Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos Steps Down After Record Tenure

Robin Vos, Wisconsin's longest-serving Assembly Speaker, announced his retirement after 22 years in the legislature. The Republican leader clashed with Trump over 2020 election investigations and successfully blocked much of the Democratic governor's agenda during his tenure.

MADISON, Wis. — After serving a record-breaking tenure as Wisconsin’s Assembly Speaker, Republican leader Robin Vos declared Thursday he will step down when the year concludes, ending his 22-year legislative career.

Speaking from the Assembly floor, Vos announced his departure following 14 years in the speaker’s role, a period marked by intense political battles and friction with former President Donald Trump over Wisconsin’s 2020 election results.

Throughout his time in office, Vos navigated Wisconsin through politically charged years when the swing state became nationally recognized for restricting union influence, serving as a crucial presidential battleground, and experiencing heated redistricting disputes over GOP-favorable electoral maps that Vos championed.

Democratic critics viewed Vos as an unofficial shadow governor who strategically leveraged his legislative control to create governmental gridlock while pushing conservative policies and preventing Democrats from achieving meaningful wins.

Republican allies praised Vos as a calculating political strategist who successfully outplayed opponents across party lines, establishing himself as one of Wisconsin’s most powerful GOP figures in recent decades.

Speaking with The Associated Press, Vos predicted Democrats will be “happy that I’m gone,” while warning his conservative critics: “You’re going to miss me.”

During former GOP Governor Scott Walker’s administration, Vos proved instrumental in advancing major conservative initiatives, including the controversial 2011 Act 10 legislation that virtually eliminated collective bargaining rights for most government employees. He also spearheaded efforts to enact multiple tax reductions, right-to-work legislation, and voter identification mandates — all measures Democrats fiercely opposed.

Following Tony Evers’ 2018 gubernatorial victory over Walker and the departure of the top Senate Republican to Congress two years afterward, Vos became the undisputed leader of state GOP forces and a primary target for liberal opposition.

Over the past seven years, Vos effectively blocked most of Evers’ policy initiatives. He even undermined Evers before the governor took office in 2019 by pushing through lame-duck legislation that stripped executive powers.

“I’ve been tenacious and I’ve fought for what our caucus wants,” Vos stated.

Vos and his Republican colleagues repeatedly dismissed Evers’ special legislative sessions and successfully challenged gubernatorial authority during the 2020 COVID-19 crisis. His legal challenge against Evers’ stay-at-home directive made Wisconsin the first state where courts struck down a governor’s pandemic restrictions.

However, Vos faced criticism from within his own party, particularly from Trump, who accused him of inadequately investigating Wisconsin’s 2020 election outcome. While Vos eventually commissioned a former conservative state Supreme Court justice to examine the election, he later terminated the investigation amid bipartisan backlash over conspiracy theories and failure to uncover evidence of significant fraud.

This investigation represented an unusual political stumble for Vos, who now supports revoking the former justice’s legal credentials. Vos has consistently called hiring Gableman his greatest political error.

Trump backed Vos’s 2022 primary opponent, and supporters launched multiple failed recall campaigns against him. Vos dismissed his critics as “whack jobs and morons” while successfully defending his position to become Wisconsin’s longest-serving speaker, surpassing Democrat Tom Loftus’s 1983-1991 record.

Under Vos’s leadership and Republican-drawn district maps, the GOP majority expanded until the state Supreme Court mandated new boundaries in 2023, leading to Democratic gains in recent elections. Republican seats peaked at 64 under Vos but will drop to 54 in his final year.

While Democrats express optimism about capturing the majority this year, Vos maintains confidence that Republicans will retain control despite his departure from leadership.

The 57-year-old Vos first won his Assembly seat in 2004 and gained the speakership in 2013, achieving the longest-serving speaker milestone in 2021.

Vos disclosed he experienced a mild heart attack in November, which he kept private until Thursday’s announcement, though he emphasized this health scare didn’t drive his retirement decision.

“It was the tap on the shoulder that I needed to make sure that my decision is right,” he explained.

While calling a future candidacy “unlikely,” Vos didn’t completely dismiss the possibility of seeking office again.

Notably, Vos shared college living quarters with Reince Priebus, who later chaired the Republican National Committee in 2016 and served as Trump’s initial White House chief of staff.

Governor Evers, despite their frequently adversarial relationship, acknowledged that Vos’s departure “marks the end of an era in Wisconsin politics.”

“Although we’ve disagreed more often than we didn’t, I respect his candor, his ability to navigate complex policies and conversations, and his unrivaled passion for politics,” Evers commented.

Democratic Congressman Mark Pocan, who served alongside Vos in the legislature and maintained their friendship despite political differences, described him as a “formidable opponent” and “probably the most intelligent and strategic Assembly speaker I have seen.”