As has been the case in recent election years, a significant number of state legislators are announcing their intention not to return next session. Some are running for other offices but many are closing the books on public life, at least for the time being. It is important to keep track of these announcements in case the legislators who represent your school districts (in whole or in part) leave office. In some cases, you may be losing a legislator with whom you have a good working relationship and you will be looking to duplicate that with a new face. In other cases, if the relationship wasn’t the best it could be, you have the opportunity to begin anew. With legislative district maps changing as well, you could be in a situation where you are getting new legislators even if they are incumbents. We plan to do more posts on the impact of redistricting on current legislators to help you navigate these changes.This weekend, Rep. Tod Ohnstad (D-Kenosha) announced his decision to not seek re-election after the conclusion of this session. With that announcement, Wispolitics is reporting that more than a third of the Assembly Democrat caucus will be turning over next year. Democrats in the Assembly currently hold 35 seats with eleven who have publicly announced plans to not return. Two more Assembly Democrats, Reps. Lee Snodgrass (D-Appleton) and Steve Doyle (D-Onalaska) had their districts redrawn to be more favorable to Republicans. More announcements are expected and we will update that post as they are released.
