Advocacy on behalf of the real estate industry is serious business for the WRA. That’s why we get involved in statewide elections, local elections and issue advocacy campaigns. Candidate elections decide who sits at the table and votes on issues that impact WRA members, homeowners and property owners across the Badger State. Issue campaigns are different but very often have a huge impact on property owners as well.
As this article went to press just days before the April 4 election, we did not know the outcome of the 2023 election for Wisconsin Supreme Court or the special election for Senate District 8 in southeastern Wisconsin. What we do know is that getting involved in these elections and issue campaigns is critically important to shaping the real estate business today and into the future.
The outcomes of the elections for the Wisconsin Supreme Court and Senate District 8 are extremely important to the industry and make a massive impact on the advocacy efforts of the WRA. Many decisions that have been made by the Wisconsin Supreme Court over the last decade with regards to the real estate industry may come back before the court if the judicial philosophy of the court shifts this spring. Efforts that were made through the legislative process may be seen in a different light in terms of landlord-tenant relationships, levy limits, and other property rights reforms that have been enacted into law. A change in the court could bring these reforms back to the forefront of conversations if the court were to deem it necessary and take up cases that had previously been settled.
The same can be said for the race in the 8th Senate District. The WRA lost a longtime friend of the industry with the early retirement of former Sen. Alberta Darling. Rep. Dan Knodl has been an ardent supporter of the WRA’s legislative priorities for the duration of his 14 years in the state Assembly, and we know that his support will be extremely helpful in the state’s upper chamber.
Potential outcomes of the Wisconsin Supreme Court spring election
2023 started off with a bang after the November elections. The legislature has a massive allotment of new members, and the budget cycle is now underway. Heading into spring, there’s no possibility of advocacy or politics slowing down. At the same time, there is a hotly contested race for an open seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court. By the time you read this article, the outcome of the race between former Justice Dan Kelly and Milwaukee Circuit Court Judge Janet Protasiewicz will have been decided.
For more than a decade, the state’s highest court has had a conservative bend to its decision-making. The result of this race has the opportunity to change that outlook. Judge Protasiewicz focused her campaign on her values and progressive ideals, while Kelly focused on his record as a constitutional conservative on the bench.
The outcome of this race can drastically change the court’s decisions going forward. Areas of interest that have not been approached by the current judicially conservative court will undoubtedly become front-and-center issues if the court were to flip to a judicially liberal majority.
It is without question that a number of issues will be brought back in front of the court with the express understanding that an entirely new viewpoint on the constitution and how the previous decisions made by the court would be seen.
The state could see a dramatic change in direction when it comes to reproductive rights, collective bargaining, and district lines for state and federal elected offices, just to name a few.
Another major change that would take place would be the election of a new chief justice. The system now in place has the justices vote for their chief justice. This replaced an older standard that placed the chief justice by tenure.
These reasons alone help create an understanding on why the Wisconsin Supreme Court spring election has been so high profile and also the most expensive court race in our nation’s history.
Special election for Senate District 8 and the Republican supermajority hanging in the balance
The recent retirement of Sen. Darling also brought another very visible Wisconsin Senate special election to the forefront this spring. Vying for the vacated seat were Republican Rep. Knodl along with attorney and textile mill executive Democrat Jodi Habush Sinykin.
This district has been in Republican hands since 1992, when former Sen. Darling first won the seat. The district has trended more centrist in the last few election cycles. With the main focus of spending in this race centering around reproductive rights, it is no surprise a previously solid Republican seat has moved into the “toss up” category in terms of the electorate.
While we do not know the outcome of the race at the time of publication, it is safe to say that what would normally be a quiet special election has ramped up in volume due to Republicans attempting to once again reach a supermajority in the state Senate, and Democrats using this race to hold off Republicans from that accomplishment.
A supermajority does not give the state Senate the ability to override a governor’s veto, as this would require a two-thirds majority in both houses of the legislature. However, if the supermajority were to be attained in the state’s upper house, the possibility for Republicans to suspend Senate rules and expedite legislation as well as impeach and remove state officials from office — including the governor, cabinet secretaries and judges — would be on the table. These actions do not come lightly if they are taken. The removal of a public official in Wisconsin in this method has only been undertaken once, more than 169 years ago, and it was unsuccessful.
Whether Knodl or Habush Sinykin emerge from this election the victor, the truth behind this race remains the same. Both sides have put up an enormous fight to ensure that their way of thinking is paramount in the state Senate: one side to assert more power and influence throughout state government, and the other side to help dissipate the appetite for single-party control in the legislature.
Local advocacy efforts at their finest
Many times, we look at the top of the ticket or at statewide issues during campaign season, and we neglect to dig a little deeper and see what can be done on a local level to bring about change for our industry.
A great, and recent, example of efforts at the local level to impact decision-makers and help shape public policy was seen in Madison under the direction of the REALTORS® Association of South Central Wisconsin (RASCW). It is well-established that throughout Wisconsin, we are in the midst of a debilitating housing shortage that must be addressed at the local and statewide level. RASCW did just that by implementing a six-figure advocacy campaign to highlight the need for expansion and passage of transit overlay districts in the city of Madison. These districts would increase the available housing stock near transit stops to help facilitate density-building in the city of Madison.
The program was administered by RASCW, with assistance from the WRA, and through some grant funding by the National Association of REALTORS®. The direct mail, digital and streaming service advertisement program that reached voters throughout Madison made hundreds of thousands of impressions and was able to outshine aggressive arguments from a small but vocal group of “not in my backyard” (NIMBY) opponents of the transit overlay district proposal. In the end, the proposal was passed by the city council by an overwhelmingly large margin, and the city will be better off in the future due to this smart, local decision-making.
This giant success for housing opportunities in Madison would not have happened if the local, state and national REALTOR® organizations had not worked together to ensure success through a cohesive message.
The program outlined above showcases the need for local advocacy interaction. If you have an issue at the local level, please take it to your local board and ask for help in highlighting an issue to your community in order to make a dramatic impact in your own backyard.