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.

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.

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. As a result he was removed as chairman of the Assembly Ways and Means Committee.

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.

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

In 2012 Ziegelbauer announced he would not run for reelection to the Assembly. He was succeeded by Paul Tittl.

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.

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.

Ziegelbauer left office in 2026.

Electoral history

Wisconsin Assembly, 2nd district (1980)

Wisconsin Assembly, 76th district (1982)

Wisconsin Assembly, 25th district (1992–2010)

Manitowoc County executive (2006–2022)