Lawsuit Introduces New Strategy To Overturn Wisconsin’s Congressional Maps
Lawsuit argues that Wisconsin's US House districts represent an 'anti-competitive gerrymander.'
Michelle Johnson/WPR
A new lawsuit has been filed in Dane County Circuit Court as part of an ongoing attempt by Democrats and their allies to rewrite Wisconsin’s congressional map ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
The lawsuit, filed Thursday by attorneys from prominent liberal law firms on behalf of a group of Wisconsin business leaders, comes just weeks after the Wisconsin Supreme Court declined to hear two different challenges to current U.S. House districts.
The cases justices declined to hear were brought as petitions for original action, meaning they asked the state Supreme Court to hear the lawsuits directly. The latest challenge, brought by the Wisconsin Business Leaders for Democracy Coalition, was filed in circuit court and is built on slightly different arguments.
“Wisconsin’s current congressional plan presents a textbook example of an anti-competitive gerrymander,” the lawsuit argues. “Anti-competitive gerrymanders are every bit as noxious to democracy as partisan gerrymanders and racial gerrymanders.”
Democrats nationwide have their eyes on two Republican-held congressional districts in Wisconsin: the 3rd District in western Wisconsin, currently represented by Rep. Derrick Van Orden, R-Prairie du Chien; and the 1st District in southeastern Wisconsin, currently represented by Rep. Bryan Steil, R-Janesville.
Plaintiffs targeting the Wisconsin map have argued the purple state should have roughly equal congressional representation, rather than being divided 6-2 in favor of Republicans.
Tuesday’s lawsuit argues the issue with the map is that it’s an “anti-competitive gerrymander that artificially suppresses electoral competition in most of the plan’s districts.”
That’s a different argument than those put forward in the rejected lawsuits, which the high court declined to hear in late June. Those cases contended that the existing districts are an example of a partisan gerrymander and they violate equal protection mandates.
The current congressional map was drawn by Gov. Tony Evers under a set of “least changes” guidelines ordered by the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s former conservative majority. Under those guidelines, the court chose a map that adhered as closely as possible to the one Republican legislators passed a decade earlier.
Since the state high court shifted to a liberal majority in 2023, Democrats have repeatedly attempted to overturn the map.
The plaintiffs in Tuesday’s lawsuit identify as a bipartisan group of business leaders. The group formed in 2022 to express support for Wisconsin’s nonpartisan elections chief, Meagan Wolfe, who came under fire from supporters of President Donald Trump after he lost the 2020 election.
New lawsuit takes different path in effort to overturn Wisconsin’s congressional map was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.
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