WI-AD26: Sheboygan Democrat makes case in previously gerrymandered district
Thanks to new legislative maps, a Sheboygan Democrat, Joe Sheehan, has a chance at winning a toss-up district that could help flip the Republican-controlled Assembly in November. Sheehan will face off against incumbent Rep. Amy Binsfeld in the 26th District where housing, child care and education are among key issues.
The district now covers the entire city of Sheboygan, including the city’s UW-Green Bay branch campus. Voters in the majority blue city had no chance of electing a Democratic representative to the Assembly after Republicans redrew Wisconsin’s districts to secure a majority in 2011. Under those gerrymandered maps, Sheboygan was blatantly split in half, creating two districts that stretched into rural areas favoring Republicans.
Under new legislative maps signed into law in February, the district is a toss-up with just under a 3-point Democratic lean, according to a Wisconsin Watch analysis of past voting patterns.
Sheehan told Wisconsin Watch he likely wouldn’t have entered the race if it weren’t for the new maps. He spent 20 years as superintendent of the Sheboygan Area School District and later served as executive director of the Sheboygan County Economic Development Corp. before retiring.
https://wisconsinwatch.org/2024/11/wisconsin-sheboygan-assembly-democrat-republican-sheehan-binsfeld-gerrymander/