and former candidate for U.S. Senate in 2024 Stacey Klein.

See also

* Redistricting in Wisconsin
** '' Clarke v. Wisconsin Elections Commission''
* 2024 Wisconsin elections
** 2024 Wisconsin State Assembly election
* 2024 United States elections
* Elections in Wisconsin
* Wisconsin Senate

References

External links

Wisconsin Elections Commission
*

{{Portal bar, Wisconsin, Politics

Wisconsin Senate
Senate
2024
November 2024 in the United States