Wisconsin Senate, District 17

Last updated
Wisconsin's 17th
State Senate District
2011 WI Sen 17.png
Wisconsin Senate District 17, defined in 2011 Wisc. Act 43
Senator
  Howard Marklein
R Spring Green
since January 3, 2015 (6 years)
Demographics95.5%  White
1.0%  Black
2.5%  Hispanic
0.5%  Asian
0.5%  Native American
Population (2010)
  Voting age
172,550 [1] [2]
132,669
NotesSouthwest Wisconsin

The 17th Senate District of Wisconsin is one of 33 districts in the Wisconsin State Senate. [3] Located in southwest Wisconsin, the district comprises all of Grant, Lafayette, Juneau, and Richland counties, as well as western Sauk County, western Iowa County southwest Green County, and parts of eastern Vernon County and southeast Monroe County. [4]

Contents

Current elected officials

Howard Marklein is the senator representing the 17th district. He was first elected in the 2014 general election, and is now in his second four-year term. Before serving as senator, he was a member of the Wisconsin State Assembly from 2011 to 2015, representing the 51st Assembly district. [5]

Each Wisconsin State Senate district is composed of three Wisconsin State Assembly districts. The 17th Senate district comprises the 49th, 50th, and 51st Assembly districts. The current representatives of those districts are: [6]

The 17th Senate district, in its current borders, crosses three different congressional districts. Iowa, Sauk, and Lafayette counties, as well as the southeast corner of Richland County fall within Wisconsin's 2nd congressional district, which is represented by U.S. Representative Mark Pocan; northern Juneau County falls within Wisconsin's 7th congressional district, represented by U.S. Representative Tom Tiffany; the remainder of Juneau County, along with Grant County, the remainder of Richland County, and the portions of Vernon and Monroe counties within the 17th Senate district fall within Wisconsin's 3rd congressional district, which is represented by U.S. Representative Ron Kind. [7]

History

The 17th Senate district was one of the original 19 Senate districts when Wisconsin was established as a U.S. state. The 17th district was defined in Article XIV, Section 12 of the Wisconsin Constitution as "The towns of Racine, Caledonia, Mount Pleasant, Raymond, Norway, Rochester, Yorkville, and Burlington, in the county of Racine". [8] At that time, this list of towns constituted the northern half of Racine County, but after the establishment of Kenosha County in 1850, this collection of towns would constitute the entire territory of Racine County. During these years, the Free Soil Party was established as a splinter faction of the Democratic Party, and Racine County was a center of Free Soil power in the state of Wisconsin.

In 1852, the Wisconsin Legislature passed a reapportionment which expanded the Senate to 25 seats. The act redefined the 17th Senate district as "The towns of Janesville, Rock, Fulton, Porter, Centre, Plymouth, Newark, Avon, Spring Valley, Magnolia, and Union, in the county of Rock". [9] This constituted the western half of Rock County. The 1856 redistricting, which expanded the Senate to 30 seats, reiterated the existing boundaries for the 17th district, but noted the addition of the city of Janesville, which was incorporated in 1853. The 1861 redistricting act, which expanded the Senate to its current number of 33 senators, expanded the 17th district to cover all of Rock County. [10]

The district boundaries remained unchanged until 1892, when a controversial redistricting act was passed just days before the 1892 election. The new boundaries of the 17th district were defined as "The county of Green and the towns of Union, Porter, Magnolia, Center, Spring Valley, Plymouth, Avon, Newark, Beloit and the Third and Fourth wards of the city of Beloit, in the county of Rock, and the towns of Cottage Grove, Deerfield, Pleasant Springs, Dunkirk, Dunn, Rutland, Christiana, Albion and the city of Stoughton, in the county of Dane". [11] Simplified, this constituted all of Green County, western Rock County, and southeast Dane County.

The 1892 act was quickly superseded by an 1896 act, which redefined the 17th Senate district as "Green and Lafayette counties, and the towns of Avon, Beloit, Clinton, Newark, Plymouth, Spring Valley, Turtle, and the village of Clinton, and the city of Beloit, in the county of Rock." The list of towns in Rock county constituted roughly the southern half of the county. This act was, in turn, superseded by the 1901 redistricting act which removed Rock County from the district entirely, and added Iowa County to Green and Lafayette. [12]

In 1951, after several decades without redistricting, the Wisconsin Legislature passed the so-called Rosenberry plan, named for retired Wisconsin Supreme Court justice Marvin B. Rosenberry, who chaired the redistricting commission which drafted the plan. The new plan went into effect in the 1954 elections, after some additional wrangling and judicial arguments. Under that plan, the 17th Senate district added Grant County to Green, Lafayette, and Iowa. [13]

In the 1960s, the Legislature missed a court-imposed deadline to pass a redistricting plan after the 1960 U.S. Census. The Wisconsin Supreme Court, therefore, enforced its own plan for legislative districts in a filing in State ex rel. Reynolds v. Zimmerman. In the court-ordered plan, the 17th Senate district added Richland County to Grant, Green, Iowa, and Lafayette. [14]

The district only changed slightly in the 1972 redistricting, the first to occur after the Supreme Court ruling requiring state legislative districts to offer equal representation. The 17th district lost several towns of northwest Grant County, and gained parts of southwest Rock County and northwest Dane County. [15]

In the 19811982 session, the Legislature again failed to pass a redistricting plan, and, as a result of litigation, a panel of three federal judges ordered a new districting plan in Wisconsin State AFL-CIO v. Elections Board. Under the court-ordered plan, the 17th Senate district lost most of Richland County and northern Green County, and the parts of Dane County that had been added in 1972, it gained more of Rock County and part of southern Sauk County. [16] This court-ordered plan was only in-effect for the 1982 election; in 1983 the Legislature acted to override the court-ordered plan with their own plan for the remainder of the 1980s elections. The 17th district regained all of Richland County and added most of Sauk County and part of southern Juneau County; it lost all of Green and Rock counties. [17]

The 1992 redistricting was again ordered by a panel of judges, and this time was not superseded by a Legislative plan. The 1992 plan saw the 17th district add all of Juneau and the remaining parts of Grant County, and losing much of Richland County. The subsequent 2002 and 2011 maps vary in boundaries, but keep roughly this configuration, stretching from Grant to Juneau, with parts of Richland, Sauk, Iowa, and Lafayette counties.

Past senators

The boundaries of districts have changed over history. Previous politicians of a specific numbered district have represented different geographic areas, due to redistricting.

At statehood, the district was one of two for Racine County. It was represented by:

SenatorPartyNotesSessionYearsDistrict Definition
District created1848Northern Racine County
Philo White Dem. 1st
Victor Willard Free Soil 2nd 1849
3rd 1850
Stephen O. Bennett Free Soil 4th 1851 Racine County
5th 1852
Ezra Miller Dem. 6th 1853
Western Rock County
7th 1854
James Sutherland Rep. 8th 1855
9th 1856
10th 1857
Western Rock County
11th 1858
Zebulon P. Burdick Rep. 12th 1859
13th 1860
Ezra Foot Rep. 14th 1861
15th 1862
WI Senate District 17, 1862-1892 Map of Wisconsin highlighting Rock County.svg
WI Senate District 17, 1862-1892
Rock County
1885 population: 42,620
William A. Lawrence Rep. 16th 1863
17th 1864
Natl. Union 18th1865
19th1866
S. J. Todd Natl. Union 20th1867
21st1868
Charles G. Williams Rep. 22nd1869
23rd1870
24th1871
25th1872
Horatio Davis Rep. 26th1873
27th1874
28th1875
29th1876
Hamilton Richardson Rep. 30th1877
31st1878
32nd1879
33rd1880
34th1881
35th1882
Simon Lord Rep. 36th1883–1884
37th1885–1886
Allen P. Lovejoy Rep. 38th1887–1888
39th1889–1890
Richard Burdge Rep. 40th1891–1892
41st1893–1894 Green County and
Western Rock County
and
Southeast Dane County
Henry Putnam Rep. 42nd1895–1896
43rd1897–1898 Green and Lafayette counties and
Southern Rock County
Harry C. Martin Rep. 44th1899–1900
45th1901–1902
46th1903–1904 Green, Iowa, and Lafayette counties
1910 population: 64,213
47th1905–1906
48th1907–1908
49th1909–1910
50th1911–1912
51st1913–1914
Platt Whitman Rep. 52nd1915–1916
53rd1917–1918
Oscar R. Olson Rep. 54th1919–1920
55th1921–1922
Olaf H. Johnson Rep. 56th1923–1924
57th1925–1926
Charles W. Hutchison Rep. 58th1927–1928
59th1929–1930
William Olson Rep. Died Nov. 1931.60th1931–1932
--Vacant--
George Engebretson Rep. Won 1932 special election.61st1933–1934
62nd1935–1936
63rd1937–1938
Carl Lovelace Rep. Died Feb. 1941.64th1939–1940
65th1941–1942
--Vacant--
Melvin Olson Rep. 66th1943–1944
67th1945–1946
68th1947–1948
69th1949–1950
70th1951–1952
71st1953–1954
Robert S. Travis Rep. 72nd1955–1956 Grant, Green, Iowa, and Lafayette counties
73rd1957–1958
74th1959–1960
75th1961–1962
Gordon Roseleip Rep. 76th1963–1964
77th1965–1966 Grant, Green, Iowa, Lafayette, and Richland counties
78th1967–1968
79th1969–1970
80th1971–1972
81st1973–1974 Iowa, Lafayette, Richland counties and
Most of Grant County
Most of Green County
Southwest Rock County

Part of Dane County
Kathryn Morrison Dem. 82nd1975–1976
83rd1977–1978
Richard Kreul Rep. Resigned July 1991.84th1979–1980
85th1981–1982
86th1983–1984 Iowa, Lafayette counties and
Most of Grant County
Most of Green County
Western Rock County
Southern Sauk County
Part of Richland County
87th1985–1986 Iowa, Lafayette, Richland counties and
Most of Grant County
Most of Sauk County
Southern Juneau County
Part of Vernon County
88th1987–1988
89th1989–1990
90th1991–1992
--Vacant--
Dale Schultz Rep. Won 1991 special election.
91st1993–1994 Grant, Iowa, Juneau, Lafayette counties and
Most of Sauk County
Northeast Richland County
92nd1995–1996
93rd1997–1998
94th1999–2000
95th 2001–2002
96th 2003–2004 Grant, Iowa, Juneau, counties and
Most of Lafayette County
Most of Sauk County
Most of Richland County
Part of Monroe County
97th 2005–2006
98th 2007–2008
99th 2009–2010
100th 2011–2012
101st2013–2014 Grant, Juneau, Lafayette, Richland counties and
Most of Sauk County
Western of Iowa County
Southwest Green County
Part of Monroe County
Howard Marklein Rep. 102nd2015–2016
103rd 2017–2018
104th 2019–2020
105th 2021–2022

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References

  1. 2011 Wisconsin Act 43 and 44 with Baldus et al vs. Brennan et al by Municipal Ward (PDF) (Report). Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau. October 18, 2012. pp. 109–125. Retrieved January 30, 2021.
  2. Wisconsin Legislative District Health Profile - Senate District 17 (PDF) (Report). University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. 2018. Retrieved January 30, 2021.
  3. "Senate District 17". Wisconsin Legislature . Retrieved March 10, 2021.
  4. "Wisconsin Legislative Districts - Senate District 17 Boundaries". Wisconsin Legislature . Retrieved March 10, 2021.
  5. "Senator Howard L. Marklein". Wisconsin Legislature . Retrieved March 10, 2021.
  6. Wisconsin Blue Book, 2011-12 edition, page 52. ISBN   978-0-9752820-1-4.
  7. "State of Wisconsin Congressional Districts" (PDF). Wisconsin Legislature . Retrieved March 10, 2021.
  8. "Constitution of the State of Wisconsin" (PDF). Manual for the use of the Assembly of the State of Wisconsin, for the year 1853 (Report). State of Wisconsin. 1853. p. 38. Retrieved March 10, 2021.
  9. "An Act to apportion and district anew the members of the Senate and Assembly of the State of Wisconsin". Act No. 499 of 1852 (PDF). Wisconsin Legislature. p. 776.
  10. "An Act to apportion the State into Senate and Assembly Districts". Act No. 216 of 1861 (PDF). Wisconsin Legislature. p. 238.
  11. "An Act to apportion the State of Wisconsin into Senate and Assembly districts". Special Session 2 Act No. 1 of 1891 (PDF). Wisconsin Legislature. pp. 8–9.
  12. "An Act to apportion and district anew the State of Wisconsin into Senate districts". Act No. 309 of 1901 (PDF). Wisconsin Legislature. p. 427.
  13. "An Act to amend 4.01 and 4.02 of the statutes, relating to the apportionment of assemblymen and senators". Act No. 728 of 1951 (PDF). Wisconsin Legislature. p. 583.
  14. State ex rel. Reynolds v. Zimmerman, 23Wis. 2d606 ( Wisconsin Supreme Court May 14, 1964).
  15. "An Act ... relating to districting the senate and assembly based on the number of inhabitants shown by the certified results of the 1970 census of population". Act No. 304 of 1971 (PDF). Wisconsin Legislature. pp. 1193–1194.
  16. Wisconsin State AFL-CIO v. Elections Board, 543F. Supp.630 ( E.D. Wis. June 9, 1982).
  17. "An Act ... relating to redistricting the senate and assembly based on the 1980 federal census of population and making miscellaneous changes in the statutes pertaining to decennial legislative redistricting". Act No. 29 of 1983 (PDF). Wisconsin Legislature. pp. 636, 644–645, 683.