Retiring Guy's Digest: Wisconsin 2026 elections: Democrat Renee Paplham is challenging 6-term GOP incumbent Joel Kitchens

Thursday, June 11, 2026

Wisconsin 2026 elections: Democrat Renee Paplham is challenging 6-term GOP incumbent Joel Kitchens

Redistricting eliminated the gerrymandered dip into Manitowoc County, which served to crack the Manitowoc/Two Rivers community of interest. The boundaries of Wisconsin's 1st Assembly District, now includes all of Door and Kewaunee counties and a portion of northeastern Brown County.

Maps and election results: Ballotpedia

Joel Kitchens has consistently received about 62% of the vote in the past 4 elections. His 2018 opponent ran as an independent Renee Paplham also ran against Kitchens in 2024 and couldn't move the needle.

Related reading:

Wisconsin Applied Population Lab, 6/18/2018

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 election posts:

12th Assembly District. (4/17/2026)a

16th Assembly District. (4/17/2026)

21st Assembly District. (5/8/2026)

24th Assembly District. (4/19/2026)

26th Assembly District. (4/17/2026)

34th Assembly District. (4/24/2026)

35th Assembly District. (4/15/2026)

37th Assembly District. (4/20/2026)

44th Assembly District. (5/5/2026)

50th Assembly District. (4/24/2026)

53rd Assembly District. (4/29/2026)