All right, so Professor Trogovsky, just after the governor's state of the state address,
where he spoke to what he called fair maps, in the capital, there is a sense from speaker
Robin Voss himself that he might vote for the governor's maps.
It just shows how wild and crazy government in Wisconsin can be.
Jerry Mandring is the hot topic in Wisconsin state government because so much is at stake.
We're talking legislators' jobs, their chances of getting reelected, the balance of power
in Wisconsin state government majority control.
So even as Governor Evers gave his state of the state address, thoughts of campaign
in 24 were clearly the overarching concern for legislators and the governor alike.
As you noted, Frederica, he mentioned fair maps in his address and he tried to make
the argument that Jerry Mandring leads to distorted policy outcomes.
So it's clear that Jerry Mandring is top of mind for basically everyone here in Wisconsin
state government.
What is your reaction to the idea that the assembly and speaker Voss would forward the
idea of voting for the governor's maps, agreeing with that?
It's a surprising development, but it also just shows how completely transform the politics
of redistricting have become.
Something like this would have been laughable in previous years, but if we look at the politics
of the Wisconsin state Supreme Court, the new liberal majority and the subsequent lawsuit
over redistricting, that all leads us to this point where the political realities for Republicans
are completely different than they used to be and that is causing Republicans to do some
surprising things on the issue of redistricting.
But even the governor's maps would maintain a Republican majority.
It's likely that that would be the case in a neutral political environment.
In a strong year for Democrats, they would have a shot at the majority and that's true
of most redistricting proposals that I've seen.
Because of the way Republicans are geographically distributed, they would tend to win a majority
in a neutral political environment.
So Democrats would have to hope for a strong political context for their party, the overall
political conditions, and they'd also need to hope for strong candidates as well as
robust fundraising in order to win the majority.
Why would Robin Voss agree to the governor's math?
I think it just reflects the fact that Speaker Voss is short on options at this point.
If we think about the Wisconsin state Supreme Court, they are on path to enacting new district
maps for the November 2024 election.
I don't think a U.S. Supreme Court challenge is likely to succeed, at least it seems like
a long shot.
So I think Speaker Voss is looking at the process going through the Wisconsin state
Supreme Court, thinking about the probability that the U.S. Supreme Court could weigh in.
I think people in the Capitol are pricing all of that in and making strategic adjustments
accordingly.
All right.
Anthony Shrikowski.
Thanks very much.
Thank you.
So what did you think of that one?
Were you still reading your phone?