Retiring Guy's Digest: Wisconsin 2026 elections: Republican Bobby Lindsey challenges freshman Democratic incumbent Ryan Spaude in 89th Assembly District

Saturday, September 26, 2026

Wisconsin 2026 elections: Republican Bobby Lindsey challenges freshman Democratic incumbent Ryan Spaude in 89th Assembly District

Before redistricting, the GOP gerrymandered 89th Assembly District in the equally GOP gerrymandered 30th Senate District (see below) was a sprawl that included a cracked portion of northwest Brown County, eastern Oconto County, and southern Marinette County.

Redistricting created a more compact urban district that includes most of the City of Green Bay west of the Fox River as well as all of the Village of Ashwaubenon. The population of Green Bay and its suburbs is about 200,000 -- more than enough to fill three Assembly District.

The 88th, 89th, and 90th Assembly districts should all be located within Brown County. And that is what redistricting accomplished with fair maps.

Maps and election results: Ballotpedia

Prior to redistricting, the 89th was an overwhelmingly conservative district. With a fair map in place, Democrat Ryan Spaude was able to flip the district in 2024. He won the seat by just 3 percentage point, which that his match-up with Republican Bobby Lindsey is likely to be competitive.

On the other hand, Spaude outperformed Lindsey in their respective primaries on August 11. Spaude received 5,517 votes out of 5,546 cast, and Lindsey received 3,276 out of 3,286 cast.

That was then

Source: Wisconsin Blue Book 2021-2022

This is now: fair map (wholly within Brown County)

Source: Wisconsin Blue Book 2025-2026

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)