Wisconsin Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu announced Thursday he will not seek reelection to a fourth term representing the 9th Senate District.
The development means both the Assembly and Senate Republican leaders have chosen not to stand for reelection this fall. Assembly Speaker Robin Vos announced earlier that he would not seek another term.
LeMahieu, 53, issued the statement through the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “I am looking forward to spending more time with my wife in our new Madison-area home and, for the first time since 2006, rooting for bold conservative reform from the sidelines,” he said
A Sheboygan County native, LeMahieu graduated from Sheboygan County Christian High School and earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration and political science from Dordt College in Sioux Center, Iowa. He has owned and published the Lakeshore Weekly, a community advertising mailer serving the Sheboygan County area, since 2002.
He served on the Sheboygan County Board of Supervisors from 2006 to 2015. LeMahieu was first elected to the Senate in November 2014 and took office in January 2015. His Republican colleagues selected him as Senate Majority Leader in 2021. He currently serves on the Committee on Senate Organization, the Joint Committee on Employment Relations, the Joint Committee on Legislative Organization, and the Joint Legislative Council.
LeMahieu had faced mounting criticism for breaking the “Rule of 17” on the last day of the Senate session earlier this week, which requires at least 17 majority Senators to advance a bill–in order to pass the measure in order to deliver on bills expanding sports gambling in Wisconsin, as well as providing $15 million to UW Athletics for NIL deals. LeMahieu instead opted to gain Democratic Senate support for the legislation.
