Retiring Guy's Digest: Wisconsin 2026 elections: Democrat Paul Johnson challenges two-term Republican incumbent Chanz Green in the 74th Assembly District

Tuesday, September 1, 2026

Wisconsin 2026 elections: Democrat Paul Johnson challenges two-term Republican incumbent Chanz Green in the 74th Assembly District

Before redistricting, the GOP gerrymandered 74th Assembly District included all of Bayfield, Ashland, Iron and Price counties, a sliver of eastern Douglas County, the northern edge of Sawyer County, and a small chunk of northwest Vilas County. Quite the smorgasbord.

After redistricting, the district now includes the south portion of Douglas, Bayfield, and Ashland counties as well as all of Iron, Sawyer, and Washburn counties

The Redistricting Data Hub website defines a "community of interest" as:

...a group of people with shared concerns, interests, and characteristics. Every COI is unique; they might be formed around neighborhoods or the physical landscape, cultures, values, and many other things. Because of these shared interests and concerns, a common redistricting criteria is that COIs be considered during the process.

Maps and election results: Ballotpedia

GOP incumbent Chanz Green flipped the 74th Assembly District in 2022 and then won re-election to a second term by 25-point margin. This outcome doesn't bode well for this year Democratic challenger Paul Johnson to flip the district back to blue.

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]

Other Wisconsin 2026 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)