Lee Snodgrass

Lee Alyson Snodgrass (born February 9, 1969) is an American communications consultant, campaign organizer, and Democratic politician from Appleton, Wisconsin. She is a member of the Wisconsin State Assembly, representing Wisconsin's 52nd Assembly district since 2025; she previously represented the 57th Assembly district from 2021 to 2025. She also previously served as of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin and chair of the Democratic Party of Outagamie County, Wisconsin.

Early life and career Snodgrass was born in Philadelphia, the daughter of a paper mill engineer and a registered nurse. Her father's work with James River Paper brought her family to Green Bay, Wisconsin, where she graduated from Preble High School in 1987. She went on to study at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and earned her bachelor's degree in English in 1991. In 1995, they returned to Wisconsin to reside at Appleton, where Snodgrass was employed at the Fox River Paper Company as a marketing and communications assistant. The 19th Senate district at that time comprised the cities of Neenah and Menasha and most of Appleton, as well as the northern half of Winnebago County and several towns in southern Outagamie County. The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee targeted her race for funding from the national party organization.

Another Appleton Democrat, Outagamie County Supervisor Dan Grady, also challenged Roth in 2018, setting up a primary. Snodgrass was endorsed before the primary by EMILY's List and built a 10-to-1 cash advantage over Grady. Snodgrass prevailed in the August primary with 64% of the vote, and she went on to face Roth in the November general election.

The general election race touched on a number of state topics of the era. Snodgrass criticized the Republican legislature and Scott Walker administration for the management of the Foxconn in Wisconsin project, which was expected to build a massive production facility and logistics depot in the district of Republican Assembly speaker Robin Vos. She questioned the $3,000,000,000 in tax credits promised to the company, which, she said, had a "history of broken contracts and human rights violations," and pointed out that the company, Foxconn, had already downgraded its commitment to job creation that would come with the project. She criticized the Republican legislature for raiding state highway funds to build the desired infrastructure around the Foxconn project, and noted that these policies would lead to rising costs and degraded infrastructure for the rest of the state. She also pointed to the environmental impacts of the Foxconn project, and the violation of the Great Lakes Compact between the great lakes states. Despite the electoral defeat, she won support from within the Democratic Party and, a few months later, joined Ben Wikler's slate of candidates seeking to take leadership of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin. At the state party convention in June, Wikler's slate won the approval of the party, and Snodgrass became 2nd vice chair of the party for a two-year term. Following their election, Snodgrass pledged, "We are going to organize across this state 24/7, 365."

2020 Assembly campaign Also in 2019, Snodgrass was approached by incumbent Appleton state representative Amanda Stuck to discuss her plans for 2020. Stuck intended to leave her Assembly seat to run for United States House of Representatives against incumbent Republican Mike Gallagher, and courted Snodgrass as her successor in the Assembly. Stuck later said she wanted to be sure that her Assembly seat fell to someone, "who's going to still be here for [her constituents] fighting at the state level." In July 2019, Stuck announced her campaign for United States Congress, and Snodgrass, only a month after being elected to the state party leadership team, announced she would run for Wisconsin State Assembly in the 57th assembly district. Snodgrass did not face an opponent in the Democratic primary and went on to face Appleton business owner Eric J. Beach in the general election. Snodgrass prevailed in November with 56% of the vote.

Personal life and family Snodgrass was married in October 1993 to John H. Ptacek of Fontana, Wisconsin, whom she met at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. They had two children together—one daughter and one son—before separating.

Wisconsin Assembly, 57th district (2020, 2022)

Wisconsin Assembly, 52nd district (2024)