Wisconsin's 17th
State Senate district
2022 map defined in Johnson v. Wisconsin Elections Commission
2011 map was defined in 2011 Wisc. Act 43
composed of Assembly districts 49, 50, and 51
Senator
  Howard Marklein
R–Spring Green
since January 3, 2015 (8 years)
Demographics91.8% White
1.4% Black
3.4% Hispanic
0.8% Asian
1.4% Native American
0.0% Hawaiian/Pacific Islander
0.9% Other
Population (2020)
 • Voting age		178,829[1]
139,358
NotesSouthwest Wisconsin

Wisconsin's 17th Senate district is one of 33 districts in the Wisconsin State Senate.[2] Located in southwest Wisconsin, the district comprises all of Grant, Lafayette, Juneau, and Richland counties, as well as most of Sauk County, western Iowa County, southwest Green County, and parts of eastern Vernon County.[3]

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.[4]

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:[5]

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 Mark Pocan. Northern Juneau County falls within Wisconsin's 7th congressional district, represented by 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, represented by Derrick Van Orden.[6]

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".[7] 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".[8] 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.[9]

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".[10] 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.[11]

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.[12]

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.[13]

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.[14]

In the 1981–1982 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.[15] 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.[16]

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 while 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:

Senator Party Notes Session Years District Definition
District created 1848
Northern 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
1861–1865

1866–1870

1871–1875

1876–1881

1882–1887

1888–1891
Rock County
1885 population: 42,620
William A. Lawrence Rep. 16th 1863
17th 1864
Natl. Union 18th 1865
19th 1866
Samuel J. Todd Natl. Union 20th 1867
21st 1868
Charles G. Williams Rep. 22nd 1869
23rd 1870
24th 1871
25th 1872
Horatio Davis Rep. 26th 1873
27th 1874
28th 1875
29th 1876
Hamilton Richardson Rep. 30th 1877
31st 1878
32nd 1879
33rd 1880
34th 1881
35th 1882
Simon Lord Rep. 36th 1883–1884
37th 1885–1886
Allen P. Lovejoy Rep. 38th 1887–1888
39th 1889–1890
Richard Burdge Rep. 40th 1891–1892
41st 1893–1894
Green County and
southeast Dane County
& western Rock County
Henry Putnam Rep. 42nd 1895–1896
43rd 1897–1898
Green and Lafayette counties and
southern Rock County
Harry C. Martin Rep. 44th 1899–1900
45th 1901–1902
46th 1903–1904 Green, Iowa, and Lafayette counties
1910 population: 64,213
47th 1905–1906
48th 1907–1908
49th 1909–1910
50th 1911–1912
51st 1913–1914
Platt Whitman Rep. 52nd 1915–1916
53rd 1917–1918
Oscar R. Olson Rep. 54th 1919–1920
55th 1921–1922
Olaf H. Johnson Rep. 56th 1923–1924
57th 1925–1926
Charles W. Hutchison Rep. 58th 1927–1928
59th 1929–1930
William Olson Rep. Died Nov. 1931 60th 1931–1932
Vacant
George Engebretson Rep. Won 1932 special election 61st 1933–1934
62nd 1935–1936
63rd 1937–1938
Carl Lovelace Rep. Died Feb. 1941 64th 1939–1940
65th 1941–1942
Vacant
Melvin Olson Rep. 66th 1943–1944
67th 1945–1946
68th 1947–1948
69th 1949–1950
70th 1951–1952
71st 1953–1954
Robert S. Travis Rep. 72nd 1955–1956 Grant, Green, Iowa, and Lafayette counties
73rd 1957–1958
74th 1959–1960
75th 1961–1962
Gordon Roseleip Rep. 76th 1963–1964
77th 1965–1966 Grant, Green, Iowa, Lafayette, and Richland counties
78th 1967–1968
79th 1969–1970
80th 1971–1972
81st 1973–1974 Iowa, Lafayette, Richland counties and
Most of Grant County
Most of Green County
Southwest Rock County

Part of Dane County
Kathryn Morrison Dem. 82nd 1975–1976
83rd 1977–1978
Richard Kreul Rep. Resigned July 1991 84th 1979–1980
85th 1981–1982
86th 1983–1984 Iowa, Lafayette counties and
Most of Grant County
Most of Green County
Western Rock County
Southern Sauk County
Part of Richland County
87th 1985–1986 Iowa, Lafayette, Richland counties and
Most of Grant County
Most of Sauk County
Southern Juneau County
Part of Vernon County
88th 1987–1988
89th 1989–1990
90th 1991–1992
Vacant
Dale Schultz Rep. Won 1991 special election
91st 1993–1994 Grant, Iowa, Juneau, Lafayette counties and
Most of Sauk County
Northeast Richland County
92nd 1995–1996
93rd 1997–1998
94th 1999–2000
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
101st 2013–2014
Grant, Juneau, Lafayette, Richland counties and
Most of Sauk County
Western of Iowa County
Southwest Green County
Part of Monroe County
Howard Marklein Rep. 102nd 2015–2016
103rd 2017–2018
104th 2019–2020
105th 2021–2022
106th 2023–2024
Grant, Juneau, Lafayette, Richland counties and
most of Sauk County
western of Iowa County
southwest Green County
part of Vernon County

References

  1. ↑ "LTSB Open Data: Wisconsin Senate Districts (2022)". Wisconsin Legislative Technology Services Bureau. Retrieved November 19, 2022.
  2. ↑ "Senate District 17". Wisconsin Legislature. Retrieved March 10, 2021.
  3. ↑ "Wisconsin Legislative Districts - Senate District 17 Boundaries". Wisconsin Legislature. Retrieved March 10, 2021.
  4. ↑ "Senator Howard L. Marklein". Wisconsin Legislature. Retrieved March 10, 2021.
  5. ↑ Wisconsin Blue Book, 2011-12 edition, page 52. ISBN 978-0-9752820-1-4.
  6. ↑ "State of Wisconsin Congressional Districts" (PDF). Wisconsin Legislature. Retrieved March 10, 2021.
  7. ↑ "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.
  8. ↑ "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.
  9. ↑ "An Act to apportion the State into Senate and Assembly Districts". Act No. 216 of 1861 (PDF). Wisconsin Legislature. p. 238.
  10. ↑ "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.
  11. ↑ "An Act to apportion and district anew the State of Wisconsin into Senate districts". Act No. 309 of 1901 (PDF). Wisconsin Legislature. p. 427.
  12. ↑ "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.
  13. ↑ State ex rel. Reynolds v. Zimmerman, 23 Wis. 2d 606 (Wisconsin Supreme Court May 14, 1964).
  14. ↑ "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.
  15. ↑ Wisconsin State AFL-CIO v. Elections Board, 543 F. Supp. 630 (E.D. Wis. June 9, 1982).
  16. ↑ "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.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.