Retiring Guy's Digest: Wisconsin 2026 elections: Democrat Charly Ray and Republican Eric Severson vie for open seat in 25th Senate District

Tuesday, October 20, 2026

Wisconsin 2026 elections: Democrat Charly Ray and Republican Eric Severson vie for open seat in 25th Senate District

The Wisconsin GOP conducted a master class in gerrymandering when they drew the previous boundaries of 25th Senate District, which included:

Town of New Haven in Dunn County
Town of Forest in St. Croix County
towns of Clear Lake, Johnstown, and McKinley in Polk County
all of the following counties: Washburn, Douglas, Bayfield, Ashland, Iron, and Price
towns of Lenroot and Spider Lake in Sawyer County
Town of Lac du Flambeau in Vilas County

Redistricting created a district that includes all of the following 8 counties: Polk, Burnett, Washburn, Sawyer, Douglas, Bayfield, Ashland, and Iron.

Maps: 2021-2022, 2025-2026

Election results and newest map: Ballotpedia

Freshman Republican Romaine Quinn currently represents the 25th District, but due to being drawn out as a result of redistricting, he is running in the 23rd.

Democrat Charly Ray is a Bayview bookstore owner who has served for 10 years on the Bayview Town Board and is currently a member of the Bayfield Board of Supervisors.

Republican Erik Severson previously served two term in the Wisconsin Assembly (2011-2015).

Republicans flipped the 25th by a considerable margin in 2022. Democrats are hoping to take it back this year.

The results of the August 11th primary elections don't provide any obvious clues as to how this year's election will turnout. Running unopposed in the Democratic primary, Ray received 18,886 votes out of 18,911 cast. In a contested GOP primary, Severson received 12,858 votes out of 23,799 cast. Ray received about 1/3 more votes than Severson, but overall more Republicans than Democrats voted.

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)