Recently I was hired by the Fox Cities Chamber to provide lobbying services for the organization. I am incredibly excited to help this great organization with your priorities down in Madison.
For those of you that don’t know me, I have been in the political arena for nearly 15 years now. Initially my involvement in the political space started at the local level. I was on the town board in Vandenbroek, and then on the Outagamie County board. From there I ran for the State Assembly and won in 2010, serving our communities until my retirement from the legislature in July of 2022.
The last 8 years of my legislative career were spent as the Majority Leader in the State Assembly. After my retirement from the legislature, I joined The Welch Group in Madison which is a government affairs firm, providing our clients with services such as lobbying, consulting, procurement, and association management.
My goal in my work with the Chamber is to provide you with regular updates as to what is happening in the state legislature and how that relates to the business community. I also will be available to answer questions individual members may have as to specific legislation that is being introduced.
The state legislature will not be back in session until January of 2025, so in the meantime here are some brief insights into the campaigns and elections here in Wisconsin leading up to the November election.
It is no secret that Wisconsin is one of a handful of states that will decide the presidential election. We are truly a purple state, routinely in recent history bouncing back and forth between electing Democrats and Republicans at the state and national level. The 2024 election will be no different, with recent polling showing a dead heat between Vice President Harris and former President Trump. As of today, it is difficult to predict what will happen in that race, but there will be changes in the state legislature that are a bit easier to predict.
Legislative candidates will be running under new maps in 2024 after a lengthy court case, and the resulting changes to the maps that were passed by the state legislature and signed into law by Governor Evers. This will undoubtedly result in closer legislative races and smaller majorities (for either party). As of today, expectations are that the state senate will likely remain under Republican control for the next two years, while the state assembly is a bit more unpredictable. Conventional wisdom is the Republicans will continue to control the state assembly as well, but there are scenarios under which Democrats could take control, especially if the race for President goes towards VP Harris in a big way in Wisconsin.
Elections in Wisconsin are always an adventure, and things can change minute to minute. I’ll continue to provide updates to all of you as we move closer to the election.
by Jim Steineke, Government Affairs & Advocacy
