State Senate Republicans have expanded their margin to 21-12 by picking up two Democrat seats (and assuming Republicans will successfully defend Senator Fitzgerald’s seat after he vacates it). Republican incumbents Sen. Pat Testin (R – Stevens Point) and Sen. Alberta Darling (R – River Hills) both won re-election and the parties split open seats with Republican Eric Wimberger beating Jonathon Hansen in a Green Bay area seat and Democrat Brad Pfaff defeating Dan Kapanke in a LaCrosse area seat.  As expected, Republican Rob Stafsholt beat Democrat Patty Schachtner in her northwest Wisconsin district.

In a somewhat surprising result, Assembly Republicans staved off the most aggressive attempt by Assembly Democrats to pick up seats in well over a decade. Conventional wisdom had Assembly Republicans losing five seats or more but, only two Republican incumbents have been defeated:  Representatives Rob Hutton (R – Brookfield) and Jim Ott (R – Mequon). Both hail from suburbs surrounding Milwaukee.  This will make the new Assembly margin 61-38 in favor of Republicans.

Rep. Ott’s defeat is particularly unfortunate. Elected to the state Assembly since 2006, a Vietnam veteran and attorney, Rep. Ott has been the chairperson of the Assembly Committee on Judiciary and a strong supporter of the Wisconsin Civil Justice Council’s efforts to promote equity and fairness in Wisconsin’s civil justice system. For example, as Judiciary chairperson, last session he worked closely with the Civil Justice Council and shepherded through his committee legislation authored by Reps. Mark Born and John Nygren and Sens. Tom Tiffany and David Craig – and signed into law by then-Gov. Walker – to modernize many rules of civil procedure in Wisconsin to address what can be the high costs of litigation. This landmark legislation set rules and limits for the discovery of electronically-stored information, updated Wisconsin’s then-antiquated class action rules and created an interlocutory right to appeal class certification, and made Wisconsin the first state in the country to require disclosure when third parties invest in lawsuits in return for a cut of any settlement or judgment, among other reforms. Rep. Ott’s leadership on legal reform issues will be missed.