Bob Ziegelbauer

Robert F. Ziegelbauer (born August 26, 1951) is an American politician from Manitowoc County, Wisconsin. He is the current county executive of Manitowoc County, serving in that role since April 2006. He previously served as a member of the Wisconsin State Assembly, representing the 25th Assembly district from 1993 to 2013. Politically, Ziegelbauer was originally elected to office as a member of the Democratic Party, but has been an independent since 2010.

Bob Ziegelbauer
Executive of Manitowoc County, Wisconsin
Incumbent
Assumed office April 2006
Preceded by	Dan Fischer
Member of the Wisconsin State Assembly from the 25th district
In office January 3, 1993 – January 7, 2013
Preceded by	Vernon W. Holschbach
Succeeded by	Paul Tittl
Member of the Board of Supervisors of Manitowoc County, Wisconsin
In office 1982–1988
Personal details
Born	(1951-08-26) August 26, 1951 (age 73) Manitowoc, Wisconsin, U.S.
Political party	Democratic (1993–2010) Independent (2010–present)
Residence(s)	Manitowoc, Wisconsin, U.S.
Alma mater	University of Notre Dame Wharton Business School

Early life and career

Born in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, Ziegelbauer graduated from Roncalli High School. He then graduated from the University of Notre Dame and received his masters from Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Ziegelbauer was a business owner. He was finance director of the city of Manitowoc; he also was on the Manitowoc County board of supervisors and the Manitowoc Common Council. Ziegelbauer also taught at Silver Lake College.^[1]

Wisconsin State Assembly

In mid 1992, Vernon Holschbach announced he would not seek re-election to a seventh term. His son ran a campaign to succeed him, but was defeated by Ziegelbauer, who had run for the nomination against the elder Holschbach in 1980 and 1982, being defeated both times.^[2][3]

2009 state budget

Having been one of the more conservative members of the Democratic Caucus, Ziegelbauer would often dissent with Democratic leaders and vote with Republicans on key issues. One particular flashpoint of this tension was in 2009, when, during a debate on the 2009 state budget, he voted for a Republican amendment to restrict abortion in the state.^[4] As a result he was removed as chairman of the Assembly Ways and Means Committee.^[5]

Split with the Democrats and retirement

In years past Ziegelbauer had also faced criticism from his Democratic colleagues for his votes with Republicans on the issues of taxation and abortion, as well as for his support for John Gard over Steve Kagen in the 2006 House of Representatives elections in Wisconsin.^[5]

Ziegelbauer announced on June 21, 2010 that he would run as an Independent for the 2010 election.^[6]

On November 2, 2010, Ziegelbauer was reelected to the Wisconsin Assembly.^[7] After being re-elected, it was unclear who Ziegelbauer would caucus with, but eventually he stated that he would caucus with the Republicans.^[8][9]

In 2012 Ziegelbauer announced he would not run for reelection to the Assembly.^[10]

Manitowoc County executive

Ziegelbauer was elected County Executive of Manitowoc County in April 2006. He has since been reelected as County Executive in 2010, 2014, 2018, and 2022 for a total of five terms.^[11]

In 2018, Ziegelbauer endorsed Republican André Jacque's bid for the 1st district in the Wisconsin Senate and Republican Shae Sortwell's bid for state assembly in the 2nd district in the state assembly.^[12][13]

Electoral history

Wisconsin Assembly, 2nd district (1980)

Year	Election	Date	Elected				Defeated				Total	Plurality
1980	Primary[14]	Sep. 9	Vernon W. Holschbach	Democratic	1,781	28.61%	Michael P. Dewane	Dem.	1,523	24.46%	6,226	258
							Robert F. Ziegelbauer	Dem.	1,191	19.13%
							Paul A. Mullins	Dem.	1,056	16.96%
							Richard J. Rabideau	Dem.	427	6.86%
							Peter C. Jones	Dem.	248	3.98%

Wisconsin Assembly, 76th district (1982)

Year	Election	Date	Elected				Defeated				Total	Plurality
1982	Primary[15]	Sep. 14	Vernon W. Holschbach	Democratic	4,032	59.43%	Robert F. Ziegelbauer	Dem.	2,753	40.57%	6,785	1,279

Wisconsin Assembly, 25th district (1992–2010)

Year	Election	Date	Elected				Defeated				Total	Plurality
1992	Primary[3]	Sep. 8	Robert F. Ziegelbauer	Democratic	5,564	51.94%	Todd R. Holschbach	Dem.	2,555	23.85%	10,713	3,009
							Gerard F. Powalisz	Dem.	1,914	17.86%
							Michael R. Rusch	Dem.	680	6.35%
	General[3]	Nov. 3	Robert F. Ziegelbauer	Democratic	15,020	61.25%	Jon Hochkammer	Rep.	9,503	38.75%	24,523	5,517
1994	General[16]	Nov. 8	Bob Ziegelbauer (inc)	Democratic	11,647	100%	--unopposed--				11,647	N/A
1996	General[17]	Nov. 5	Bob Ziegelbauer (inc)	Democratic	14,771	100%					14,771	N/A
1998	General[18]	Nov. 3	Bob Ziegelbauer (inc)	Democratic	11,893	96.83%	Wim van Der Graaf	Con.	389	3.17%	12,282	11,504
2000	General[19]	Nov. 7	Bob Ziegelbauer (inc)	Democratic	18,528	99.58%	--unopposed--				18,607	18,449
2002	General[20]	Nov. 5	Bob Ziegelbauer (inc)	Democratic	12,701	99.61%					12,751	12,651
2004	Primary[21]	Sep. 14	Bob Ziegelbauer (inc)	Democratic	3,375	70.61%	Anne-Marie Suchomel Woznicki	Dem.	1,405	29.39%	4,780	1,970
	General[22]	Nov. 2	Bob Ziegelbauer (inc)	Democratic	20,268	99.50%	--unopposed--				20,369	20,167
2006	Primary[23]	Sep. 12	Bob Ziegelbauer (inc)	Democratic	3,684	61.50%	Anne-Marie Suchomel Woznicki	Dem.	2,306	38.50%	5,990	1,378
	General[24]	Nov. 7	Bob Ziegelbauer (inc)	Democratic	11,163	54.00%	Paul Tittl	Rep.	8,557	41.39%	20,672	2,606
2008	General[25]	Nov. 4	Bob Ziegelbauer (inc)	Democratic	19,690	98.85%	--unopposed--				19,920	19,460
2010	General[26]	Nov. 2	Bob Ziegelbauer (inc)	Independent	9,702	49.77%	Kerry Trask	Dem.	6,459	33.13%	19,495	3,243
							Andrew Wisniewski	Rep.	3,325	17.06%

Manitowoc County executive (2006–present)