The 28th Senate district of Wisconsin is one of 33 districts in the Wisconsin Senate. Located in southeast Wisconsin, the district comprises southeast Waukesha County and northwest Racine County. It includes the cities of Muskego, New Berlin, and most of the city of Waukesha, along with the villages of Big Bend, Mukwonago, and Waterford.
Current elected officials Julian Bradley is the senator representing the 28th district. He was first elected in the 2020 general election.
Each Wisconsin State Senate district is composed of three Wisconsin State Assembly districts. The 28th Senate district comprises the 82nd, 83rd, and 84th Assembly districts. The current representatives of those districts are: Assembly District 82: Scott Allen (R–Waukesha) Assembly District 83: Dave Maxey (R–New Berlin) Assembly District 84: Chuck Wichgers (R–Muskego)
The district is located mostly within Wisconsin's 5th congressional district, which is represented by U.S. Representative Scott Fitzgerald. The portion of the district in Racine County is located in Wisconsin's 1st congressional district, represented by Bryan Steil.
History The boundaries of districts have changed over history. Previous politicians of a specific numbered district often represented a different geographic area, due to redistricting.
The 28th District was created in 1856, when the Senate was expanded from 25 to 30 members. At that time, it consisted of Burnett, Chippewa, Clark, Dallas (later renamed Barron), Douglas, Dunn County, La Pointe (later renamed Bayfield), Pepin, Pierce, Polk, and St. Croix Counties.
The first Senator from the 28th was William Wilson of Menomonie, who served in the 1857 session (the tenth session of the Wisconsin Legislature). As of the redistricting of 1861, the 28th now consisted of Ashland, Burnett, Dallas (later renamed Barron), Douglas, La Pointe (later renamed Bayfield), Pierce, Polk, and St. Croix counties (it was not changed in the redistricting of 1866).
The district was entirely changed for the 1871 election, being changed into one consisting of Crawford and Richland counties. In 1876, the district was changed again: it dropped Crawford County, and would instead consist of Iowa and Richland counties for many years.
An 1892 special session of the legislature declared that, The counties of Iowa and Lafayette and the towns of Cassvilla, Clifton, Ellenborough, Harrison, Hazel Green, Jamestown, Liberty, Lima, Paris, Platteville, Potosi, Smelser, Waterloo and Glen Haven in the county of Grant were now the 28th District.
The Legislature redistricted once again, and the 28th would consist of Crawford County, Wisconsin, Richland and Vernon counties for two terms. In the 1901 session of the legislature, another redistricting removed Crawford County from the district. The 1911 redistricting completely changed the district boundaries, moving it to Chippewa and Eau Claire counties—these boundaries would remain consistent for the next fifty years.
In May 1964, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ordered a complete redistricting and re-numbering of all Wisconsin Senate districts. As a result, the 28th, which had historically been a northern and western Wisconsin district, was now a district consisting of portions of Milwaukee County (villages of Greendale and Hales Corners; and the cities of Franklin and Greenfield); Racine County (towns of Burlington, Caledonia, Dover, Norway, Raymond, Rochester, Waterford and Yorkville; the villages of Rochester, Union Grove and Waterford; and the city of Burlington); and Waukesha County (towns of Eagle, Mukwonago, Muskego, Ottawa, Summit and Vernon; the villages of Big Bend, Dousman, Eagle, Mukwongo and Oconomowoc Lake; and the city of New Berlin). Since 1964, the district has remained in the same general vicinity, at the meeting point between southwest Milwaukee County, southeast Waukesha County, northwest Racine County, and northeast Walworth County, with slight variations in boundaries between those four counties.
Past senators Previous senators include:Wisconsin Blue Book, 1991-92 edition, Statistics: History, pages 657-666.
Senator Party Notes Session Years District Definition District created by 1856 Wisc. Act 109. 1856 Burnett, Chippewa, Clark, Douglas, Dunn, La Pointe, Pepin, Pierce, Polk, and St. Croix counties William Wilson Rep. 10th 1857 Daniel Mears Dem. 11th 1858 12th 1859 Charles B. Cox Rep. 13th 1860 14th 1861 Herman L. Humphrey Rep. 15th 1862 Ashland, Burnett, Dallas, Douglas, La Pointe, Pierce, Polk, and St. Croix counties 16th 1863 Austin H. Young 17th 1864 18th 1865 Marcus Fulton 19th 1866 20th 1867 Ashland, Bayfield, Burnett, Dallas, Douglas, Pierce, Polk, and St. Croix counties William J. Copp Rep. 21st 1868 22nd 1869 Edward H. Ives Dem. 23rd 1870 24th 1871 Henry L. Eaton Rep. 25th 1872 Crawford and Richland counties 26th 1873 George Krouskop Dem. 27th 1874 28th 1875 Daniel Downs Rep. 29th 1876 30th 1877 Iowa and Richland counties Archibald Campbell Rep. 31st 1878 32nd 1879 Joseph McGrew Rep. 33rd 1880 34th 1881 William C. Meffert Rep. 35th 1882 36th 1883–1884 Norman L. James Rep. 37th 1885–1886 38th 1887–1888 Robert Joiner Rep. 39th 1889–1890 40th 1891–1892 Calvert Spensley Rep. 41st 1893–1894 Iowa and Richland counties andSouthern Grant County 42nd 1895–1896 Oliver Munson Rep. 43rd 1897–1898 Crawford, Richland, and Vernon counties 44th 1899–1900 45th 1901–1902 46th 1903–1904 Richland and Vernon counties 47th 1905–1906 48th 1907–1908 David G. James Rep. 49th 1909–1910 50th 1911–1912 Edward Ackley Rep. 51st 1913–1914 Chippewa and Eau Claire counties 52nd 1915–1916 Roy P. Wilcox Rep. 53rd 1917–1918 54th 1919–1920 Herman Lange Rep. 55th 1921–1922 56th 1923–1924 57th 1925–1926 58th 1927–1928 Peter J. Smith Rep. 59th 1929–1930 60th 1931–1932 G. Erle Ingram Rep. 61st 1933–1934 Prog. 62nd 1935–1936 63rd 1937–1938 64th 1939–1940 George H. Hipke Rep. 65th 1941–1942 66th 1943–1944 67th 1945–1946 68th 1947–1948 Arthur L. Padrutt Rep. 69th 1949–1950 70th 1951–1952 71st 1953–1954 72nd 1955–1956 Davis A. Donnelly Dem. 73rd 1957–1958 74th 1959–1960 75th 1961–1962 76th 1963–1964 Taylor Benson Dem. 77th 1965–1966 Most of Racine CountySouthwest Milwaukee CountySoutheast Waukesha County 78th 1967–1968 James Devitt Rep. 79th 1969–1970 80th 1971–1972 81st 1973–1974 Most of Waukesha CountyPart of Jefferson CountyPart of Milwaukee County 82nd 1975–1976 Lynn Adelman Dem. Resigned Dec. 1997 after appointed 83rd 1977–1978 84th 1979–1980 85th 1981–1982 86th 1983–1984 Southwest Milwaukee CountyNorthwest Racine CountySoutheast Waukesha CountyPart of Walworth County 87th 1985–1986 Southwest Milwaukee CountyNorthwest Racine CountySoutheast Waukesha CountyPart of Walworth County 88th 1987–1988 89th 1989–1990 90th 1991–1992 91st 1993–1994 Southwest Milwaukee CountyNorthwest Racine CountySoutheast Waukesha CountyPart of Walworth County 92nd 1995–1996 93rd 1997–1998 —Vacant-- Mary Lazich Rep. 94th 1999–2000 95th 2001–2002 96th 2003–2004 Southwest Milwaukee CountySoutheast Waukesha CountyPart of Racine CountyPart of Walworth County 97th 2005–2006 98th 2007–2008 99th 2009–2010 100th 2011–2012 101st 2013–2014 Southwest Milwaukee CountySoutheast Waukesha CountyPart of Racine CountyPart of Walworth County 102nd 2015–2016 Dave Craig Rep. 103rd 2017–2018 104th 2019–2020 Julian Bradley Rep. Elected 2020.Re-elected 2024. 105th 2021–2022 106th 2023–2024 Southwest Milwaukee County,southern Waukesha County,northwest Racine County,northeast Walworth County 107th 2025–2026
References
External links Senate District 28 at Wisconsin Legislature Senator Julian Bradley (2023) Senator Julian Bradley (2021) Senator David Craig (2019) Senator David Craig (2017)