Doug La Follette

Douglas J. La Follette (born June 6, 1940) is a retired American academic, environmental scientist, and Democratic politician from Wisconsin. He was the 28th and 30th secretary of state of Wisconsin, serving from 1975 to 1979, and from 1983 to 2023. With his 44 years as secretary of state, La Follette is the longest-serving statewide elected official in Wisconsin history, and at the time of his retirement, he was the longest-serving statewide elected official in the United States (excluding U.S. senators). Earlier in his career, he was a member of the Wisconsin Senate, representing Wisconsin's 21st Senate district during the 1973–1975 term. He was also the Democratic Party nominee for lieutenant governor of Wisconsin in 1978, and made unsuccessful bids for U.S. House of Representatives (in 1970 and 1996) and for governor of Wisconsin (in 2012).

Early life and career A distant relative of the prominent Wisconsin La Follette family, 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. La Follette also served as a research associate at University of Wisconsin–Madison. He also owned a small business.

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 has been described as an uncle of Robert "Fighting Bob" La Follette by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and Chemical & Engineering News, while Dissent Magazine referred to the great-grandfather as Robert La Follette's brother. WKOW News and WEAU News state that Robert La Follette was Doug's great-uncle. Robert's grandson, former Wisconsin Attorney General Bronson La Follette, has described Doug La Follette as a "second cousin, three times removed" from Robert La Follette. Alternatively, Milwaukee Magazine has noted Doug as a first cousin three times removed of Robert La Follette. According to professor and author Nancy Unger, Doug is a third cousin of Bronson. 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 in 1973 and 1974.

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 in the primary.

In his campaigns for Secretary of State, among other campaigns, La Follette shunned 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 had been reduced and transferred to other agencies (including the State Board of Elections) by the state legislature, under La Follette's tenure. In the Republican wave election year of 1994, despite being outspent more than 2 to 1 by his Republican opponent (both candidates had a low budget), he held him to less than forty percent of the vote.

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.

In 2023, three months into his eleventh term, La Follette resigned as secretary of state. Governor Tony Evers appointed former State Treasurer Sarah Godlewski to the position. In his resignation letter, he stated that he didn't want to "spend the next three and a half years trying to run an office without adequate resources and staffing levels." At the time of his retirement, La Follette was the longest serving non-federal statewide elected official in the United States holding the same office, having served from January 3, 1983 to March 17, 2023.

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

U.S. House (1970)

Wisconsin Senate (1972)

Wisconsin Secretary of State (1974)

Wisconsin Lieutenant Governor (1978)

Wisconsin Superintendent of Public Instruction (1981)

Wisconsin Secretary of State (1982–2022)

Year Election Date Elected Defeated Total Plurality 1982 Primary Democratic 275,729 51.13% Dem. 166,371 30.85% 539,227 109,358 Dem. 66,576 12.35% Dem. 30,551 5.67% General Democratic 754,032 52.07% Rep. 670,672 46.31% 1,448,189 83,360 L-F 23,485 1.62% 1990 Primary Democratic 129,926 72.38% Dem. 49,590 27.62% 179,516 80,336 General Democratic 845,742 57.03% Rep. 590,666 39.83% 1,482,943 255,076 Lib. 26,397 1.78% Tax. 20,138 1.36% 1998 General Democratic 973,744 57.98% Rep. 660,406 39.32% 1,679,484 313,338 Lib. 18,074 1.08% Tax. 17,354 1.03% Ref. 9,906 0.59% 2002 General Democratic 950,929 56.60% Rep. 693,476 41.27% 1,680,164 257,453 Con. 34,750 2.07% 2006 Primary Democratic 236,547 71.19% Dem. 95,354 28.70% 332,265 141,193 General Democratic 1,184,720 58.07% Rep. 796,686 39.05% 2,040,144 388,034 Grn. 57,326 2.81% 2010 General Democratic 1,074,118 51.61% Rep. 1,005,217 48.30% 2,081,198 68,901 2014 General Democratic 1,161,113 50.00% Rep. 1,074,835 46.29% 2,322,035 86,278 Ind. 58,996 2.54% Con. 25,744 1.11% 2018 Primary Democratic 327,020 65.84% Dem. 169,130 34.05% 496,720 157,890 General Democratic 1,380,752 52.74% Rep. 1,235,034 47.18% 2,617,948 145,718 Grn. 60 0.00% 2022 Primary Democratic 300,773 63.57% Dem. 171,954 36.34% 473,144 128,819 General Democratic 1,268,748 48.30% Rep. 1,261,306 48.01% 2,626,943 7,442 Lib. 54,413 2.07% Grn. 41,532 1.58%

U.S. Senate (1988)

U.S. House (1996)

Wisconsin Governor (2012)