Wirch Will Move to Keep Senate Seat

State Sen. Bob Wirch, who has announced he will move into the newly drawn 22nd District and run for election there. 

The Republican-controlled legislature redrew the state's Senate district boundaries this year. The new Senate district map changes Wirch's 22nd District and the 21st District, represented by Van Wanggaard, R-Racine.

The new 22nd District includes much of the City of Kenosha, parts of Mount Pleasant, and most of the City of Racine. The new 21st District includes most of Caledonia and Mount Pleasant, stretches out to the western boundary of Racine County, and south to the Illinois border. 

The new 21st District also includes 22nd District Sen. Wirch's current home. If Wirch didn't want to move, he would have to abandon his seat at the end of his current term and wait until 2014 to run against Wanggaard, said a spokesman for the Government Accountability Board. 

Instead, according to The Journal Times, Wirch will move and run in the new 22nd District in 2012. The new districts take effect in January 2013.

The redistricted maps have been approved by the Senate and Assembly, and signed by the governor, but legal challenges are still pending.

One challenge failed in July, when a three-member panel of federal judges in Milwaukee rejected a request that they take over the redistricting process. 

The Associated Press reported federal judges have redrawn the lines three times in the past 30 years after "politically divided legislatures couldn't agree on new boundaries." 

With Republicans in control of the Senate, Assembly and governor's office this year, that party was in position to draw and approve the redistricting plan. 

A federal lawsuit challenging the redistricting maps is still open. A pdf of the complaint has been uploaded to Patch, and is in the images attached to this story.

The suit alleges the redistricting plan is unconstitutional, because it, among other things, violates requirements that legislative districts be "substantially equal in population" and be based on county precinct, town or ward lines; disenfranchises residents by extending the time between elections of state senators from four to six years, and violates prohibitions against using race as a predominant factor in creating boundaries. 

If this lawsuit is successful, the boundaries could be redrawn; if it fails, the redistricting plan as approved is likely to remain in place. 

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