Wisconsin state government is composed of a legislative branch, an executive branch, and a judicial branch. The legislature enacts laws, the executive branch implements and enforces those laws, and the judiciary enforces and interprets those laws. The state capitol is in Madison, a college town dominated by “progressives.”
Executive Branch:
The executive branch of Wisconsin government is led by the Governor, currently Tony Evers, originally elected in 2018 and reelected in 2022. The governor serves a four-year term and is not term-limited. He has broad veto power but his vetoes can be overturned by a two-thirds vote of the members present in each house of the legislature. Other officers in the executive branch of government appear in the table below.
Supreme Court:
The Wisconsin Supreme Court is the highest court in Wisconsin’s court system. It consists of seven justices elected to ten-year terms. Current justices are:
- Chief Justice Annette Kingsland Ziegler, term ends 2027.
- Ann Walsh Bradley, term ends 2025.
- Patience D. Roggensack, term ends 2023, not seeking re-election.
- Rebecca Grassl Bradley, term ends 2026.
- Rebecca Frank Dallet, term ends 2028.
- Brian Hagedorn, term ends 2029.
- Jill J. Karofsky, term ends 2030.
As this was written, Justice Daniel Kelly and Judge Janet Protasiewicz are vying for the seat being vacated by Justice Patience Roggensack. The court currently has three liberals, three conservatives, and one moderate (Hagedorn) who tends to vote with the conservatives. Roggensack was considered to be a member of the narrow conservative majority, making this election of particular interest to partisans on both sides.
State Legislature:
The Wisconsin state legislature has two houses, the Assembly and the Senate. The Assembly has 99 members and the Senate has 33. Every citizen of Wisconsin is represented by a member in each house.
Elections for the legislature are held every other year, in November of each even-numbered year. Representatives serve two-year terms, and senators serve four-year terms. This means that at each election, every representative and half of the senators are elected. The other half of the senators are elected in the next election, two years later.
Republicans currently hold a majority of seats in the Assembly (64 seats) and in the Senate (22 seats). The Speaker of the House is Robin Vos, who represents a district in Racine County. He is the longest-serving speaker in Wisconsin history, having first been elected to the position by his peers in 2013. The President of the Senate is Republican Chris Kapenga, representing the 33rd senate district (Waukesha).
To find the elected officials who represent you, go to https://maps.legis.wisconsin.gov/ and enter your address. A district map will come up along with names, pictures, phone, and email addresses of your Wisconsin State Senator and Assembly Representative. By clicking on “For more information click here” (it appears in tiny print at top of the box showing the state elected officials) a page will come up that identifies your Congressman and U.S. Senators.
Alternatively, free directories of Wisconsin national and state elected officials can be viewed and downloaded from these two sites:
https://www.wispolitics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/220310_Directory.pdf
https://wifamilycouncil.org/election-central/contact-officials/
How to Contact Your Elected Representatives:
The two directories mentioned above contain email addresses, phone numbers for Madison offices and sometimes for district offices, and mailing addresses for offices in Madison.
Most elected officials have websites or Facebook pages that give the addresses of their district offices. Addresses and phone numbers for the district offices of Republican state office holders often can be found on the websites of County Republican Parties.
FreedomWorks has an “action center” on its website that determines who represents you, finds their email address, and sends your message. Click here: https://www.freedomworks.org/action.
Heritage Action’s website makes it easy for you to call your U.S. Senators or member of Congress and leave a message. Click here: https://heritageaction.com/action/.
You may also call your local public library, city, or town hall for the names of your legislators, and then refer to the two free directories or your county Republican Party office for contact information.
Find Out How Your Elected Representatives Voted:
How did your elected official vote on important bills in the most recent legislative session? Does he “talk like a conservative but vote like a liberal”? The Wisconsin Patriots Toolbox offers these resources to help you find out!
Click here to find descriptions of, and links to, nine websites reporting the voting records of Wisconsin elected officials. Six of the nine report the voting records of state elected officials. (The other three score only members of Congress.) Scores differ because some organizations focus on economic issues while others focus on social issues.
How to Track Bills:
 Go to legis.wisconsin.gov and scroll down to the “Law and Legislation” section on the left side of the screen. Enter a description of the proposal or number of the bill you want to access, then click on “Find Proposal.” On the next page click on the link to the bill you entered. You may then view the text of the bill by clicking on “Bill Text” under “Links.”
For example, to access Senate Bill 1 in the 2021 Regular Session, type SB 1 in the search box under “Law and Legislation.” Click “Find Proposal” and then select “2021 Senate Bill 1.” Click on “Bill Text” and the bill will be displayed. To print the bill, press CTRL+ P and then “Print.”
From the “RSS Feeds” link in the “Law and Legislation” section, you can subscribe to updates, receive up-to-the-minute information, and build your own custom news feeds from multiple sources. In this way you can track proposals that have been introduced, committee actions that have been taken, and more.
