Republican Wisconsin state Rep. Dan Knodl won an open state senate seat in a special election on Tuesday, giving Republicans a supermajority in the state senate.
Knodl defeated Democrat attorney Jodi Habush Sinykin in the election for Wisconsin’s 8th state senate district, an area representing Milwaukee’s northern suburbs. Republican Alberta Darling had held the senate seat, but Darling decided to retire in December of last year, leaving the seat open after the 2022 election.
Before the 2022 election, Republicans held a 21-12 majority in the state senate, leaving them one seat shy of a supermajority. Republicans flipped one seat in the November 2022 election, which would have given them a 22-11 supermajority in the new state congressional session until Darling retired just weeks later, delaying those Republican supermajority prospects. With Knodl’s win on Tuesday, the Republicans will soon be able to exercise supermajority powers in the state Senate….