Retiring Guy's Digest: Wisconsin 2026 elections: Republican John Donahue challenges incumbent freshman Democrat Joan Fitzgerald in 46th Assembly District

Friday, July 24, 2026

Wisconsin 2026 elections: Republican John Donahue challenges incumbent freshman Democrat Joan Fitzgerald in 46th Assembly District

Prior to redistricting, the 46th Assembly District included an irregularly shaped rectangle of eastern Dane County. (See District 37 and District 38 for a GOP gerrymandering of eastern Dane County trifecta,)

The redrawn 46th includes parts of eastern Dane County and western Jefferson County. The only remnants from the previous boundaries are the Village and Town of Cottage Grove.

Maps and election results: Ballotpedia

Redistricting has made the 46th Assembly District more competitive. Democrat Joan Fitzgerald won her election in 2024 by 5 points. Prior representative Melissa Ratcliff won her two elections by an average of 37 points. Republican challenger John Donahue is relentlessly pushing his military bona fides and even shows off a signed letter he received from Donald Trump. Donahue ran unsuccessfully for a seat on the Fort Atkinson City Council in 2023.

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)