Because of extreme gerrymandering, there hasn’t been a path to the majority in either Wisconsin chamber — until 2024. With new, fairer maps, our investments fueled significant progress toward a new trifecta in Wisconsin in 2026!

In the State Senate, we exceeded our goals: winning all four of the needed seats and breaking the rightwing supermajority. With all races called, the new chamber makeup is 15-18, just two seats away from a new majority. Staggered terms in this chamber mean that only half the chamber is up for election every two years, so there will be new opportunities to pick up seats and flip the chamber in 2026. 

Fifteen seats were needed to flip the Wisconsin Assembly, and TSP successfully powered flips in 10 seats. While short of our goal, this chamber is within striking distance of a new majority in 2026; if just 1,890 votes had changed across five seats, we would have broken the majority in the Assembly!

Right now, even in the face of a second Trump presidency, momentum is on our side in Wisconsin. Pro-democracy lawmakers in both chambers have increased influence in a legislature that has been under rightwing control since 2010. They can draw a contrast with the rightwing majorities that could be a critical deciding factor for voters to shift the balance of power in 2026. Majorities in both chambers are possible in 2026 — and we can start the work right now to help flip these chambers.

While TSP has worked in Wisconsin since 2020, this was the first time we saw a clear path to building new majorities. We powered over nine times more than the next largest national coordinated funder, helping to flip 10 seats in the Assembly and 4 seats in the Senate.

In April 2023, The States Project invested in a special election that presented the opportunity to break the Wisconsin Senate supermajority. The stakes were high — in a district that Trump won by five points, the rightwing candidate actually campaigned on the idea that the Senate supermajority could impeach judges, Cabinet Members, or even a Justice from the State Supreme Court.

The States Project supported the challenger who ran to protect democracy — and the race came down to 1,296 votes in a race where more than 75,000 were cast. After a closer than expected election, he backtracked on impeaching State Supreme Court Justices, a huge win considering that the rightwing lost their majority in the Wisconsin State Supreme Court.

Even in 2022, rightwing lawmakers continued attempts to decertify the rightful 2020 Presidential election results, with election deniers running for state legislative seats and lawmakers who would admit that Biden won, including Majority Leader Jim Steineke, deciding to leave public office.

The States Project and our partners at Vote Save America teamed up to prevent a supermajority in the Wisconsin Assembly. The rightwing needed five seats, and they only gained three — we helped to stop them from getting to the supermajority threshold and protected Governor Evers’ veto.

The States Project’s 2020 electoral work in Wisconsin helped relieve the pressures of an expanding field and enabled the minority in the Assembly to gain their largest number of seats since the gerrymander was enacted after the 2010 Tea Party wave.

We had two narrow losses, with candidates we supported losing by margins under 6 percent.