Wisconsin Republicans elect new state Senate president

Wisconsin’s state Senate has two new faces in leadership positions after Republicans elected Mary Felzkowski as Senate president and Rachel Cabral-Guevara as majority caucus vice-chair.

The GOP caucus elections were held Thursday, two days after Democrats were able to flip four state Senate seats and end Republicans’ 22-10 supermajority in the chamber. Republicans now have an 18-15 seat majority.

Sen. Devin LeMahieu, R-Oostburg, was reelected as Senate majority leader. In a statement, he thanked his GOP colleagues for their support and said the Senate’s “top priority will be returning the state’s surplus to hardworking families.”

Wisconsin’s budget surplus is projected to be around $4 billion. In March, Democratic Gov. Tony Evers vetoed the bulk of a Republican tax cut package.

Former state Senate President Chris Kapenga, R-Pewaukee, was initially planning to run for the position again, but told WisPolitics he was dropping his bid following a challenge from Felzkowski, of Tomahawk. Kapenga said he didn’t have the votes for reelection.

In an interview with WPR, Felzkowski said the Senate’s former supermajority was a bit of a “moot point” because without a supermajority in the Wisconsin Assembly, the chamber was unable to override Evers’ vetoes.

“We have a three-person majority in the Senate, which for a purple state like Wisconsin, is still a very healthy majority,” Felzkowski said.

She echoed LeMahieu’s focus on returning the state’s surplus to taxpayers, “because with a $4 billion surplus, obviously we’re taking way too much money from our constituents.”

Felzkowski said lawmakers are still recovering from campaign season and a late election night, but will begin caucusing within the next couple weeks on the party’s priorities for the upcoming legislative session. She said she’s looking forward to doing a “deep dive” into health care legislation again.

“As we’ve seen, that was a real concern for a lot of our constituents, the cost of health care,” said Felzkowski. “How can we lower that for employees and for our constituents, while maintaining quality?”

She said Republicans also have ongoing concerns about vacancies in the Department of Corrections, “antiquated prisons,” and she’s hoping to see the troubled Lincoln Hills youth detention facility closed. In June, a staff member was critically injured during an assault and later died.

Felzkowski said she also has concerns about the long-term vacancy in the Department of Natural Resources’ top leadership position.

“So, that agency, to me, is in disarray,” Felzkowski said. “Gov. Evers has not appointed a secretary at the department. It’s been almost 11 months now, we’re going on a year. So we see a department that’s running amok.”

As Senate president, Felzkowski will preside over the chamber’s floor sessions and refer bills to senate committees.

The GOP Senate caucus also elected Sen. Rachel Cabral-Guevara, R-Appleton, to be the next majority caucus vice-chair. She replaces Sen. Joan Ballweg, R-Pardeeville, who was defeated Tuesday by Democratic challenger Sarah Keyeski of Lodi.