Elections in Wisconsin are famous for narrow margins with candidates winning by barely a percentage point. But as Wisconsin started counting its votes Tuesday night, the unthinkable happened: a rout.
Voters swept Republicans off the board in Wisconsin. They handed Democrats full control of every statewide office, as well as the Assembly and Senate. This on top of the fact that the state’s Supreme Court already has a liberal majority.
To understand the impact of Tuesday’s election for the LGBTQ community, we talked with Abigail Swetz, executive Director of Fair Wisconsin, as well as Dina Nina Martinez-Rutherford who won her election for the Wisconsin Assembly. She will serve as Wisconsin’s first ever transgender state legislator.
Watch our conversation
A Landslide in a Land of Narrow Margins
Fair Wisconsin is the state’s statewide LGBTQ+ civil rights and political advocacy organization. Swetz took the helm in 2024 and her assessment of the 2026 midterms was clear.
“Unequivocal rejection of MAGA extremism,” said Swetz, “Incredible pro-equality candidates elected up and down the ticket.”
The race for governor was a particular shock in terms of the scope of Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley’s victory over MAGA Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany. Governor-elect Crowley won by approximately eight points.
“The last time we saw a margin of victory like this in Wisconsin for a governor’s race was in the 1990s,” said Swetz.
In Wisconsin and across the country Republicans poured hundreds of millions into anti-trans attack ads. But voters in Wisconsin and across the country ignored it.
“Not only did we win when it comes to LGBTQ+ rights, but we won the way we needed to win,” said Swetz, “we won rejecting these disgusting anti-trans campaign ads that keep coming back, and let’s put that to bed. Let’s be done. It didn’t work, and thank God for that. So people showed up with empathy, and that’s the kind of way I want to win.”
Swetz pointed to Adam Hamilton who won his race for U.S. Senate in Kansas. Hamilton is a Methodist minister, yet when asked about transgender rights he cited scripture as for why he supports queer and trans people.
“A man of faith needing to say what he needed to say, and he did it instead of listening to some sort of campaign operative who would tell him it’s the wrong thing,” said Swetz. “That’s what I mean when we won our way. We won with empathy. We won showing up the way we should.”
History Making Election
On election night across America, LGBTQ candidates broke barriers at all levels of government. It was the same in Wisconsin.
JoCasta Zamarripa won her race for Secretary of State and she will become the first LGBTQ person and Latina to hold statewide office in Wisconsin.
And in Assembly District 76, Dina Nina Martinez-Rutherford prevailed in her race and will be Wisconsin’s first openly transgender state legislator.
“We have a trifecta and we’re going to be able to actually accomplish some of the change for the people that we have been wanting to do for two decades. It’s exciting,” said Martinez-Rutherford. She will join the legislature’s LGBTQ caucus that added two new members after this election, herself and Ismael Luna.
With these new members Swetz said the entire LGBTQ community will now be represented in Madison.
“We’ve got the full acronym, which I just think is so important,” she said.
Vision for the future
Because Wisconsin was one of the most gerrymandered states in the country, Democrats haven’t been in the position to legislate. Now with full control, they are able to enact a new future.
“Meaningful protections for trans people,” said Martinez-Rutherford when asked about her vision for the upcoming legislative session. “Making sure they’re re-enfranchised and that they have access to healthcare, all of those things that have been so under attack for the trans community. But also pouring money into social services, homelessness services, making sure that we’re lowering the cost of housing and building more housing and getting healthcare.”
Martinez-Rutherford also underscored the need for public school funding and how that would be a priority for her.
“We should not have to go to referendum for schools or city because of funding,” she said. “Our Wisconsin Constitution says it’s our obligation to fully fund public schools and we haven’t been doing that, so we’re going to remedy that. I’m ready to dig in and start funding public schools and making things better for working people and people who’ve experienced poverty.”
Having served on the Madison’s Common Council, Martinez-Rutherford has had a front row seat to how Republicans used their majorities to shift the burden of funding schools, streets, and water mains to tax payers.
“It’s just unconscionable that the Republican Party would be so antagonistic,” she said. “We should be able to fund cities and fund education and stop asking our taxpayers to pay more for their property just because we can’t do our job.”
From Legislative Defense to Legislative Offense
The trifecta marks a complete reversal of mission for Swetz and Fair Wisconsin. For years, she watched her students go to the capitol to testify about the negative impacts Republican legislation was having on queer and trans communities.
“I saw my students literally taking the bus to go and sit in a committee hearing,” she said. “And as trans students, make people look at them when they were making their decisions about their own rights.”
Now, she gets to teach them how to make laws.
On November 11, Fair Wisconsin will host “The Path Ahead: LGBTQ Advocacy Post Election” for people of all ages to prepare for the upcoming session. Swetz said the webinar will focus on how policy proposals become bills and how bills become laws.
She said, the webinar will be a “little schoolhouse rock, but less singing, I promise.”
Fair Wisconsin will continue to plan and host events to organize and train LGBTQ people to ensure they have a say in Wisconsin’s future.
“Let’s hold onto this feeling because this is hope, and then let’s do something with it,” said Swetz. “Because elections aren’t the finish line, they’re only the start, and this is a great starting line to be in. It’s going to be fun work for the first time in a while.”
Visit Fair Wisconsin’s website to register for “The Path Ahead: LGBTQ Advocacy Post Election”.
