The 25th Senate district of Wisconsin is one of 33 districts in the Wisconsin Senate. Located in northwest Wisconsin, where Wisconsin meets Lake Superior, the district comprises all of Ashland, Bayfield, Burnett, Douglas, Iron, Polk, Sawyer, and Washburn counties. It contains the cities of Superior, Ashland, Bayfield, Hayward, Spooner, and Washburn. The district also includes the Bad River Indian reservation and the Chequamegon–Nicolet National Forest.
Current elected officials Romaine Quinn is the senator representing the 25th district since January 2023. He previously served in the State Assembly, representing the 75th Assembly district from 2015 to 2021, and was mayor of Rice Lake from 2010 through 2012. After the 2024 redistricting, Quinn moved to Birchwood and now resides in the new district.
Each Wisconsin State Senate district is composed of three Wisconsin State Assembly districts. The 25th Senate district comprises the 73rd, 74th, and 75th Assembly districts. The current representatives of those districts are: Assembly District 73: Angela Stroud (D–Ashland) Assembly District 74: Chanz Green (R–Grandview) Assembly District 75: Duke Tucker (R–Grantsburg)
The district is located entirely within Wisconsin's 7th congressional district, which is currently represented by U.S. Representative Tom Tiffany.
History The boundaries of districts have changed over history. Previous politicians of a specific numbered district have represented a different geographic area, due to redistricting.
After the fifth (1852) session of the state legislature, the Wisconsin Senate was expanded to 25 members. The first member for the 25th District was James T. Lewis, of Columbus (later a Governor of Wisconsin). The district at that time consisted of Columbia County.Manual for the Use of the Assembly, of the State of Wisconsin, for the Year 1853 Madison: Brown and Carpenter, Printers, 1853; pp. 67, 85 This was true until 1872, when the district became the counties of the counties of Green Lake, Marquette and Waushara (Columbia County was now the Twenty-Seventh District).
In 1876, the Senate was again redistricted: the Twenty-Fifth now consisted of the City of Madison, and various other Towns and Villages in Dane County, Wisconsin (more or less the previous Seventh District); while what had been the 25th was now the Ninth District.Warner, Hans B., ed. The Blue Book of the State of 0Wisconsin 1880 Madison, 1880; pp. 498, 500, 505
In 1883, the Twenty-Fifth now consisted of Eau Claire, Pepin and Pierce Counties (three of the eleven counties which had made up the Seventh District); Dane County became the Twenty-Sixth District.
From 1887 to 1891, the district consisted of Clark and Eau Claire Counties. The short-lived redistricting of 1891 left the district consisting of Clark, Price, Taylor, and Wood Counties. From 1892 to 1895, the district once again consisted of Clark and Eau Claire Counties. From 1896 to 1910, the district consisted of Clark and Marathon Counties. From 1911 to 1922, the district consisted of Langlade and Marathon Counties. From 1923 to 1954, the district consisted of Lincoln and Marathon Counties.
After the 1954 redistricting, the district had completely changed, and now consisted of Ashland, Bayfield, and Douglas Counties (Lincoln and Marathon Counties had been split between the new 12th and 29th Districts). The 1960 federal census showed that this district, at 74,293 people, was the least populous of Wisconsin's 33 districts, 38.0% below the average;Toepel, M. G.; Theobald, H. Rupert, eds. The Wisconsin Blue book, 1962 Madison: State of Wisconsin, 1962; p. 352 in the wake of Baker v. Carr, a redistricting would be necessary. After a great deal of litigation, the Wisconsin Supreme Court created a redistricting map promulgated on May 14, 1964. The new Twenty-Fifth District added Iron, Price, Rusk and Sawyer Counties to the district.Theobald, H. Rupert, ed. The Wisconsin Blue book, 1964 Madison, 1964; pp. 787-789 The 1972 redistricting took away Rusk County and a southern portion of Price County, adding the eastern part of Barron County instead; but left the district mostly unchanged.Theobald, H. Rupert; Robbins, Patricia V., eds. The State of Wisconsin 1973 Blue Book Madison: Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau, distributed by Document Sales, 1973; p. 70 The 1982 redistricting removed Price County entirely, and modified the Barron County portion, as well as adding one Rusk County township. In 1992, the latest court-ordered redistricting added the remainder of Barron County, while dropping the Rusk County township once more. The 2002 court-ordered redistricting added part of Burnett County for the first time, while taking away segments of Sawyer and Barron Counties. The new 2011 redistricting bill took away most of Sawyer, but added for the first time a single township in Vilas County, and a township from both Dunn and Saint Croix Counties, and Price County in whole.
Past senators The district has previously been represented by:
Note: the boundaries of districts have changed repeatedly over history. Previous politicians of a specific numbered district have represented a completely different geographic area, due to redistricting.
Senator Party Notes Session Years District Definition District created by 1852 Wisc. Act 499. 1852 Columbia County James T. Lewis Dem. Resigned 1853 after elected Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin. 6th 1853 John Q. Adams Dem. Won 1853 special election. 7th 1854 Rep. 8th 1855 9th 1856 Moses M. Davis Rep. 10th 1857 11th 1858 12th 1859 13th 1860 G. W. Hazelton Rep. 14th 1861 15th 1862 Jonathan Bowman Rep. 16th 1863 17th 1864 18th 1865 19th 1866 Robert B. Sanderson 20th 1867 Rep. 21st 1868 William M. Griswold Rep. Redistricted to 27th district. 22nd 1869 23rd 1870 24th 1871 Waldo Flint Rep. Redistricted from 29th district. 25th 1872 Green Lake, Marquette, and Waushara counties Robert L. D. Potter Rep. 26th 1873 27th 1874 28th 1875 29th 1876 George B. Burrows Rep. 30th 1877 Eastern Dane County 31st 1878 32nd 1879 33rd 1880 34th 1881 35th 1882 Eau Claire, Pepin, and Pierce counties1880 population: 43,962 Hans Warner Rep. 36th 1883–1884 37th 1885–1886 William A. Rust Rep. 38th 1887–1888 39th 1889–1890 Clark and Eau Claire counties1890 population: 48,331 Robert MacBride Rep. 40th 1891–1892 41st 1893–1894 Clarion A. Youmans Rep. 42nd 1895–1896 43rd 1897–1898 Clark and Marathon counties1895 population: 57,9401900 population: 69,104 Andrew L. Kreutzer Rep. 44th 1899–1900 45th 1901–1902 46th 1903–1904 47th 1905–1906 Spencer M. Marsh Rep. 48th 1907–1908 49th 1909–1910 W. W. Albers Dem. 50th 1911–1912 51st 1913–1914 Langlade and Marathon counties1910 population: 72,116 52nd 1915–1916 53rd 1917–1918 Claire B. Bird Rep. 54th 1919–1920 55th 1921–1922 Joseph L. Barber Rep. 56th 1923–1924 Lincoln and Marathon counties 57th 1925–1926 Otto Mueller Rep. 58th 1927–1928 59th 1929–1930 60th 1931–1932 61st 1933–1934 Roland E. Kannenberg Prog. 62nd 1935–1936 63rd 1937–1938 Otto Mueller Rep. 64th 1939–1940 65th 1941–1942 William McNeight Rep. 66th 1943–1944 67th 1945–1946 Clifford Krueger Rep. 68th 1947–1948 69th 1949–1950 70th 1951–1952 71st 1953–1954 Carl Lauri Dem. 72nd 1955–1956 Ashland, Bayfield, and Douglas counties 73rd 1957–1958 74th 1959–1960 75th 1961–1962 Dem. 76th 1963–1964 77th 1965–1966 Ashland, Bayfield, Douglas, Iron, Price, Rusk, and Sawyer counties Rep. Resigned July 1972 after appointed Wisconsin circuit court judge. 78th 1967–1968 79th 1969–1970 80th 1971–1972 --Vacant-- Daniel O. Theno Rep. Won 1972 special election. 81st 1973–1974 Ashland, Bayfield, Douglas, Iron, Sawyer, Washburn counties and Eastern Barron CountyNorthern Price County 82nd 1975–1976 83rd 1977–1978 84th 1979–1980 85th 1981–1982 86th 1983–1984 Ashland, Bayfield, Douglas, Iron, Sawyer, Washburn counties and Most of Barron County 87th 1985–1986 Ashland, Bayfield, Douglas, Iron, Sawyer, Washburn counties and Most of Barron CountyPart of Rusk County Robert Jauch Dem. Won 1986 election.Re-elected 1990, 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010. 88th 1987–1988 89th 1989–1990 90th 1991–1992 91st 1993–1994 Ashland, Barron, Bayfield, Douglas, Iron, Sawyer, Washburn counties and Part of Polk County 92nd 1995–1996 93rd 1997–1998 94th 1999–2000 95th 2001–2002 96th 2003–2004 Ashland, Bayfield, Douglas, Iron, Washburn counties and Most of Barron CountyMost of Sawyer CountyEastern Burnett CountyPart of Polk County 97th 2005–2006 98th 2007–2008 99th 2009–2010 100th 2011–2012 101st 2013–2014 Ashland, Barron, Bayfield, Douglas, Iron, Price, Washburn counties and Part of Sawyer CountyEastern Burnett CountyPart of Dunn CountyPart of Polk CountyPart of St. Croix CountyPart of Vilas County Janet Bewley Dem. Won 2014 election.Re-elected 2018. 102nd 2015–2016 103rd 2017–2018 104th 2019–2020 105th 2021–2022 Romaine Quinn Rep. Elected 2022. 106th 2023–2024 Ashland, Barron, Bayfield, Burnett, Douglas, Iron, Price, Washburn counties,part of Polk County,northern Sawyer County 107th 2025–2026
References
External links Senate District 25 at Wisconsin Legislature Senator Romaine Robert Quinn (2023) Senator Janet Bewley (2021) Senator Janet Bewley (2019) Senator Janet Bewley (2017)