The 34th Assembly District of Wisconsin is one of 99 districts in the Wisconsin State Assembly.[1] Located in northern Wisconsin, the district comprises all of Vilas County and most of Oneida County. It contains the cities of Rhinelander and Eagle River and most of the Lac du Flambeau Reservation. It also contains parts of the Nicolet National Forest, including the Blackjack Springs Wilderness.[2] The district is represented by Republican Rob Swearingen, since January 2013.[3]
| Wisconsin's 34th State Assembly district | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | |||||
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 | |||||
| Assemblymember |
| ||||
| Demographics | 91.96% White 0.62% Black 1.25% Hispanic 0.68% Asian 4.86% Native American 0.07% Hawaiian/Pacific Islander | ||||
| Population (2020) • Voting age | 59,520 49,742 | ||||
| Website | Official website | ||||
| Notes | Northern Wisconsin | ||||
The 34th Assembly district is located within Wisconsin's 12th Senate district, along with the 35th and 36th Assembly districts.[4]
-
Downtown Rhinelander -
The Eagle River flowing through Eagle River
History edit
The district was created in the 1972 redistricting act (1971 Wisc. Act 304) which first established the numbered district system, replacing the previous system which allocated districts to specific counties.[5] The 34th district was drawn with novel boundaries, taking the southern half of the former Price County–Rusk County–Sawyer County district (all of Rusk County and southern Price County) and the western half of the former Lincoln County–Taylor County district (Taylor County) along with part of northern Clark County. The last representative of the Lincoln–Taylor district, Joseph Sweda, was elected in the 1972 election as the first representative of the 34th Assembly district.[6]
Following the 1982 court-ordered redistricting, which scrambled all State Assembly districts, the 1983 redistricting moved the 34th district to Oneida County and Vilas County. The district's boundaries did not change through redistricting in 1992, but the 2002 plan removed part of southwest Oneida County from the district. The controversial 2011 redistricting plan (2011 Wisc. Act 43) was the most significant change to the district since 1983, stretching the boundaries east through rural northern Forest County and Florence County. The 2022 redistricting restored a configuration closer to the previous map, by removing the Forest and Florence portions.
List of past representatives edit
| Member | Party | Residence | Counties represented | Term start | Term end | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| District created | ||||||
| Joseph Sweda | Dem. | Lublin | Clark, Price, Rusk, Taylor | January 1, 1973 | January 6, 1975 | [6][7]: 179 |
| Stanley J. Lato | Dem. | Gilman | January 6, 1975 | January 1, 1979 | [7]: 154 | |
| Robert J. Larson | Rep. | Medford | January 1, 1979 | January 3, 1983 | [7]: 154 | |
| John Medinger | Dem. | La Crosse | La Crosse | January 3, 1983 | January 7, 1985 | [7]: 159 |
| Jim Holperin | Dem. | Eagle River | Oneida, Vilas | January 7, 1985 | January 2, 1995 | [7]: 147 |
| Joe Handrick | Rep. | Minocqua | January 2, 1995 | January 1, 2001 | [7]: 144 | |
| Dan Meyer | Rep. | Eagle River | January 1, 2001 | January 7, 2013 | [7]: 160 | |
| Rob Swearingen | Rep. | Rhinelander | Florence, Forest, Oneida, Vilas | January 7, 2013 | Current | [3] |
| Oneida, Vilas | ||||||
References edit
- ^ "Assembly District 34". Wisconsin Legislature. Retrieved February 1, 2021.
- ^ "Wisconsin Legislative Districts - Assembly District 34 Boundaries". Wisconsin Legislature. Retrieved February 1, 2021.
- ^ a b "Representative Rob Swearingen". Wisconsin Legislature. Retrieved February 1, 2021.
- ^ "An Act ... relating to: legislative redistricting". Act No. 94 of 2023. Wisconsin Legislature. Retrieved March 5, 2024.
- ^ Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau (1973). "Legislature" (PDF). In Theobald, H. Rupert; Robbins, Patricia V. (eds.). The state of Wisconsin 1973 Blue Book (Report). Madison, Wisconsin: State of Wisconsin. pp. 227–230. Retrieved January 31, 2021.
- ^ a b Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau (1973). "Biographies" (PDF). In Theobald, H. Rupert; Robbins, Patricia V. (eds.). The state of Wisconsin 1973 Blue Book (Report). State of Wisconsin. pp. 44–45. Retrieved February 22, 2021.
- ^ a b c d e f g Barish, Lawrence S.; Lemanski, Lynn, eds. (2007). "Feature Article: Those Who Served: Wisconsin Legislators 1848 – 2007" (PDF). State of Wisconsin 2007-2008 Blue Book (Report). State of Wisconsin. pp. 144, 147, 154, 159, 160, 179. ISBN 978-0-9752820-2-1. Retrieved February 22, 2021.