Wisconsin's 61st Assembly district

The 61st Assembly District of Wisconsin is one of 99 districts in the Wisconsin State Assembly.[2] Located in southeastern Wisconsin, the district covers most of Kenosha County. It includes the villages of Bristol, Paddock Lake, Pleasant Prairie, Salem Lakes, and Twin Lakes, and the western half of the village of Somers (west of Wisconsin Highway 31). It also contains the Richard Bong State Recreation Area and Chiwaukee Prairie Nature Preserve.[3] The district is represented by Republican Amanda Nedweski, since January 2023.[4]

Camp Lake community in the village of Salem Lakes
Richard Bong State Recreation Area

Wisconsin's 61st
State Assembly district
2022 map defined in Johnson v. Wisconsin Elections Commission
2011 map was defined in 2011 Wisc. Act 43
Assemblymember
  Amanda Nedweski
R–Pleasant Prairie
since January 3, 2023 (0 years)
Demographics86.1% White
2.0% Black
6.9% Hispanic
1.8% Asian
1.5% Native American
0.1% Hawaiian/Pacific Islander
1.4% Other
Population (2020)
 • Voting age		59,409[1]
47,040
NotesSoutheast Wisconsin

The 61st Assembly District is located within Wisconsin's 21st Senate District, along with the 62nd and 63rd Assembly Districts.

History

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 61st district was drawn roughly in line with the boundaries of the previous Racine County 2nd district (the northern part of the city of Racine). The 61st district boundaries were relatively consistent in redistricting from 1972 to 2011, with the major exception of the 1982 redistricting, which scrambled all State Assembly districts and moved the 61st district to north-central Wisconsin for the 1983–1984 legislative session. That changed with the controversial 2011 redistricting plan (2011 Wisc. Act 43) which moved the district to Kenosha County—the previous territory covered by the 61st district is now split between the 62nd and 66th Assembly districts. This was part of a larger gerrymandering plan for the Racine and Kenosha County districts to convert one Assembly seat and one Senate seat from tossups to safely Republican.

List of past representatives
List of representatives to the Wisconsin State Assembly from the 61st district
Member Party Residence Counties represented Term start Term end Ref.
District created
James F. Rooney Dem. Racine Racine January 1, 1973 January 3, 1983
Sheehan Donoghue Rep. Merrill Langlade, Lincoln, Marathon January 3, 1983 January 7, 1985
Scott C. Fergus Dem. Racine Racine January 7, 1985 July 1, 1990
--Vacant-- July 1, 1990 January 7, 1991
Robert L. Turner Dem. Racine January 7, 1991 January 7, 2013
Samantha Kerkman Rep. Randall Kenosha January 7, 2013 June 7, 2022 [6]
--Vacant-- June 7, 2022 Current
Amanda Nedweski Rep. Pleasant Prairie January 3, 2023 Current [4]

References
  1. "LTSB Open Data: Wisconsin Assembly Districts (2022)". Wisconsin Legislative Technology Services Bureau. Retrieved November 20, 2022.
  2. "Assembly District 61". Wisconsin Legislature. Retrieved January 7, 2021.
  3. "Wisconsin Legislative Districts - Assembly District 61 Boundaries". Wisconsin Legislature. Retrieved January 7, 2021.
  4. "Representative Amanda M. Nedweski". Wisconsin Legislature. Retrieved January 3, 2023.
  5. 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 22, 2021.
  6. "Representative Samantha Kerkman". Wisconsin Legislature. Retrieved January 7, 2021.
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