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January 4, 2023 Political Note #529 Jodi Habush Sinykin Wisconsin Senate District 08
Special Election Primary February 21, General Election April 4
There is something rotten in the State of Denmark. That’s what a guard said when he saw the ghost of the King in Shakespeare’s play Hamlet.
There are no kings in Wisconsin. No ghosts either. You could argue, though, that isomething is rotten there.
Take the election in November. Wisconsin demonstrated that the state is evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats.
- The Republican incumbent US Senator won his election 50.5-49.5
- The Democratic incumbent Governor won his election 51.2-47.8
- The Democratic incumbent Attorney General won his election 50.7-49.3
- The Democratic incumbent Secretary of State won his election 48.3-48
- The Republican candidate for Treasurer won his election 49.6-48.2
Something different happens when Wisconsin is divided into districts.
- For the United States Congress, Republicans won 6 seats, Democrats 2.
- For the Wisconsin State Senate (about half the seats were up for election) Republicans won 12 seats, Democrats 5
- For the Wisconsin State House of Representatives (all the seats were up for election) Republicans won 64 seats, Democrats 35.
How can it be that in an evenly divided state like Wisconsin, Republicans have a 3:1 majority of Congressional seats, won a 2 ½ to 1 majority of the State Senate seats up for election, and won almost a 2:1 majority of State House of Representatives seats in the election? We know the reason.
In 2010, Republicans won an overwhelmingly majority of state legislative seats. They gerrymandered Congressional seats, State Senate seats, and State House of Representatives seats so that Republicans were guaranteed control for the foreseeable future. The United States Supreme Court has declared that political gerrymandering is not its business. What the Wisconsin Supreme Court thinks of political gerrymandering may depend on who gets elected to the Wisconsin Supreme Court on April 4.
Without considering the state Supreme Court, Democrats in Wisconsin have a mission for each legislative election. Make sure that they have more than one third of the seats in each branch of the legislature so that, when there is a Democratic Governor, as there is now, vetoes of legislation will not be overturned. A veto can be overridden if both branches of the legislature vote to override by a two thirds majority or more.
Prior to the November election, Republicans in the Wisconsin House of Representatives had a 61-38 majority – not enough for an override. Democrats lost some seats in 2022. Republicans now have a 64-35 majority. That is short of a two thirds majority, but a veto override in the House requires persuading only two Democratic Representatives.
Prior to the November election, Republicans in the Wisconsin State Senate had a 21-12 majority – one vote short of achieving a veto override. Democrats lost one seat in 2022 – giving the Republicans the 22 votes they need in a 33 person body to achieve two thirds in the Senate.
Jodi Habush Sinykin is running in a special election to flip Wisconsin’s Senate District 08 so that Republicans are returned to their 21-12 majority. The special election arises because Republican State Senator Alberta Darling retired on December 1. She was reelected in 2022, with the public unaware that she would retire, by a 54-46 margin. At the same time, Joe Biden won the district by 167 votes.
Jodi Habush Sinykin would like to get those Biden supporters plus a few more voting for her as Democratic State Senator. A local, she grew up in Fox Point, which is in the district, a north suburb of Milwaukee, a 10 miles and a 15 minute drive (without traffic) away for commuters. Now she lives with her husband in Whitefish Bay. Count that as a particularly desirable suburb with the #2 ranked high school in the state and a variety of notables ranging from actress Colleen Dewhurst who is a graduate of Whitefish Bay High school to Kostas Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks and arguably the best basketball player in the world to Brad Courtney, former Chairman of Wisconsin’s Republican Party.
Jodi Habush Sinykin went to college out of town – to the University of Michigan, graduating in 1989. She went farther out of town for law school – Harvard from which she got her JD in 1992. She returned to Wisconsin, married Dan Sinykin, had children, and made a life in the Milwaukee suburbs. Her husband is President of the Denali Sales Group and Monterey Mills which has factories in Wisconsin and North Carolina. She became a legal expert in and advocate for the environment.
Of counsel for the Midwest Environmental Advocates and a member of their Advisory Council, Jodi Habush Sinykin has been a Water Policy Fellow and Adjunct Faculty Member of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee School of Freshwater Science. She was a finalist there for the endowed chair of Director of Water Policy. She has served on several legislative advisory committees focused on water issues and the Great Lakes. She has also been a policy advisor to humane societies in the state regarding pets and wildlife. She filed suit to stop or limit wolf hunting. Her personal life is tied to the water and to pets. Every morning she and her dogs begin the day with a walk along the Lake or the Milwaukee River.
In her introductory video, she describes a commitment to listening to the community and how she values the people of Wisconsin. She describes her commitment to women making their own decisions about their health and to maintaining Wisconsin’s environment.
The filing deadline for this the special election for this seat which was last held by a Democrat in 1992 was January 3, 1992. Of the three state reps from withing the district, one is a Democrat and she has declined to run. There are at least four Republican candidates for the position:
- Village President Van Mobley who plans to add exceptions to the state’s 1849 abortion ban, hoping to force the Governor to choose between approving an abortion limiting law and the embarrassment of not making some abortions possible. Mobley also favors encouraging the consolidation of school districts and municipal services.
- State Rep Dan Knodl, whose district is within the State Senate district. He plans to encourage tax reform, to support law enforcement, to expand educational opportunities and to limit bureaucracy.
- State Rep Janel Brandtjen, who is so vigorous a denier of the legitimacy of the 2020 election that she was barred from attending Republican Assembly closed caucus meetings. She is hoping that the Senate Republicans will be more welcoming.
- Robert Albrightson, a student at Concordia University, is the fourth Republican in the race
The primary on February 21 is likely to be a contest between Brandtjen and Knodl. Should Brandtjen win, Jodi Habush Sinykin wil have the opportunity to face the kind of Republican that has become less popular in suburbs in Wisconsin and around the country. Should Knodl win, she will have to defeat a conventional Republican. In this case, Knodl favors criminalization of drug use, opposes gun safety gun regulations, opposes efforts to end mass incarceration, and supports voting restrictions in the name of avoiding fraud.
Help Jodi Habush Sinykin. If you help her win, she will prevent the State Senate from being able to vote to override Governor Tony Evers’ vetoes. https://secure.actblue.com/donate/jodi-for-state-senate-1?refcode=social
Candidates to help
Aaron Rouse is running in the special election for the Virginia State Senate Seventh District. His win in the Special Election on January 10th would flip the district from Republican to Democrat and would ensure a pro-choice majority in the State Senate. The seat is vacant because the former State Senator, Jen Kiggans, defeated Democratic Congresswoman Elaine Luria in November. See Len’s Political Note #524
Janet Protasiewicz is running for the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Her win in the February 21st primary and the April 4th General Election would flip the Wisconsin Supreme Court from 4-3 Republican to 4-3 Democrat with enormous implications for issues such as abortion and redistricting. This is an open seat because a Republican Justice retired. The election is in the spring rather than November because Wisconsin strives to limit partisanship in judicial elections. See Len’s Political Note #528
