The 16th Senate district of Wisconsin is one of 33 districts in the Wisconsin Senate. Located in south-central Wisconsin, the district comprises much of eastern Dane County, western Jefferson County, and part of southwest Dodge County. It includes the cities of Fitchburg, Fort Atkinson, Lake Mills, Stoughton, Sun Prairie, and Waterloo, and the villages of Cottage Grove, Deerfield, and Marshall, and parts of the city of Madison and the village of McFarland. It also contains Lake Kegonsa State Park and most of Lake Koshkonong.
Current elected officials Melissa Ratcliff is the senator representing the 16th district. She was first elected in the 2024 general election. Before serving as senator, she served in the Wisconsin State Assembly from 2023 to 2025, representing Sun Prairie and Madison's far east side.
Each Wisconsin State Senate district is composed of three Wisconsin State Assembly districts. The 16th Senate district comprises the 46th, 47th, and 48th Assembly districts. The current representatives of those districts are: Assembly District 46: Joan Fitzgerald (D–Fort Atkinson) Assembly District 47: Randy Udell (D–Fitchburg) Assembly District 48: Andrew Hysell (D–Sun Prairie)
The district crosses two congressional districts. The portion of the district in Dodge and Jefferson counties fall within Wisconsin's 5th congressional district, which is represented by U.S. Representative Scott L. Fitzgerald. The remainder of the district, in Dane County, falls within Wisconsin's 2nd congressional district, represented by U.S. Representative Mark Pocan.
Past senators Notable past senators include:Wisconsin Blue Book, 1991-92 edition, Statistics: History, pages 657-666. Christopher Latham Sholes, 1848-1850, "father of the typewriter" John Sharpstein, 1852, Justice of the Supreme Court of California Nelson Dewey, 1854-1856, 1st governor of Wisconsin J. Allen Barber, 1856-1858, U.S. Congressman (1871-1875), 15th Speaker of the Wisconsin State Assembly George Cochrane Hazelton, 1868-1872, U.S. Congressman (1877-1883), 1st Attorney General for the District of Columbia John J. Blaine, 1909-1913, 24th governor of Wisconsin, United States Senator (1927-1933) Gaylord Nelson, 1949-1958, 35th governor of Wisconsin, United States Senator (1963-1981) Charles Chvala, 1985-2005, Majority Leader (1999-2002) Mark F. Miller, 2005-2021, Majority Leader (2012-2013)
Senator Party Notes Session Years District Definition District created 1848 Kenosha County Dem. 1st 2nd 1849 Elijah Steele Dem. Resigned. 3rd 1850 Orson S. Head Whig Won 1851 special election. 4th 1851 John Sharpstein Dem. Redistricted to 8th district 5th 1852 Joel C. Squires Dem. Resigned. 6th 1853 Grant County James W. Seaton Dem. Won 1853 special election Nelson Dewey Dem. 7th 1854 8th 1855 J. Allen Barber Rep. 9th 1856 10th 1857 Noah Virgin Rep. 11th 1858 12th 1859 13th 1860 14th 1861 Milas K. Young Rep. 15th 1862 16th 1863 Natl. Union 17th 1864 18th 1865 John H. Rountree Natl. Union 19th 1866 20th 1867 Rep. 21st 1868 22nd 1869 23rd 1870 24th 1871 Rep. 25th 1872 26th 1873 27th 1874 28th 1875 Rep. 29th 1876 30th 1877 31st 1878 32nd 1879 Rep. 33rd 1880 34th 1881 35th 1882 36th 1883–1884 Edward I. Kidd Rep. 37th 1885–1886 38th 1887–1888 39th 1889–1890 Crawford & Grant counties 40th 1891–1892 Charles H. Baxter Rep. 41st 1893–1894 Crawford and Richland counties, and 42nd 1895–1896 43rd 1897–1898 Grant and Iowa counties 44th 1899–1900 Edward E. Burns Rep. 45th 1901–1902 46th 1903–1904 Crawford and Grant counties 47th 1905–1906 48th 1907–1908 John J. Blaine Rep. 49th 1909–1910 50th 1911–1912 Robert Glenn Rep. Elected 1912.Died 1915. 51st 1913–1914 Crawford, Grant, and Richland counties 52nd 1915–1916 --Vacant-- Henry Edgar Roethe Rep. 53rd 1917–1918 54th 1919–1920 55th 1921–1922 56th 1923–1924 Crawford, Grant, and Vernon counties Edward J. Roethe Rep. 57th 1925–1926 58th 1927–1928 59th 1929–1930 60th 1931–1932 William D. Carroll Dem. 61st 1933–1934 62nd 1935–1936 Edward J. Roethe Rep. 63rd 1937–1938 64th 1939–1940 Helmar Lewis Rep. 65th 1941–1942 66th 1943–1944 Foster B. Porter Rep. 67th 1945–1946 68th 1947–1948 69th 1949–1950 70th 1951–1952 71st 1953–1954 72nd 1955–1956 Gaylord Nelson Dem. Redistricted from 26th district. 73rd 1957–1958 Most of Dane County Carl W. Thompson Dem. 74th 1959–1960 75th 1961–1962 76th 1963–1964 77th 1965–1966 78th 1967–1968 79th 1969–1970 80th 1971–1972 81st 1973–1974 and 82nd 1975–1976 83rd 1977–1978 84th 1979–1980 85th 1981–1982 86th 1983–1984 Charles Chvala Dem. 87th 1985–1986 88th 1987–1988 89th 1989–1990 90th 1991–1992 91st 1993–1994 Part of Dane CountySouthern Columbia County 92nd 1995–1996 93rd 1997–1998 94th 1999–2000 95th 2001–2002 96th 2003–2004 Part of Dane CountySouthern Columbia County Mark F. Miller Dem. 97th 2005–2006 98th 2007–2008 99th 2009–2010 100th 2011–2012 101st 2013–2014 102nd 2015–2016 103rd 2017–2018 104th 2019–2020 Melissa Agard Dem. 105th 2021–2022 106th 2023–2024 Central Dane County Melissa Ratcliff Dem. 107th 2025–2026 Eastern Dane CountyWestern Jefferson Countypart of southwest Dodge County
References
External links Senate District 16 at Wisconsin Legislature Senator Melissa Ratcliff (2025) Senator Melissa Agard (2023) Senator Melissa Agard (2021) Senator Mark Miller (2019) Senator Mark Miller (2017)