Thursday, April 23, 2026

2026 Wisconsin elections: Republican Rob Swearingen wants to represent the Tavern League for 8th term in 34th Assembly District

 
Drawn as a more compact district in 2024, the 34th includes all of Vilas County and most of Oneida County.  The City of Rhinelander is a blue island in a red sea.   Nonetheless, Chris Taylor make serious inroads here in this month's Wisconsin Supreme Court election, flipping both Vilas and Oneida counties.

Maps and election results:  Ballotpedia
Headline:  WSAW, 4/22/2026

This is the state of local reporting in Wisconsin today.  Publish the candidate's news release verbatim and then summarize committee memberships.
Swearingen chairs the Assembly State Affairs Committee. He also serves on the Wisconsin State Building Commission and the Higher Education Subcommittee, and is a member of the Tourism, Small Business Development, Environment and Forestry, and Joint Survey Committee on Tax Exemptions
Based on recent fall election results, however, Rob looks to have a smooth road to a 8th term.  This is a very tough district for Democrats to flip.



Related reading:


Malia Jones explains:
Two core concepts of gerrymandering were central to the arguments presented to the high court: cracking and packing. A third process, known as stacking, also crops up in gerrymandered political maps, but was not the focus of Gill v. Whitford.
Cracking and packing both refer to specific ways of drawing legislative boundaries with the outcomes of elections in mind. These two processes operate in tension with one another, but both can be implemented by a party in power seeking to maximize its electoral chances through gerrymandering. 
Packing refers to the practice of drawing particular districts in such a way as to ensure that another party's candidate wins that seat by a tremendous margin. Although the opposing party is all but guaranteed the seat, packing makes surrounding districts less competitive, and thus tips the balance of power in the legislative body overall toward the ruling party. 
Cracking involves drawing districts in such a way as to divide a concentration of specific types of voters across several districts such that they are a minority in each one, with practically no hope of achieving representation in any of the districts. This practice also helps make districts less competitive. [emphasis added]

Related Rob post:
Oneida County virus update:  Wisconsin State Assembly representative and Tavern League shill Rob Swearingen parties like it's 2019.  (3/30/2020)

Related election posts:
12th Assembly District.  (4/17/2026)
16th Assembly District.  (4/17/2026)
24th Assembly District.  (4/19/2026)
26th Assembly District.  (4/17/2026)
35th Assembly District.  (4/15/2026)
37th Assembly District.  (4/20/2026)
58th Assembly District.  (4/12/2026)
59th Assembly District.  (4/10/2026)
60th Assembly District.  (4/10/2026)
93rd Assembly District.  (4/11/2026) 
97th Assembly District.  (4/23/2026)
99th Assembly District.  (4/18/2026)

17th Senate District.  (4/14/2026)
23rd Senate District.  (4/15/2026)
31st Senate District.  (4/15/2026)

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