After telling Wispolitics.com just last week that he planned to seek another term in the 5th Senate District, Sen. Dale Kooyenga has announced that he has changed his mind and will no longer seek re-election. Ahead of the recent redistricting decision in which the Wisconsin Supreme Court chose the GOP legislature’s maps, Kooyenga would have been redistricted out of his current district and into Sen. Alberta Darling’s District. During that time, he announced that he would not look to challenge her in a primary and would instead retire.

At the time of the Wispolitics interview last week, Kooyenga says he was only 80% of the way there on another run, and he could not get to 100% over the past week. Kooyenga cited his kids as his biggest reason for deciding against another bid. In an interview after this week’s Joint Finance Committee meeting he stated, “the campaign wasn’t it. It was the four years after that. You don’t do this job if you’re 80 percent there.” Dems Jessica Katzenmeyer, who lost a bid for the Assembly two years ago, and Tom Palzewicz, who ran for the 5th CD in 2020, have both announced plans to run for Kooyenga’s Senate seat.

Kooyenga is the seventh member of the Senate to decide to retire or seek another office, while 23 incumbents are set to leave the Assembly. The 30 departures are third most since 1940 behind 32 in 1942 and 31 in 1954, according to the Legislative Reference Bureau. A full list of candidates who are not returning to office, and a list of those who have announced they are running for the open seats can be found below.

Senate:

  • District 5- Dale Kooyenga – Retiring
  • District 15 – Janis Ringhand – Retiring
  • District 25 – Janet Bewley – Retiring
  • District 27 – Jon Erpenbach – Retiring
  • District 23 – Kathy Bernier – Retiring
  • District 19 – Roger Roth – Running for Lt. Governor
  • District 29 – Jerry Petrowski – Retiring

Assembly:

  • District 5 – Jim Steineke – Retiring
  • District 6 – Gary Tauchen – Retiring
  • District 10 – David Bowen – Running for Lt. Governor
  • District 13 – Sara Rodriguez – Running for Lt. Governor
  • District 15 – Joe Sanfelippo – Retiring
  • District 19- Jonathan Brostoff – Running for Milwauke Common Council
  • District 27 – Tyler Vorpagel – Retiring
  • District 31 – Amy Loudenbeck – Running for Sec. of State
  • District 33 – Cody Horlacher – Running for Waukesha County Circuit Court
  • District 45 – Mark Spreitzer – Running for State Senate
  • District 46 – Gary Hebl – Retiring
  • District 52 – Jeremy Thiesfeldt – Retiring
  • District 54 – Gordon Hintz – Retiring
  • District 55 – Rachel Cabral-Guevara – Running for State Senate
  • District 59 – Tim Ramthun – Running for Governor
  • District 61 – Sam Kerkman – Won Kenosha County Executive Race
  • District 68 – Jesse James – Running for State Senate
  • District 73- Nick Milroy- Retiring
  • District 74 – Beth Meyers – Retiring
  • District 79 – Dianne Hesselbein – Running for State Senate
  • District 80- Sondy Pope- Retiring
  • District 82 – Ken Skowronski – Retiring
  • District 84 – Mike Kuglitsch – Retiring

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