Republicans Two Seats From Veto-Proof Majorities

Wisconsin State Capitol. Photo by Mariiana Tzotcheva.

Democratic Gov. Tony Evers’ budget-bill veto that cut the Republicans’ two-year $3.5 billion income tax cut by 95% — back to $175 million — showed the importance of another number: 2,498.

That’s the number of votes in November elections that kept Republicans from having the two-thirds majorities needed in both houses of the Legislature to override governors’ vetoes.

When Republican Dan Knodl won a special Milwaukee-area Senate election on April 4, it gave Republicans the 22nd vote needed to override vetoes in the 33-member Senate.

But, in the November 2022 elections, Assembly Republicans came within 2,498 votes – in only two districts – of getting 66 seats in that 99-member chamber. The Democratic wins gave Republicans a 64-35 margin of control; one seat traditionally held by Republicans is vacant.

In those two nail-biting elections:

-Democratic Rep. Steve Doyle, who is targeted by Republicans in every election, got 14,826 votes and Republican Ryan Huebsch, son of former Assembly speaker Mike Huebsch, 14,070 votes, in the 94th District – a difference of 756 votes. The Wisconsin Democracy Campaign (WDC) reports that $2.1 million was spent on that campaign. Doyle and his supporters spent $1.25 million; Huebsch and his supporters, $782,000. It was the seventh close election for Doyle, an attorney and La Crosse County supervisor who first won a special election in 2011.

-In the Oshkosh-based 54th Assembly District, Democrat Lori Palmeri won her first term with 12,124 votes – 1,742 more than Republican Donnie Herman, who owns several small businesses. Palmeri, who calls herself a “grandmother with grit,” is a former Oshkosh Common Council member and mayor. WDC counted total spending of $1.27 million in the race. Palmeri and her supporters spent $812,438; Herman and his supporters, $457,586.

Assembly Democrats lost three seats in the November election. Former Rep. Don Vruwink lost to Scott Johnson by 247 votes after Republicans redrew 33rd District boundaries. And veteran Democratic Reps. Nick Milroy and Beth Meyers retired after their districts were redrawn. Republicans Chanz Green and Angie Sapik won those seats.

But, even if Republicans had a two-thirds majority in the Assembly, an attempt to override Evers’ veto of the $3.5-billion income tax would have likely failed in the Senate. That’s because two Republican senators – Steve Nass and Rob Hutton – voted against the budget their fellow Republicans crafted.

The Republicans’ tax cut would have compressed the current four tax brackets to three in a way that would have most helped wealthy taxpayers, Evers said when he vetoed that change. For example, it would have meant a 15% reduction in income taxes for all taxpayers with taxable incomes of $405,550 or more.

In his veto message, Evers said lowest-earning taxpayers will get income tax cuts totaling $175 million – only 5% of the $3.5-billion two-year cut Republicans approved.

The result of Evers’ partial veto is slight reductions in two tax brackets for those filing married-filing-joint returns with incomes of up to $36,840 and a single taxpayer with income of $27,630. The veto reduced the average income tax cut from $573 to $36, the Legislative Fiscal Bureau reported.

The Democratic governor said his 51 vetoes, which included trying to let public schools spend $325 more per child each year through 2425, for 402 years, gave Republicans a “second chance” to approve a fairer tax cut and provide more help for working families and caregivers. Future legislators can cancel that 2425 school-funding goal, however.

Evers said his veto of most of the income tax means the state budget surplus will remain at more than $3 billion – “ample state resources” for Republicans to “do the right thing.”

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos noted that Evers signed into law an income tax cut that Republicans added to the state budget in 2021 – one year before he faced voters. But he killed all but a fraction of this year’s proposed tax cut “now that he’s won re-election,” Vos said.

“Vetoing tax cuts on the top two brackets provides hardly any tax relief for truly middle-class families,” Vos added. “His decision also creates another economic disadvantage for Wisconsin, leaving our top bracket higher than most of our neighboring states, including Illinois.”

Senate Democratic Leader Melissa Agard hoped that Evers and legislators from both parties could compromise on major spending programs in the fall session.

For now, Agard said, “While Republicans focused on millionaires and special interests, the governor continued his career-long focus of helping our public schools and the middle class.”

Democrats hope the new, four-justice majority on the state Supreme Court orders that new legislative district lines must be redrawn before the November 2024 elections.

“We could have won the [Milroy and Meyers] Assembly seats, under the old district lines,” says state Democratic Party Chair Ben Wikler.

Steven Walters started covering the Capitol in 1988. Contact him at stevenscotwalters@gmail.com