Robin Joseph Vos (born July 5, 1968) is an American businessman and Republican politician from Racine County, Wisconsin. He is the 79th speaker of the Wisconsin State Assembly and the longest-serving speaker in Wisconsin history, having served since 2013. Vos has been a member of the Assembly since 2005.Wisconsin Blue Book 2011-2012, Biographical sketch of Robin Vos, p. 61. He was also president of the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Vos came to prominence for his role in shepherding legislation to weaken bargaining rights and labor unions under Governor Scott Walker. Under Governor Tony Evers, Vos has sought to curb the governor's powers and expand legislative authority.
Early life and education Vos was born in 1968, in Burlington, Wisconsin, in Racine County. He graduated from Burlington High School in 1986.
Vos attended the University of Wisconsin–Whitewater, where he studied political science and public relations. While at Whitewater, he roomed with Reince Priebus, who later became chairman of the Republican Party of Wisconsin, chairman of the Republican National Committee, and White House chief of staff. In 1989, Wisconsin governor Tommy Thompson appointed Vos as a student representative on the University of Wisconsin board of regents. Vos graduated in 1991.
Business career and early political career After graduation, Vos worked as a legislative assistant to state representatives Jim Ladwig and Bonnie Ladwig. In 1994, Vos was elected to the Racine county board of supervisors. He remained on the board for the next 10 years. Also in 1994, Vos worked as district director for U.S. representative Mark Neumann of Wisconsin.
In 1996 Vos purchased the RoJos Popcorn Company in Burlington."Robin Vos, the man amidst the controversy", journaltimes.com; accessed November 15, 2014. In 2020, his popcorn business, Robin J. Vos Enterprises, received more than $150,000 in coronavirus relief from the Paycheck Protection Program.
Vos has an ownership stake of $4.8 million in rental properties in Whitewater, Wisconsin. In 2021, Vos led Republican efforts in the Wisconsin legislature to redirect COVID-19 relief payments so that they would go directly to landlords to help with rent relief for renters.
Wisconsin state legislature
In 2004, Vos ran for the Wisconsin state assembly to succeed Ladwig in the 63rd district. He was unopposed in the 2004 primary and general elections.
After Republicans won full control of state government in Wisconsin in 2010, Vos rose to prominence pushing the controversial budget restructuring act alongside governor Scott Walker. The law curtailed collective bargaining rights and public education funding in Wisconsin, and led to massive protests around the state, culminating in the failed 2012 Wisconsin gubernatorial recall election.
In 2013, Vos was elected speaker of the Wisconsin assembly. Between 2014 and 2018 he received about $57,000 in travel and perks from lobbyists and organizations. He said he was certain he had followed ethics rules with his travel.Patrick Marley. "Assembly Speaker Robin Vos received $57,000 in travel and other perks since 2014". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, May 3, 2018.Julie Carr Smyth. Robin Vos among GOP leaders who made trip with lobbyists and controversial lawmaker". Wisconsin State Journal, April 18, 2018.Jason Stein and Patrick Marley. "Speaker Robin Vos took free trip to London with lobbyists and leaders from other states". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, April 12, 2018. Vos supports deregulating the payday loan industry. He opposes Medicaid expansion and spearheaded Republican efforts to block Medicaid expansion in Wisconsin. Vos argued against Medicaid, saying "Trapping people in the life of poverty is not something that there's ever the right amount of money to do."
In 2016 Vos endorsed Marco Rubio for the Republican nomination for president. After Rubio dropped out of the race, Vos endorsed Ted Cruz. In August 2016, Vos wrote in a column on a conservative website that he was "embarrassed" that Donald Trump was "leading our ticket" as the presumptive Republican nominee;Andrew Beckett, Vos 'embarrassed' Trump leading Republican ticket, Wisconsin Radio Network (August 5, 2016).Patrick Marley, GOP leader embarrassed by Trump, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (August 5, 2016). the next month, Vos said that he was "proud" to support Trump's candidacy due to his belief that Trump would energize Republican voters.Shawn Johnson, Vos 'Proud' To Back Trump, Says He'll Help Assembly Republicans, Wisconsin Public Radio (September 29, 2016).
Vos served as president of the National Conference of State Legislatures from 2019 to 2021, and again from 2022 to 2023, jointly serving with Scott Bedke during his second tenure.
In February 2019 Vos defended Brian Hagedorn, a judge of the Wisconsin Court of Appeals running for a seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court, amid reports that Hagedorn had founded a school in 2016 that allowed for the expulsion of students and faculty if they were gay. Vos said he believed Hagedorn could rule fairly on LGBT issues.
In July 2019 Vos was widely criticized for refusing to prohibit overnight floor sessions or allow Democratic lawmaker Jimmy Anderson, who is paralyzed and uses a wheelchair, to phone into committee meetings. He later accused Anderson of political grandstanding and attempting to sabotage him as Vos took on his new national role as head of the National Conference of State Legislatures.
In November 2020, Vos was reelected by 16 percentage points.
After Joe Biden won the 2020 election and Donald Trump refused to concede while making claims of fraud, Vos appropriated $680,000 in taxpayer money to fund an investigation by Michael Gableman into fraud in the 2020 election. Gableman's appointment came a day after Trump had accused Vos of participating in a coverup of the election. In March 2022, Gableman released a report rife with false claims of fraud and conspiracy theories. Vos fired Gableman in August 2022, three days after a primary election in which Gableman had endorsed Vos's challenger. At the time of his firing, Gableman's investigation had already cost Wisconsin taxpayers more than $1,000,000, but the costs continued to rise, climbing close to $2.5 million, as lawsuits related to the practices of his investigation continued more than six months later.
In February 2021, Vos sent the governor a letter asking him to order that flags on state buildings be lowered in honor of right-wing radio host Rush Limbaugh, who had recently died. Lauded by conservatives, Limbaugh was a divisive figure criticized for his derogatory comments about women, racial minorities, and LGBT people, as well as on-air promotion of conspiracy theories and falsehoods. Vos called Limbaugh "a pioneer in talk radio, a best-selling author and a commentator who inspired generations to become active in politics".
In October 2021, Vos defended a heavily pro-Republican gerrymandered redistricting map for Wisconsin. 63 of the 99 Assembly seats and 23 of the 33 Senate seats in the map leaned toward Republicans.
Curbing the powers of the Evers administration Vos has been described as having a significant role in obstructing Governor Tony Evers. After Evers, the Democratic nominee, won the 2018 Wisconsin gubernatorial election, defeating incumbent governor Scott Walker, Vos was the first public official to propose curbing the incoming governor's powers. He claimed it was to restore a balance of power between the governor and the legislature, despite having previously voted to expand gubernatorial power. Vos also said the changes were intended to lock in laws passed by Republicans and to prevent the incoming Democratic administration from fulfilling its campaign pledges, particularly a pledge to withdraw Wisconsin from a lawsuit seeking to overturn the federal Affordable Care Act. The Republican-led legislature was called into a December lame duck session and passed laws decreasing the powers of the incoming governor, limiting early voting, and giving the legislature more control. Walker then signed the bills.
Christopher Beem of the McCourtney Institute of Democracy at Pennsylvania State University described Wisconsin Republicans' power grab as a "deeply undemocratic act" that, while possibly legal, eroded democratic norms by frustrating the expressed will of a majority of the electorate, immediately after an election, to make it "more difficult for the incoming administration to undertake actions that the majority has just shown that it wants." In June 2019, the Wisconsin Supreme Court rejected a challenge brought by the League of Women Voters and other groups to the laws enacted in the December 2018 lame-duck session, ruling in a 4–3 decision that extraordinary sessions are constitutional.Briana Reilly, Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling upholds lame-duck laws, The Capital Times (June 21, 2019).
In 2021, Politico wrote that Vos was effectively a shadow governor of Wisconsin as he and the Republican majority in the state senate had used their powers "to block, thwart or resist almost every significant move made by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers."
COVID-19 pandemic
In April 2020, amid the coronavirus pandemic, Vos opposed calls by Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers, a Democrat, to delay the state's primary election from early April to late May, to make it a mail-in election, and to mail ballots to all registered voters. The legislature adjourned without taking action on any of those proposals. When the governor then issued a last-minute emergency order to suspend in-person voting, Vos and the state senate majority leader appealed the order to the state supreme court, which overturned it, and the election was held as scheduled. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, it was estimated that many voters would be effectively disenfranchised, and in-person voting was also considered a public health risk. According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "Vos had no answer to how local election officials are supposed to keep people safe as a massive shortage of poll workers has resulted in the closure or reduction of polling locations, forcing more people to vote at a single site." Vos said, "If you are bored at home and sick of watching Netflix, volunteer to go and help at the polls."
On election day, Vos served as an election inspector. While dressed in full-body personal protective equipment, he said it was "incredibly safe" to vote at the polls. Vos later clarified that the city he was volunteering for required that he wear the protective equipment.
Because the Republican-controlled Wisconsin Legislature did not timely waive a requirement that unemployed Wisconsinites wait a week before they can be reimbursed unemployment benefits, Wisconsin lost $25 million in federal funding from the CARES Act. Vos and Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald had been warned that this would happen if the waiver was not passed in time.