DE PERE, WI (WTAQ) – A handful of Democrats gather in De Pere Thursday to call on Governor Scott Walker to speed up the process of filling Wisconsin’s vacant First Senate District seat.
The seat’s been empty since December, when Frank Lasee took a position in the Department of Workforce Development.
Kevin Kane is with the self-described ‘social justice organization’ Citizen Action of Wisconsin.
“When people say they don’t feel like they’re being heard in Madison, that’s one thing, but to feel like they have nobody to call because there is nobody in the position that’s supposed to represent them, that’s even more concerning.”
Kane explains what he thinks is happening.
“It’s kind of a power grab. You don’t have a chance for somebody to represented, even when the session is still going on right now in the Senate.”
Democratic Senator Dave Hansen’s district neighbors District One.
“We’ll take (the District One constituents) phone calls and do what we can for them, but there are issues that are going to be out there for the next year, and they deserve to be represented, and they’re not getting that in the state Senate now.”
Hansen says Walker is afraid that a liberal could win the seat, pointing to a nationwide trend.
“There’s 37 districts that have flipped red to blue that were won by (President Donald) Trump. It’s amazing what’s going on.”
That includes last month’s Democratic upset victory in Wisconsin’s Tenth Senate District. While Democrats point to that as a turning of the tide in the Badger State, Republicans say it was due to low voter turnout and has served as a wake-up call.
Walker cites cost in waiting until November to hold the election.
