Doug La Follette

Doug La Follette


28th and 30th Secretary of State of Wisconsin
Incumbent
Assumed office January 3, 1983
Governor	Tony Earl Tommy Thompson Scott McCallum Jim Doyle Scott Walker
Preceded by	Vel Phillips
In office January 6, 1975 – January 3, 1979
Governor	Patrick Lucey Martin Schreiber
Preceded by	Robert Zimmerman
Succeeded by	Vel Phillips
Member of the Wisconsin Senate from the 22nd district
In office 1972–1974
Preceded by	Joseph Lourigan
Succeeded by	John Maurer

Personal details
Born	(1940-06-06) June 6, 1940 Des Moines, Iowa, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Education	Marietta College (BS) Stanford University (MS) Columbia University (PhD)

Douglas J. "Doug" La Follette (born June 6, 1940) is an American academic, environmental activist, and politician from the state of Wisconsin. A Democrat, he is the current Secretary of State of Wisconsin.^[1] He ran in the 2012 Democratic primary during the special election to recall Governor Scott Walker.

Early life and career

La Follette was born in Des Moines, Iowa. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Marietta College, his Master of Science in chemistry from Stanford University, and his Ph.D. in organic chemistry from Columbia University. He began a teaching career as an assistant professor at University of Wisconsin–Parkside in Kenosha.

Known as an environmentalist before running for public office, he was a Wisconsin organizer of the first Earth Day for Gaylord Nelson in 1970 and co-founded Wisconsin's Environmental Decade (now known as Clean Wisconsin) with Peter Anderson.

His great-grandfather was an uncle of Robert "Fighting Bob" La Follette.^[2] Robert "Fighting Bob" La Follette's grandson, former Wisconsin Attorney General Bronson La Follette, has described Doug La Follette as a "second cousin, three times removed" from Robert "Fighting Bob" La Follette.^[3] According to professor and author Nancy Unger, Doug would also be considered the 3rd cousin of Bronson.^[4] Doug went on to serve with Bronson from 1975 to 1979 and from 1983 to 1987.

Political career

La Follette first ran for office in the 1970 U.S. House of Representatives election, losing to Les Aspin in the Democratic primary for Wisconsin's 1st congressional district. La Follette served in the Wisconsin State Senate for Kenosha for one term.

La Follette was elected Secretary of State of Wisconsin in 1974. He unsuccessfully ran for Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin on a ticket with Governor Martin Schreiber in 1978. In 1982, he was again elected Secretary of State, defeating incumbent Vel Phillips. La Follette has been the Secretary of State of Wisconsin ever since.

He has run opposed and unopposed several times for Secretary of State and shuns fundraising in the style of former Wisconsin Senator William Proxmire. In 1990, his opponent, Madison attorney and radio personality Stuart Levitan, campaigned on a promise to eliminate the Secretary of State's office, whose duties have been reduced and transferred to other agencies, including the State Board of Elections, under La Follette's tenure.

Since being elected Secretary of State, La Follette has run twice for federal office. In 1988, he ran for the U.S. Senate, losing the primary to Herb Kohl. In 1996, he made another bid for the U.S. House of Representatives, losing in the Democratic primary for Wisconsin's 1st congressional district to Lydia Spottswood, who went on to lose the general election to Mark Neumann.

In 2012, La Follette ran in the Democratic primary in the special election to recall Scott Walker.

Other roles

La Follette is the author of the 1991 book The Survival Handbook: A Strategy for Saving Planet Earth.
He has also served on the board of directors of Friends of the Earth and the Union of Concerned Scientists.
In 2003 he ran for, and was elected to, the board of directors of the Sierra Club for a three-year term. He did not seek reelection in 2006.
He was a Fulbright Distinguished American Scholar in 2003.

Electoral history

Wisconsin Secretary of State election, 2002 - General election
	Candidate	Votes	%
Democratic	Doug La Follette	950,929	56.6%
Republican	Robert Gerald Lorge	693,476	41.3%
Constitution Party	Edward Frami	34,750	2.1%

Wisconsin Secretary of State election, 2006 – Democratic primary
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Democratic	Doug La Follette	298,228	72.0%
	Democratic	Scot Ross	57,459	28.0%

Wisconsin Secretary of State election, 2006 – General election
	Candidate	Votes	%
Democratic	Doug La Follette	1,228,438	57.6%
Republican	Sandy Sullivan	722,872	38.2%
Green Party	Michael LaForest	97,666	4.2%

Wisconsin Secretary of State election, 2010 – General election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Democratic	Doug La Follette	1,073,005	52.6%
	Republican	David King	1,004,584	48.4%

Wisconsin gubernatorial recall election, 2012 – Democratic primary
	Candidate	Votes	%
Democratic	Tom Barrett	390,109	58
Democratic	Kathleen Falk	228,940	34
Democratic	Kathleen Vinehout	26,926	4
Democratic	Doug La Follette	19,461	3
Democratic	Gladys Huber	4,842	1

Wisconsin Secretary of State election, 2014 – General election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Democratic	Doug La Follette	1,159,836	50.0%
	Republican	Julian Bradley	1,073,407	46.3%

Notes

↑ "La Follette, Douglas J". Wisconsinhistory.org. Retrieved 2010-09-04.
↑ La Follette weathers Republican tsunami, Journal Sentinel, December 11, 2010.
↑ , Milwaukee Journal, February 10, 1970.
↑ , Unger, Nancy (2008). Fighting Bob La Follette: The Righteous Reformer.

External links

Political offices
Preceded by Robert Zimmerman	Secretary of State of Wisconsin 1975–1979	Succeeded by Vel Phillips
Preceded by Vel Phillips	Secretary of State of Wisconsin 1983–present	Incumbent

Current statewide political officials of Wisconsin
U.S. Senators	Ron Johnson Tammy Baldwin
State government	Scott Walker, Governor Rebecca Kleefisch, Lieutenant Governor Doug La Follette, Secretary of State Brad Schimel, Attorney General Matt Adamczyk, Treasurer Tony Evers, Superintendent of Public Instruction
Senate	Mary Lazich, President Vacant, President pro tempore Scott L. Fitzgerald, Majority Leader Jennifer Shilling, Minority Leader
Assembly (House)	Robin Vos, Speaker Tyler August, Speaker pro tempore Jim Steineke, Majority Leader Peter W. Barca, Minority Leader
Supreme Court	Patience D. Roggensack Shirley Abrahamson Ann Walsh Bradley Annette Ziegler Michael Gableman Rebecca Bradley Daniel Kelly

State secretaries of state in the United States

John Merrill (R)

Byron Mallott (D)

Michele Reagan (R)

Mark Martin (R)

Alex Padilla (D)

Wayne Williams (R)

Denise Merrill (D)

Jeffrey Bullock (D)

Ken Detzner (R)

Brian Kemp (R)

Shan Tsutsui (D)

Lawerence Denney (R)

Jesse White (D)

Connie Lawson (R)

Paul Pate (R)

Kris Kobach (R)

Alison Grimes (D)

Tom Schedler (R)

Matthew Dunlap (D)

John Wobensmith (R)

Bill Galvin (D)

Ruth Johnson (R)

Steve Simon (D)

Delbert Hosemann (R)

Jay Ashcroft (R)

Corey Stapleton (R)

John Gale (R)

Barbara Cegavske (R)

Bill Gardner (D)

Kim Guadagno (R)

Maggie Toulouse Oliver (D)

Rossana Rosado (D)

Elaine Marshall (D)

Al Jaeger (R)

Jon Husted (R)

Dave Lopez (R)

Dennis Richardson (R)

Pedro Cortés (D)

Nellie Gorbea (D)

Mark Hammond (R)

Shantel Krebs (R)

Tre Hargett (R)

Rolando Pablos (R)

Spencer Cox (R)

Jim Condos (D)

Kelly Thomasson (D)

Kim Wyman (R)

Mac Warner (R)

Doug La Follette (D)

Ed Murray (R)

Lauren Vaughan (D)

Territories:

Lemanu Mauga (D)

Ray Tenorio (R)

Victor Hocog (R)

Luis Rivera Marín (R)

Osbert Potter (I)

Political party affiliations:

italics indicate no secretary of state in this state, closest equivalent listed

Secretaries of State of Wisconsin
Territory	Horner Slaughter Dunn Field Floyd Catlin
State	McHugh Barstow Robinson Gray Jones Harvey Lewis Fairchild Allen Breese Doyle Warner Timme Cunningham Casson Froehlich Houser Frear Donald Hull Hall F. Zimmerman Dammann F. Zimmerman Allis Wise R. Zimmerman La Follette Phillips La Follette

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