Rep. Behnke plans to relocate if elected

MENOMINEE, MICH. – Governor Tony Evers signed a bill to draw new legislative district lines for the 2024 fall elections on Feb. 13, shaking up the previous composition of representatives.

The new legislative maps were instituted following a lawsuit, Clarke v. Wisconsin Elections Commission, filed two months prior, which argued the 2021 legislative map in Wisconsin constituted an extreme partisan gerrymander that violates the Wisconsin constitution.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court struck down the state’s 2021 legislative maps, ruling them unconstitutional. Senior Director of Redistricting at Campaign Legal Center and native Wisconsinite Mark Gaber said, “Democracy won today in Wisconsin — and all Wisconsin voters will benefit.”

“Fair maps are the backbone of a healthy, responsive government,” Gaber added. “But for more than a decade, Wisconsin voters suffered under unfair and unconstitutional maps that denied them an equal voice in their state government. All Wisconsinites — no matter where they live in the state — deserve maps that give them a fair shot to elect leaders who will best serve their community, and today’s decision makes that a reality.”

That ruling moved many incumbents into new districts, which has created discourse regarding the upcoming election.

Representative Elijah Behnke, who currently resides in the 4th Assembly District and has represented District 89 since April of 2021, says he will rent something in the 6th Assembly District if elected, and plans to eventually move his family there permanently. Behnke’s current term will end on Jan. 6, 2025.

According to Behnke, he prefers to run for the 6th District rather than the 4th because he lives close to the district line and would rather represent a rural district.

“A lot of the time small farms and rural towns get forgotten in Madison,” Behnke said. “I like to be a voice for those that can’t afford a lobbyist.”

Representative Pete Schmidt was first elected to the seat in the 6th Assembly District in 2022, but lost to Behnke’s primary challenge in August.

In the general election, Benhke is being challenged by Shawano Democrat Shirley Hinze, who was secretary of American Legion Auxiliary 492 and was on the board of the Harbor Advisory Commission in Marquette, Mich.

In an interview with NEW Media, Hinze said that she wants to be a legislator who listens to the people. “I want to take that and not sit on my haunches and let stuff slide,” she said. Because most of the 6th District is rural, Hinze wants to make sure that what she does in office will benefit and not harm farmers.

Hinze noted that having Behnke, a Republican from Pensaukee, be the endorsed candidate for the Shawano County Republicans is a concern for her because Behnke doesn’t currently live within the Sixth Assembly District boundaries, although he has promised to move to the Town of Morgan near Gillett if he gets the seat.

“I believe you need at least a year’s residency to run,” Hinze said.
According to the Wisconsin State Legislature statute 8.28, “If the attorney general finds that allegations of unmet residency qualifications are true or for any other reason finds that the subject person who is holding or elected to office is not qualified because of failure to meet a residency requirement, the attorney general may commence an action under ch. 784 for a writ of quo warranto to have the subject person’s office declared vacant or to restrain any person not entitled to take office from assuming it.”

The statute continues, “In the case of a person who is elected to office in the legislature, the clerk of court shall transmit a copy of the judgment to the presiding officer of the appropriate house, and the house shall determine whether the person is qualified to be seated or whether a vacancy exists.”

Contrary to Hinze’s allegations, people considering running for the Assembly or State Senate must be a resident of Wisconsin for one year — a constitutional requirement some say lacks clear definition — and be a qualified elector of the district they would represent on the day they would be sworn into office.

Based on how the statute is currently written, Behnke would qualify for office if elected.