Candidates Must Be Pro-Active to Inform CCWI and Voters of their Position on This Issue!
On July 8th, Common Cause in Wisconsin (CC/WI) e-mailed every Republican, Democratic and Independent candidate for the Wisconsin State Senate and Assembly that was placed on the ballot for the upcoming August 13th partisan primary election, inviting them to pro-actively contact us to inform us of their support nonpartisan redistricting reform and if they wished to have their names listed publicly on our website.
Two days following the e-mail message to candidates, July 10th, CC/WI sent this release to inform the public of this initiative. In it, CC/WI invited citizens to contact state legislative candidates in their area to urge their support for ending partisan gerrymandering, and to contact CC/WI to publicly support nonpartisan redistricting reform and this fair maps pledge supported by the wide array of state organizations of the Wisconsin Fair Maps Coalition:
I support passing legislation during the 2025 legislative session and enacting into law the requirement that Wisconsin adopt an independent nonpartisan redistricting process to ensure that no political party can create state legislative or congressional voting districts to favor their own political party nor be able to gerrymander Wisconsin’s voting maps in the future.
As of today, CC/WI has been contacted by 13 Wisconsin state legislative candidates for the State Senate and 76 candidates for the Assembly. Here is the complete, up-to-date listing of those supportive candidates that have proactively contacted CC/WI to have their names listed.
As we have done during every state legislative election year since 2014, CC/WI wants to make it simple and easy for Wisconsin voters and media to be able to see which state legislative candidates support non-partisan redistricting reform legislation that will be devised in its final form and introduced in 2025 by providing a continually updated list of those candidates on our website.
Any statewide or state legislative candidate (or their authorized proxy) who supports the fair voting maps pledge and would like to see their name listed on our site should contact CC/WI by phone at (608) 512-9363 (leave a message), or preferably, by email: jheck@commoncause.org. Citizens can and should urge candidates to support the non-partisan redistricting reform pledge and request that they contact CC/WI to get their names on this list.
Candidates must be pro-active to have their names appear on this site! Even incumbent legislators running for re-election who co-sponsored redistricting reform legislation during previous legislative sessions must contact us to be on the list. Why? Because it demonstrates that they are paying attention and continue to support this reform issue. And, because it’s important for candidates for public office to take the initiative to inform voters about where they stand on important issues like ending partisan gerrymandering in Wisconsin.
The list of candidates who inform us of their support for the nonpartisan redistricting reform pledge for Wisconsin will continue to be linked on our dedicated Common Cause Wisconsin webpage and updated regularly until the August 13th primary election. The winners in that primary will continue to have their names listed on this site to continue to inform the voters and media about who supports nonpartisan redistricting reform as voters make decisions for the November 5th general election.
Redistricting reform in Wisconsin is critical and necessary if we are ever to return to having a functional, less politically polarized state legislature that is responsive to the citizens of this state rather than to political bosses interested primarily in holding onto power. There is no question that an overwhelming majority of Wisconsinites want and support non-partisan redistricting reform. Now, let’s find out which candidates of all political parties for the Wisconsin Legislature are willing to stand up and pledge support for it and for the voters of our state.
On Wisconsin!
Jay Heck, CC/WI Executive Director
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152 Johnson St, Suite 212
Madison, WI 53703
www.commoncausewisconsin.org
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