Wisconsin Senate’s top Democrat won’t seek reelection

The Wisconsin state Senate’s top Democrat said Tuesday that she won’t seek reelection this fall.

Minority Leader Janet Bewley said she wants to spend more time with her recently retired husband and grandchildren.

“(I)t is time for me to make way for a new generation of progressive and pragmatic leaders from a part of the state that has produced so many,” said Bewley in a statement.

Bewley, of Mason, represents a section of far northern Wisconsin that includes Superior and Ashland. She was first elected to the Assembly in 2010 and won election to the Senate in 2014.

The 25th Senate District has been a Democratic stronghold for decades. Former state Sen. Bob Jauch, D-Poplar, served in the position since 1987 until he retired, and Bewley beat out Rice Lake Republican Dane Deutsch in 2014 for the vacant seat.

Even so, the majority of voters in the district — 51.9 percent — also cast a ballot for President Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election, according to figures from the Wisconsin Elections Commission. Bewley was reelected to the state Senate with 51.1 percent of the vote in 2018.

Democrats in the state Senate elected Bewley to replace Jennifer Shilling of La Crosse as minority leader in 2020. She had served as assistant minority leader since 2017.

Bewley is the third member of the state Senate to announce they won’t be seeking re-election this fall. Her announcement comes after state Rep. Gordon Hintz announced in December that he would resign his position as Assembly minority leader. Assembly Democrats picked Greta Neubauer as their new leader on Dec. 20.

A host of legislators have announced they won’t seek reelection in November.

The Republican retirees include Assembly Majority Leader Jim Steineke, Reps. Jeremy Thiesfeldt, Gary Tauchen and Amy Loudenbeck, who is running for secretary of state, and Sen. Kathy Bernier.

The Democratic retirees include Reps. Beth Meyers, Diane Hesselbein, David Bowen and Sara Rodriguez. Hesselbein is running for state Senate and Bowen and Rodriguez are running for lieutenant governor. Sen. Jon Erpenbach also has announced he won’t run again; Hesselbein is running for his seat.