Engineered Consent

A downright dangerous yet utterly predictable thing happened in Wisconsin’s 2022 midterm elections. In statewide races, the vote was almost exactly split in half between Democrats and Republicans. Elections held in Wisconsin’s 99 assembly districts, on the other hand, were not remotely competitive. Republicans already had a commanding majority in the legislature’s lower house and gained still more seats in this year’s elections.

The average share of the vote for those who ran and won statewide was 50.02%. The average share of the vote for winning state assembly candidates was 70.6%.

More than 2.6 million people cast ballots in five statewide contests—for governor, U.S. senator, attorney general, secretary of state and treasurer. They opted for Democrats in three of the five races, and every one of these elections was as close as can be. Those very same voters decided the elections in their respective state assembly districts. Republicans won 64 of the 99 races, almost always by landslid…