Wisconsin's 28th Senate district

The 28th Senate district of Wisconsin is one of 33 districts in the Wisconsin Senate.^[1] 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.^[2]

Wisconsin's 28th State Senate district
From 2024 to 2031 From 2022 to 2023 From 2012 to 2021 2024 map defined in 2023 Wisc. Act 94 2022 map defined in Johnson v. Wisconsin Elections Commission 2011 map was defined in 2011 Wisc. Act 43 composed of Assembly districts 82, 83, and 84
Senator	Julian Bradley R–New Berlin since January 4, 2021 (4 years, 220 days)
Demographics	87.41% White 1.8% Black 6.06% Hispanic 2.74% Asian 1.39% Native American 0.1% Hawaiian/Pacific Islander
Population (2020)  • Voting age	177,766 139,889
Website	Official website
Notes	Milwaukee metro-area (southwest)

Current elected officials

Julian Bradley is the senator representing the 28th district. He was first elected in the 2020 general election.^[3]

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.^[4]

• 
  Resthaven Hotel in Waukesha
• 
  Madison Street Historic District in the city of Waukesha
• 
  Carroll University
• 
  Upper Phantom Lake in Mukwonago

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:^[5]

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	Natl. Union		17th	1864
			18th	1865
Marcus Fulton	Natl. Union		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 1880 population: 41,802 1885 population: 48,175
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 and Southern Grant County
			42nd	1895–1896
Oliver Munson	Rep.		43rd	1897–1898	Crawford, Richland, and Vernon counties 1895 population: 63,857
			44th	1899–1900
			45th	1901–1902
			46th	1903–1904	Richland and Vernon counties 1900 population: 47,834
			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 1910 population: 64,824
			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 County Southwest Milwaukee County Southeast Waukesha County
			78th	1967–1968
James Devitt	Rep.		79th	1969–1970
			80th	1971–1972
			81st	1973–1974	Most of Waukesha County Part of Jefferson County Part of Milwaukee County
			82nd	1975–1976
Lynn Adelman	Dem.	Resigned Dec. 1997 after appointed U.S. District Judge, E.D. Wis.	83rd	1977–1978
			84th	1979–1980
			85th	1981–1982
			86th	1983–1984	Southwest Milwaukee County Northwest Racine County Southeast Waukesha County Part of Walworth County
			87th	1985–1986	Southwest Milwaukee County Northwest Racine County Southeast Waukesha County Part of Walworth County
			88th	1987–1988
			89th	1989–1990
			90th	1991–1992
			91st	1993–1994	Southwest Milwaukee County Northwest Racine County Southeast Waukesha County Part of Walworth County
			92nd	1995–1996
			93rd	1997–1998
—Vacant--
Mary Lazich	Rep.
			94th	1999–2000
			95th	2001–2002
			96th	2003–2004	Southwest Milwaukee County Southeast Waukesha County Part of Racine County Part of Walworth County
			97th	2005–2006
			98th	2007–2008
			99th	2009–2010
			100th	2011–2012
			101st	2013–2014	Southwest Milwaukee County Southeast Waukesha County Part of Racine County Part 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