Retiring Guy's Digest: Wisconsin 2026 elections: Republican Paul McGraw challenges incumbent freshman Democrat Brienne Brown in 43rd Assembly District

Tuesday, July 21, 2026

Wisconsin 2026 elections: Republican Paul McGraw challenges incumbent freshman Democrat Brienne Brown in 43rd Assembly District

Prior to redistricting, the gerrymandered 43rd Assembly District included a mishmash of southern Dane County (cracking), a large portion of Rock County (resulting in the packing of Janesville), southern Jefferson County, and the northwest corner of Walworth County.

The redrawn and more compact 43rd now comprises parts of Rock, Walworth, and Jefferson counties, including the cities of Whitewater, Milton, and Edgerton.

Maps and election results: Ballotpedia

Here's a case where redistricting created a more completive district in south-central Wisconsin. In 2024, Democrat Brienne Brown won the election in the 43rd Assembly District by a slender margin of 2.6 points. Her challenger in 2026 is Republican and veterinarian Paul McGraw. His campaign website offers no clues as to where he stands on any issue. He shares his biography in the four minute-long videos he recently uploaded.

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:

1st Assembly District. (6/11/2026)

2nd Assembly District. (6/14/2026)

3rd Assembly District. (6/15/2026)

4th Assembly District. (6/17/2026)

5th Assembly District. (6/18/2026)

6th Assembly District. (6/20/2026)

7th Assembly District. (6/21/2026)

8th Assembly District. (6/21/2026)

9th Assembly District. (6/22/2026)

10th Assembly District. (6/23/2026)

11th Assembly District. (6/23/2026)