Robin Vos to continue in powerful Assembly speaker role

Robin Vos, the powerful speaker of the Wisconsin Assembly, has been selected by GOP lawmakers to continue in that role, one week after an election that shook up the composition of the Legislature but left Republicans in control.

Assembly Republicans met Tuesday to decide new leadership, after a general election in which every seat in the chamber was up for grabs under new legislative maps that gave Democrats an edge. Democrats flipped 10 seats, but Republicans held onto their majority, with the chamber’s new split at 54-45.

Vos, R-Rochester, was selected on Tuesday to continue on as Speaker, among the most significant positions in Wisconsin politics, a position that helps to decide which bills are brought up for votes and which lawmakers serve on which committees.

Rep. Tyler August, R-Lake Geneva, was selected to again be Assembly Majority Leader, and Rep. Scott Krug, R-Nekoosa, was selected to be Assistant Majority Leader.

That most likely means that Krug will no longer chair the Committee on Campaigns and Elections, Vos said, leaving a key position open going into the next legislative session when election administration policy — and particularly Wisconsin’s approach to counting early votes — is expected to once again be up for consideration.

First chosen for the role in 2013, Vos was already the longest-serving Speaker, and has wielded considerable authority over Wisconsin’s political agenda. In his tenure, he has pushed for broad tax cuts, including through the biennial budget process, and blocked many of Gov. Tony Evers’ initiatives. But in the most recent legislative session, he presided over significant bipartisan deal-making, including over funding for local governments.

And he oversaw the GOP passage of new legislative maps, drawn by Evers, which significantly cut into the gerrymandered majority that Republicans had held in Madison for years.

That majority will continue in the next session, albeit in smaller numbers. Vos said Tuesday that Republicans would hammer out their major agenda points at a retreat in December.

“We can take time to listen to what the members heard on the campaign trail, and we have an opportunity to make sure that the wishes of the public in Wisconsin become the reality that we work on over the course of the next 14 or 15 months,” he said, referring to the time span of a typical legislative session in Wisconsin.

Vos also said that the members of the Joint Finance Committee would be announced after Thanksgiving. That powerful committee essentially rewrites the state budget, and is run by the governing party.

Vos was challenged for the speaker position by Rep. Scott Allen, R-Waukesha. Allen and Vos differed in the past over whether to impeach Meagan Wolfe as Wisconsin’s chief elections official.

Democrats celebrate Senate wins, select new leadership

Senate Democrats also chose their leadership on Tuesday, with Minority Leader Sen. Dianne Hesselbein, D-Middleton, selected to continue in that role.

Hesselbein struck a jubilant tone as she discussed Senate Democrats’ relatively successful Election Day, when they flipped four seats in the chamber and trimmed a 22-seat Republican supermajority down to an an 18-15 GOP edge.

“Their voices are going to be fantastic, not just for the Democratic caucus in the state Senate, but for the entire state of Wisconsin as well,” Hesselbein said.

Unlike the Assembly, only about half of Senate seats were up for grabs this election, and Democrats have said they’re eyeing a full majority when the remaining seats come up for election in 2026.

Sen. Mark Spreitzer, D-Beloit, was selected to be Democratic caucus chair.

Democrats said their agenda included fighting for abortion access and using the state’s multibillion dollar surplus for K-12 education. The GOP-held majorities in both chambers are unlikely to propel these priorities forward.

Senate Republicans held their leadership elections last week, selecting Sen. Mary Felzkowski, R-Tomahawk, as chamber president. Assembly Democrats are due to hold their leadership elections Nov. 19.