Wisconsin 4th Congressional District

Redistricting race: Who will finish first?

The race is on in Wisconsin to finish the representational redistricting. One battle rages in Madison, where the Republican Legislature is redrawing the state senate, assembly and congressional district lines in a way that critics say will favor GOP incumbents and candidates over Democrats. The other battle is in Milwaukee, where county citizens are in a futile race against time and a stubborn county board to stop a county map that received initial approval with limited public input and no municipal support.

The problem with both the statewide and county plans is the lack of public input or cooperation with all the parties involved.

It is also an example of why elections matter. The main critique of the state plans – that the new maps will favor the GOP or make contested seats safer for Republicans – is a direct result of the outcome of the November 2010 election. Every ten years, representational maps are redrawn to reflect population and residency trends reported in the census. Governmental units at all levels redraw their wards, supervisory districts, and congressional seats based on those trends.

During the last few redistricting attempts the Legislature was politically divided and could not come to an agreement on the final lines. The courts intervened and appointed an arbitrator to come to an agreement that was neutral to both sides. However, the law does not say the process has to be apolitical, only that the redistricting has to take into account minority representation to ensure there are majority-minority districts that are proportional to the population and residency trends.

“It’s incumbent upon the Legislature to act rather than leave it to the court,” said Tad Ottman , who worked on redistricting for Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau).

So now that the Republicans have complete control of the Legislature and the Governor’s office, they get to draw the lines. An opportunity the Democrats will have if they control Madison in 2021.

And in a matter of expediency or political ability, the Republicans intend to make those changes soon, as early as next Tuesday. The changes won’t affect the recall primaries or general elections that are already scheduled over the next 5 weeks, but it would change the districts for the 2012 Senate and Assembly elections.

The 8th Senate district, currently held by Alberta Darling, will become more Republican with the removal of voting wards in Shorewood, Glendale and Milwaukee. These three communities are where the effort to recall Darling was born and grew into the election she will face next month. Instead, the 8th will add more of Washington, Waukesha and Ozaukee counties, which have more conservative voting patterns.

History of the GA GOP | Georgia Republican Party

The Republican Party was born in the early 1850s by anti-slavery activist Alvin E. Bovay, a disgruntled Wisconsin Whig. An informal meeting was held on March 20, 1854, in Ripon, Wisconsin, a small town northwest of Milwaukee. The first official Republican meeting took place on July 6, 1854, in Jackson, Michigan. The name “Republican” was chosen because it alluded to equality and reminded individuals of Thomas Jefferson’s Democratic-Republican Party. At the Jackson convention, the new party adopted a platform and nominated candidates for office in Michigan.

In 1856, the Republicans became a national party when John C. Fremont was nominated for President under the slogan: “Free soil, free labor, free speech, free men, Fremont.” Because the Democrats and Whigs represented the two-party system at the time, Republicans were considered a “third party.” In spite of that, Fremont received 33% of the vote. Four years later, in 1860, Abraham Lincoln became the first Republican to win the White House. Georgia seceded from the union in February of 1861.

The Civil War erupted in 1861 and lasted four grueling years. During the war, against the advice of his cabinet, Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation that freed the slaves. Republicans worked to pass the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which outlawed slavery; the Fourteenth, which guaranteed equal protection under the laws; and the Fifteenth, which helped secure voting rights for African-Americans.

The symbol of the Republican Party is the elephant. During the mid-term elections in 1874, Democrats tried to scare voters into thinking President Grant would run for an unprecedented third term. Thomas Nast, a cartoonist for Harper’s Weekly, depicted a Democratic jackass trying to scare a Republican elephant – and both symbols stuck. (For a long time, Republicans have been known as the “G.O.P.” – the “Grand Old Party.” But apparently the original meaning in 1875 was “gallant old party.”)

REPUBLICANS HELP WOMEN GET THE RIGHT TO VOTE The Republican Party held the White House for 24 years until 1884. We also played a leading role in securing women the right to vote. In 1896, Republicans were the first major party to favor women’s suffrage. When the 19th Amendment finally was added to the Constitution, 26 of 36 state legislatures that had voted to ratify it were under Republican control. The first woman elected to Congress was a Republican – Jeanette Rankin from Montana in 1917.

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