Inside the White House with D.C.'s most wired reporter. Sign up for Mike Allen's Axios AM.

Stories

Wave watch: Democrats flip another Wisconsin seat Trump won

Wisconsin Republican Gov. Scott Walker and President Donald Trump.
Wisconsin Republican Gov. Scott Walker and President Trump. Photo: Scott Olson/Getty Images

Caleb Frostman handed Wisconsin Democrats a major victory in Tuesday night's special state Senate election, flipping a solid red seat in a district President Trump won by double digits in 2016.

Why it matters: This is the 44th Republican state legislative seat Democrats have flipped since President Trump took office, according to the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee.

Read more toggle
Show less
Go deeper188 Words

The bigger picture: While Republicans held onto another vacant seat in the Wisconsin legislature's lower chamber, Democrats managed a repeat of the January special election when they flipped a district that had long been held by Republicans since 2000 and won by Trump.

  • Flashback: Republican Gov. Scott Walker called the earlier victory "a wake up call for Republicans." Liberals later won a 10-year seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court in April, pushing Walker to admit there was a "risk of a #BlueWave in WI."

The backdrop: This comes after the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, a group led by former Attorney General Eric Holder, successfully sued Walker, who refused to call a special election to fill two legislative seats vacated by Republicans who joined his administration last December.

  • Wisconsin is one of many key states Holder's group is targeting as part of a broader effort to scale back Republicans’ sweeping control of the redistricting process ahead of the 2020 census. Republicans there control both legislative chambers — 18-14 in the Senate and a firmer 63-35 in the Assembly.
  • Frostman will be on the ballot again in November for the general election.
Wave Watch