Speaker of the Wisconsin State Assembly

The Speaker of the Wisconsin State Assembly is the presiding officer of the Wisconsin State Assembly, the lower house of the Wisconsin Legislature. Article IV of the Constitution of Wisconsin, ratified in 1848, establishes the legislature and specifies the election of officers. The role and responsibilities of the speaker are defined in the Assembly Rules, originally in Rule 1, and also, under the present rules, Rule 3.^[2]

Speaker of the Wisconsin State Assembly
Incumbent Robin Vos since January 7, 2013
Wisconsin State Assembly
Style	Mr. Speaker (Informal) The Honorable (Formal)
Status	Presiding officer
Seat	Wisconsin State Capitol, Madison, Wisconsin
Appointer	The Assembly
Term length	At the Assembly's pleasure; elected at the beginning of the new Legislature by a majority of the representatives-elect, and upon a vacancy during a session.
Constituting instrument	Constitution of Wisconsin
Formation	June 5, 1848; 176 years ago (1848-06-05)
First holder	Ninian E. Whiteside June 5, 1848
Deputy	Speaker pro tempore
Salary	$53,299[1]

Selection

The speaker is chosen by a majority vote of the Assembly members at the start of each session or whenever a vacancy occurs in the role during a session, as such, the speaker is almost always the de facto leader of the Assembly's majority party. A speaker pro tempore is elected concurrent with the election of the speaker, to carry out the speaker's duties in his or her absence. Unlike the United States House of Representatives, the rules of the Assembly require that the speaker and speaker pro tempore be elected from among the members of the Assembly.^[2]

Powers and duties

The speaker is empowered to make all Assembly committee assignments and office assignments for members, and supervises all officers of the Assembly. The speaker is required to authenticate all acts, orders, or proceedings from the Assembly, and, with the countersignature of the chief clerk, issues all subpoenas on behalf of the Assembly or its committees.^[2]

Current Speaker

The current Speaker of the Assembly for the 105th Wisconsin Legislature is Robin Vos of Burlington, Racine County, Wisconsin. He is the 79th speaker since the establishment of the State Assembly and the 75th person to hold the office. He is currently serving his fourth term as speaker, first elected to the role on January 7, 2013.^[3]

The Speaker pro tempore is Representative Tyler August of Lake Geneva, Walworth County, Wisconsin. This is his third full term in the role after being elected by the caucus in the October 2013.^[3]

List of speakers

Wisconsin Territory (1836–1848)

Assembly	Session (years)	Speaker[4]			Party	Residence	Notes
1st	1st Session (1836)			Peter H. Engle	Democratic	Dubuque
	2nd Session (1837 – 1838)			Isaac Leffler	Whig	Des Moines
	Special Session (1838)			William B. Sheldon	Democratic	Milwaukee
2nd	1st Session (1838)			John Wilford Blackstone Sr.	Whig	Iowa County
	2nd Session (1839)			Lucius Israel Barber	Whig	Milwaukee
	3rd Session (1839 – 1840)			Edward V. Whiton	Whig	Rock County
	4th Session (1840)			Nelson Dewey	Democratic	Grant County
3rd	1st Session (1840 – 1841)			David Newland	Democratic	Iowa County
	2nd Session (1841 – 1842)
4th	1st Session (1842 – 1843)			Albert Gallatin Ellis	Democratic	Portage
	2nd Session (1843 – 1844)			George H. Walker	Democratic	Milwaukee
	3rd Session (1845)
	4th Session (1846)			Mason C. Darling	Democratic	Fond du Lac
5th	1st Session (1847)			William Shew	Democratic	Milwaukee
	Special Session (1847)			Isaac P. Walker	Democratic	Milwaukee
	2nd Session (1848)			Timothy Burns	Democratic	Iowa County

Wisconsin State Assembly (1848–Present)

Order	Legislature (years)	Speaker[5]			Party	Residence	Notes
1	1st (1848)			Ninian E. Whiteside	Democratic	Belmont, Lafayette County
2	2nd (1849)			Harrison Carroll Hobart	Democratic	Sheboygan, Sheboygan County
3	3rd (1850)			Moses M. Strong	Democratic	Mineral Point, Iowa County
4	4th (1851)			Frederick W. Horn	Democratic	Cedarburg, Washington County
5	5th (1852)			James McMillan Shafter	Whig	Sheboygan, Sheboygan County
6	6th (1853)			Henry L. Palmer	Democratic	Milwaukee, Milwaukee County
7	7th (1854)			Frederick W. Horn	Democratic	Cedarburg, Ozaukee County
8	8th (1855)			Charles C. Sholes	Republican	Kenosha, Kenosha County
9	9th (1856)			William Hull	Democratic	Potosi, Grant County
10	10th (1857)			Wyman Spooner	Republican	Elkhorn, Walworth County
11	11th (1858)			Frederick S. Lovell	Republican	Kenosha, Kenosha County
12	12th (1859)			William P. Lyon	Republican	Racine, Racine County
	13th (1860)
13	14th (1861)			Amasa Cobb	Republican	Mineral Point, Iowa County
14	15th (1862)			Joseph W. Beardsley	Union Democrat	Prescott, Pierce County
15	16th (1863)			J. Allen Barber	Republican	Lancaster, Grant County
16	17th (1864)			William W. Field	Union	Fennimore, Grant County
	18th (1865)
17	19th (1866)			Henry D. Barron	Republican	St. Croix Falls, Polk County
18	20th (1867)			Angus Cameron	Republican	La Crosse, La Crosse County
19	21st (1868)			Alexander McDonald Thomson	Republican	Janesville, Rock County
	22nd (1869)
20	23rd (1870)			James M. Bingham	Republican	Palmyra, Jefferson County
21	24th (1871)			William E. Smith	Republican	Fox Lake, Dodge County
22	25th (1872)			Daniel Hall	Republican	Watertown, Jefferson County
23	26th (1873)			Henry D. Barron	Republican	St. Croix Falls, Polk County
24	27th (1874)			Gabriel Bouck	Democratic	Oshkosh, Winnebago County
25	28th (1875)			Frederick W. Horn	Democratic	Cedarburg, Ozaukee County
26	29th (1876)			Sam S. Fifield	Republican	Ashland, Ashland County
27	30th (1877)			John B. Cassoday	Republican	Janesville, Rock County
28	31st (1878)			Augustus Barrows	Greenbacker	Chippewa Falls, Chippewa County
29	32nd (1879)			David M. Kelly	Republican	Green Bay, Brown County
30	33rd (1880)			Alexander A. Arnold	Republican	Galesville, Trempealeau County
31	34th (1881)			Ira B. Bradford	Republican	Augusta, Eau Claire County
32	35th (1882)			Franklin L. Gilson	Republican	Ellsworth, Pierce County
33	36th (1883 – 1884)			Earl P. Finch	Democratic	Oshkosh, Winnebago County
34	37th (1885 – 1886)			Hiram Orlando Fairchild	Republican	Marinette, Marinette County
35	38th (1887 – 1888)			Thomas Brooks Mills	Republican	Millston, Jackson County
	39th (1889 – 1890)
36	40th (1891 – 1892)			James J. Hogan	Democratic	La Crosse, La Crosse County
37	41st (1893 – 1894)			Edward Keogh	Democratic	Milwaukee, Milwaukee County
38	42nd (1895 – 1896)			George B. Burrows	Republican	Madison, Dane County
39	43rd (1897 – 1898)			George A. Buckstaff	Republican	Oshkosh, Winnebago County
40	44th (1899 – 1900)			George H. Ray	Republican	La Crosse, La Crosse County
	45th (1901 – 1902)
41	46th (1903 – 1904)			Irvine Lenroot	Republican	West Superior, Douglas County
	47th (1905 – 1906)
42	48th (1907 – 1908)			Herman L. Ekern	Republican	Whitehall, Trempealeau County
43	49th (1909 – 1910)			Levi H. Bancroft	Republican	Richland Center, Richland County
44	50th (1911 – 1912)			Charles A. Ingram	Republican	Durand, Pepin County
45	51st (1913 – 1914)			Merlin Hull	Republican	Black River Falls, Jackson County
46	52nd (1915 – 1916)			Lawrence C. Whittet	Republican	Edgerton, Rock County
	53rd (1917 – 1918)
47	54th (1919 – 1920)			Riley S. Young	Republican	Darien, Walworth County
	55th (1921 – 1922)
48	56th (1923 – 1924)			John L. Dahl	Republican	Rice Lake, Barron County
49	57th (1925 – 1926)			Herman W. Sachtjen	Republican	Madison, Dane County
50				George A. Nelson	Republican	Milltown, Polk County
51	58th (1927 – 1928)			John W. Eber	Republican	Milwaukee, Milwaukee County
52	59th (1929 – 1930)			Charles B. Perry	Republican	Wauwatosa, Milwaukee County
	60th (1931 – 1932)
53	61st (1933 – 1934)			Cornelius T. Young	Democratic	Milwaukee, Milwaukee County
54	62nd (1935 – 1936)			Jorge W. Carow	Progressive	Ladysmith, Rusk County
55	63rd (1937 – 1938)			Paul R. Alfonsi	Progressive	Pence, Iron County
56	64th (1939 – 1940)			Vernon Wallace Thomson	Republican	Richland Center, Richland County
	65th (1941 – 1942)
	66th (1943 – 1944)
57	67th (1945 – 1946)			Donald C. McDowell	Republican	Soldiers Grove, Crawford County
	68th (1947 – 1948)
58	69th (1949 – 1950)			Alex L. Nicol	Republican	Sparta, Monroe County
59	70th (1951 – 1952)			Ora R. Rice	Republican	Delavan, Walworth County
	71st (1953 – 1954)
60	72nd (1955 – 1956)			Mark Catlin, Jr.	Republican	Appleton, Outagamie County
61	73rd (1957 – 1958)			Robert G. Marotz	Republican	Shawano, Shawano County
62	74th (1959 – 1960)			George Molinaro	Democratic	Kenosha, Kenosha County
63	75th (1961 – 1962)			David J. Blanchard	Republican	Edgerton, Rock County
64	76th (1963 – 1964)			Robert D. Haase	Republican	Marinette, Marinette County
65	77th (1965 – 1966)			Robert T. Huber	Democratic	West Allis, Milwaukee County
66	78th (1967 – 1968)			Harold Vernon Froehlich	Republican	Appleton, Outagamie County
	79th (1969 – 1970)
67	80th (1971 – 1972)			Robert T. Huber	Democratic	West Allis, Milwaukee County
68				Norman C. Anderson	Democratic	Madison, Dane County
	81st (1973 – 1974)
	82nd (1975 – 1976)
69	83rd (1977 – 1978)			Edward G. Jackamonis	Democratic	Waukesha, Waukesha County
	84th (1979 – 1980)
	85th (1981 – 1982)
70	86th (1983 – 1984)			Thomas A. Loftus	Democratic	Sun Prairie, Dane County
	87th (1985 – 1986)
	88th (1987 – 1988)
	89th (1989 – 1990)
71	90th (1991 – 1992)			Walter Kunicki	Democratic	Milwaukee, Milwaukee County
	91st (1993 – 1994)
72	92nd (1995 – 1996)			David Prosser, Jr.	Republican	Appleton, Outagamie County
73	93rd (1997 – 1998)			Ben Brancel	Republican	Endeavor, Marquette County
74				Scott R. Jensen	Republican	Waukesha, Waukesha County
	94th (1999 – 2000)
	95th (2001 – 2002)
75	96th (2003 – 2004)			John Gard	Republican	Peshtigo, Marinette County
	97th (2005 – 2006)
76	98th (2007 – 2008)			Michael Huebsch	Republican	West Salem, La Crosse County
77	99th (2009 – 2010)			Michael J. Sheridan	Democratic	Janesville, Rock County
78	100th (2011 – 2012)			Jeff Fitzgerald	Republican	Horicon, Dodge County
79	101st (2013 – 2014)			Robin Vos	Republican	Burlington, Racine County	Longest-serving speaker
	102nd (2015 – 2016)
	103rd (2017 – 2018)
	104th (2019 – 2020)
	105th (2021 – 2022)
	106th (2023 – 2024)

See also

• Constitution of Wisconsin
• Wisconsin State Assembly
• Wisconsin Legislature

References

1. Salaries of Wisconsin State Elected Officials (PDF) (Report). Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau. 2019. p. 2. Retrieved May 11, 2020.
2. "Assembly Rules". Wisconsin Legislature. Retrieved May 12, 2020.
3. "Wisconsin State Assembly". Wisconsin Legislature. Retrieved May 13, 2020.
4. Heg, J. E., ed. (1882). "Annals of the Legislature". The Blue Book of the State of Wisconsin (Report). State of Wisconsin. pp. 161–174. Retrieved May 12, 2020.
5. Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau (2019). "Statistics and Reference: Historical lists" (PDF). Wisconsin Blue Book 2019-2020 (Report). Madison, Wisconsin: State of Wisconsin. pp. 486–487. ISBN 978-1-7333817-0-3. Retrieved May 12, 2020.