News & Views

State Senate Update: Who Is Going to Win?
Eight districts are in play

B Y L O U I S F O R T I S

IF THIS YEAR CONTINUES TO PROGRESS AS IT HAS RECENTLY, OBAMA CONTINUES TO WIDEN THE GAP WITH MCCAIN AND THE ECONOMY CONTINUES TO FALTER, THE DEMOCRATS COULD PICK UP BETWEEN ONE TO THREE MORE STATE SENATE SEATS.

With the top of the Nov. 4 ticket—Barack Obama vs. JohnMcCain—currently leaning Obama’s way in Wisconsin and the Republicans at all levels suffering from the historically low approval ratings of their president, one of the big questions is what will happen to the state Senate, where the Democrats currently have an 18 to 15 majority.

Sixteen of the 33 state Senate seats are up for election this year, eight currently held by each party. Of the eight seats held by each party, four seats from each party are held by unopposed incumbents. That leaves eight seats—four held by Democrats and four held by Republicans— that will decide the majority for next session. There are two open seats where the incumbent is not running for re-election. In this very symmetric year, one was held by a Democrat and one by a Republican.

Of the eight seats in play, seven are being seriously challenged; four are Republican seats, while three are held by Democrats.

Milwaukee’s North Shore: Darling vs. Wasserman A highly competitive and very expensive Senate race—possibly the most expensive Senate race in Wisconsin’s history—is the Alberta Darling vs. Sheldon Wasserman matchup in Milwaukee’s North Shore (covered in this week’s Shepherd cover story).

Wasserman is cautiously favored for two reasons, even though this district has had a slight Republican bias. Wasserman, an obstetrician, is definitely outworking Darling. He has knocked on more than 23,000 doors over the past year and a half. In addition, many moderate Republicans, especially women, are disappointed with Darling, who went from being a moderate Republican when she was first elected in 1990 to a traditional conservative Republican. Specifically, Darling had once been on the board of Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin; in this race, however, she received a qualified endorsement from Wisconsin Right to Life. This is a must-watch race.

Western Wisconsin: Dan Kapanke vs. Tara Johnson This is an interesting race because first-term incumbent Republican Dan Kapanke occupies a seat that votes 58.3% Democratic in presidential election years. Over the past 20 years the district has been held by a moderate Republican and then by a moderate Democrat. But over the last several years it has become more of a Democratic district, even though the current state senator is a very right-wing Republican.

Sen. Kapanke, for example, voted against the Compassionate Care for Rape Victims bill, which requires hospitals to give information about emergency contraception to rape victims and, if requested, dispense the medication. He also voted for a bill that would allow pharmacists to refuse to fill birth control prescriptions if it violated the pharmacist’s personal beliefs. Kapanke is, however, a good campaigner. But his very extreme votes should not sit well with this rather moderate district.

His opponent, Democrat Tara Johnson, is in her fifth term as a La Crosse County supervisor and currently serves as its vice chair. She has been chair of the Health and Human Services Committee and sat on the Economic Development Fund Committee. She is well regarded in the area, thanks to her service as executive director of the La Crosse Area

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