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Howard Marklein
2015 - Present
2027
10
Howard Marklein (Republican Party) is a member of the Wisconsin State Senate, representing District 17. He assumed office on January 5, 2015. His current term ends on January 4, 2027.
Marklein (Republican Party) is running for re-election to the Wisconsin State Senate to represent District 17. He declared candidacy for the 2026 election.[source]
Marklein was first elected to the chamber in 2014. He served in the Wisconsin State Assembly, representing District 51 from 2010 to 2015. Marklein did not seek re-election to the Wisconsin State Assembly in 2014.
Biography
Marklein earned his BBA in accounting from University of Wisconsin-Whitewater in 1976 and his CPA in 1978.
Marklein has been a partner at Baker Tilly (formerly Virchow Krause) since 1984 and is an expert in the area of forensic accounting and white collar crime investigation.[1]
Committee assignments
Note: This membership information was last updated in September 2023. Ballotpedia completes biannual updates of committee membership. If you would like to send us an update, email us at: editor@ballotpedia.org.
2023-2024
Marklein was assigned to the following committees:
- Agriculture and Tourism Committee
- Senate Finance Committee, Chairman
- Joint Legislative Audit Committee
- Joint Legislative Council Committee
- Employment Relations Committee
- Joint Finance Committee, Co Chair
- Tax Exemptions Committee
2021-2022
Marklein was assigned to the following committees:
- Employment Relations Committee
- Joint Finance Committee, Co-Chair
- Joint Legislative Audit Committee
- Joint Legislative Council Committee
- Agriculture and Tourism Committee, Vice Chair
- Senate Finance Committee, Chair
2019-2020
Marklein was assigned to the following committees:
- Joint Finance Committee
- Joint Legislative Council Committee
- Senate Finance Committee
- Natural Resources and Energy Committee
- Agriculture, Revenue, and Financial Institutions Committee, Chair
- Transportation, Veterans and Military Affairs Committee, Vice-Chair
2017 legislative session
At the beginning of the 2017 legislative session, this legislator served on the following committees:
| Wisconsin committee assignments, 2017 |
|---|
| • Finance |
| • Revenue, Financial Institutions, and Rural Issues, Chair |
| • Transportation and Veterans Affairs, Vice chair |
| • Workforce Development, Military Affairs, and Senior Issues |
| • Joint Finance |
| • Joint Legislative Council |
2015 legislative session
At the beginning of the 2015 legislative session, Marklein served on the following committees:
| Wisconsin committee assignments, 2015 |
|---|
| • Revenue, Financial Institutions, and Rural Issues, Chair |
| • Finance |
| • Labor and Government Reform |
| • Transportation and Veterans Affairs, Vice-Chair |
| • Joint Finance |
| • Joint Survey on Retirement Systems |
2013-2014
At the beginning of the 2013 legislative session, Marklein served on the following committees:
| Wisconsin committee assignments, 2013 |
|---|
| • Agriculture |
| • Audit, Vice Chair |
| • Education |
| • Financial Institutions |
| • Rural Affairs |
| • Ways and Means, Chair |
| • Joint Legislative Audit |
2011-2012
During the 2011-2012 legislative session, Marklein served on these committees:
| Wisconsin committee assignments, 2011 |
|---|
| • Agriculture |
| • Education, Vice Chair |
| • Financial Institutions |
Sponsored legislation
The following table lists bills this person sponsored as a legislator, according to BillTrack50 and sorted by action history. Bills are sorted by the date of their last action. The following list may not be comprehensive. To see all bills this legislator sponsored, click on the legislator's name in the title of the table.
Elections
2026
See also: Wisconsin State Senate elections, 2026
General election
The general election will occur on November 3, 2026.
General election for Wisconsin State Senate District 17
Incumbent Howard Marklein, Corrine Hendrickson, Jenna Jacobson, and Todd Larson are running in the general election for Wisconsin State Senate District 17 on November 3, 2026.
Candidate | ||
 | Howard Marklein (R) | |
| Corrine Hendrickson (D) | ||
 | Jenna Jacobson (D) | |
| Todd Larson (D) | ||
| ||||
 = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Endorsements
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2022
See also: Wisconsin State Senate elections, 2022
General election
General election for Wisconsin State Senate District 17
Incumbent Howard Marklein defeated Pat Skogen in the general election for Wisconsin State Senate District 17 on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Howard Marklein (R) | 60.1 | 44,405 |
 | Pat Skogen (D) | 39.8 | 29,398 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.0 | 22 | ||
| Total votes: 73,825 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Wisconsin State Senate District 17
Pat Skogen advanced from the Democratic primary for Wisconsin State Senate District 17 on August 9, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Pat Skogen | 99.9 | 10,092 |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.1 | 7 | ||
| Total votes: 10,099 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Tripp Stroud (D)
Republican primary election
Republican primary for Wisconsin State Senate District 17
Incumbent Howard Marklein advanced from the Republican primary for Wisconsin State Senate District 17 on August 9, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Howard Marklein | 99.6 | 17,008 |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.4 | 71 | ||
| Total votes: 17,079 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Campaign finance
2018
- See also: Wisconsin State Senate elections, 2018
General election
General election for Wisconsin State Senate District 17
Incumbent Howard Marklein defeated Kriss Marion in the general election for Wisconsin State Senate District 17 on November 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Howard Marklein (R) | 54.1 | 37,465 |
 | Kriss Marion (D) | 45.9 | 31,757 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.0 | 26 | ||
| Total votes: 69,248 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Wisconsin State Senate District 17
Kriss Marion advanced from the Democratic primary for Wisconsin State Senate District 17 on August 14, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Kriss Marion | 100.0 | 11,236 |
| Total votes: 11,236 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Republican primary election
Republican primary for Wisconsin State Senate District 17
Incumbent Howard Marklein advanced from the Republican primary for Wisconsin State Senate District 17 on August 14, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Howard Marklein | 100.0 | 8,088 |
| Total votes: 8,088 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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2014
- See also: Wisconsin State Senate elections, 2014
Elections for 17 seats in the Wisconsin State Senate took place in 2014. A primary election took place on August 12, 2014. The general election was held on November 4, 2014. The signature filing deadline for candidates wishing to run in this election was June 2, 2014. Pat Bomhack (D) was declared the winner of the District 17 contest on August 29 after a recount. Howard Marklein ran unopposed in the Republican primary. Marklein defeated Bomhack in the general election.[2][3][4][5]
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican |  Howard Marklein |
55.1% | 34,601 | |
| Democratic | Pat Bomhack | 44.9% | 28,179 | |
| Total Votes | 62,780 | |||
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
|---|---|---|
|
Pat Bomhack |
50.2% | 3,837 |
| Ernie Wittwer | 49.8% | 3,804 |
| Total Votes | 7,641 | |
2012
- See also: Wisconsin State Assembly elections, 2012
Marklein won re-election in the 2012 election for Wisconsin State Assembly District 51. Marklein ran unopposed in the Republican primary on August 14 and defeated Maureen May-Grimm (D) in the general election on November 6, 2012.[6][7]
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Howard Marklein Incumbent |
51.9% | 14,279 | |
| Democratic | Maureen May-Grimm | 48.1% | 13,238 | |
| - | Scattering | 0.1% | 22 | |
| Total Votes | 27,539 | |||
2010
- See also: Wisconsin State Assembly elections, 2010
Marklein defeated Democratic candidate John Simonson in the November 2 general election. He was unopposed in the primary election.[8]
| Wisconsin State Assembly, District 51 General Election (2010) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidates | Votes | |||
| Howard Marklein (R)
|
10,822 | |||
| John Simonson (D) | 9,931 | |||
| Wisconsin State Assembly, District 51 Republican Primary (2010) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidates | Votes | Percent | ||
| Howard Marklein (R)
|
4,564 | 99.8% | ||
Campaign themes
2026
Ballotpedia survey responses
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2022
Howard Marklein did not complete Ballotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.
2010
Marklein's website highlighted the following campaign themes:
- Jobs: Create tax and regulatory policies that are not hostile to the businesses that create jobs.
- Health care: Points out the importance of not-for-profit community hospitals to overall community health.
Campaign finance summary
Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.
2016 Republican National Convention
- See also: Republican National Convention, 2016
Marklein was a district-level delegate to the 2016 Republican National Convention from Wisconsin. Marklein was one of 36 delegates from Wisconsin bound by state party rules to support Ted Cruz at the convention.[9] Cruz suspended his campaign on May 3, 2016. At the time, he had approximately 546 bound delegates. For more on what happened to his delegates, see this page.
Delegate rules
At-large delegates from Wisconsin to the Republican National Convention were selected by a committee formed by the candidate who received a plurality of the statewide vote in the state presidential primary election and ratified by the State Executive Committee. For district-level delegates, the district chairman of each district compiled a list of delegates from which the presidential candidate who won a plurality of the vote in that district selected three delegates. Delegates from Wisconsin were bound to a candidate on all ballots at the convention unless the candidate released them or failed to receive one-third of the vote on a ballot.
Wisconsin primary results
- See also: Presidential election in Wisconsin, 2016
| Wisconsin Republican Primary, 2016 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes | Delegates | |
|
Ted Cruz |
48.2% | 531,129 | 36 | |
| Donald Trump | 35.1% | 386,290 | 6 | |
| John Kasich | 14.1% | 155,200 | 0 | |
| Jeb Bush | 0.3% | 3,156 | 0 | |
| Ben Carson | 0.5% | 5,608 | 0 | |
| Chris Christie | 0.1% | 1,310 | 0 | |
| Carly Fiorina | 0.1% | 825 | 0 | |
| Jim Gilmore | 0% | 242 | 0 | |
| Mike Huckabee | 0.1% | 1,428 | 0 | |
| Rand Paul | 0.2% | 2,491 | 0 | |
| Marco Rubio | 1% | 10,569 | 0 | |
| Rick Santorum | 0% | 510 | 0 | |
| Other | 0.2% | 2,288 | 0 | |
| Totals | 1,101,046 | 42 | ||
| Source: The New York Times and Wisconsin Vote | ||||
Delegate allocation
Wisconsin had 42 delegates at the 2016 Republican National Convention. Of this total, 24 were district-level delegates (three for each of the state's eight congressional districts). District delegates were allocated on a winner-take-all basis; the candidate who won a plurality of the vote in a congressional district received all of that district's delegates.[10][11]
Of the remaining 18 delegates, 15 served at large. Wisconsin's at-large delegates were allocated on a winner-take-all basis. The candidate who won a plurality of the statewide vote received all of the state's at-large delegates. In addition, three national party leaders (identified on the chart below as RNC delegates) served as bound delegates to the Republican National Convention.[10][11]
Personal
Note: Please contact us if the personal information below requires an update.
Marklein is married to Peggy, a registered nurse. He is the father of Nicole and William, and three stepchildren. He served in an elected position on the Board of Directors of a not-for-profit community hospital, and has served almost four years as Board Chair.[12]
Scorecards
A scorecard evaluates a legislator’s voting record. Its purpose is to inform voters about the legislator’s political positions. Because scorecards have varying purposes and methodologies, each report should be considered on its own merits. For example, an advocacy group’s scorecard may assess a legislator’s voting record on one issue while a state newspaper’s scorecard may evaluate the voting record in its entirety.
Ballotpedia is in the process of developing an encyclopedic list of published scorecards. Some states have a limited number of available scorecards or scorecards produced only by select groups. It is Ballotpedia’s goal to incorporate all available scorecards regardless of ideology or number.
Click here for an overview of legislative scorecards in all 50 states. To contribute to the list of Wisconsin scorecards, email suggestions to editor@ballotpedia.org.
2024
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2024, click [show]. |
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In 2024, the Wisconsin State Legislature was in session from January 16 to March 12.
|
2023
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2023, click [show]. |
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In 2023, the Wisconsin State Legislature was in session from January 3 to December 31.
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2022
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2022, click [show]. |
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In 2022, the Wisconsin State Legislature was in session from January 18 to March 8.
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2021
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2021, click [show]. |
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In 2021, the Wisconsin State Legislature was in session from January 4 to December 31.
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2020
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2020, click [show]. |
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In 2020, the Wisconsin State Legislature was in session from January 14 to May 13.
|
2019
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2019, click [show]. |
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In 2019, the Wisconsin State Legislature was in session from January 7, 2019 through January 13, 2020.
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2018
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2018, click [show]. |
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In 2018, the Wisconsin State Legislature was in session from January 16 through March 27. Special sessions were held from January 1 through February 27 and from March 15 through March 29.
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2017
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2017, click [show]. |
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In 2017, the Wisconsin State Legislature was in session from January 3 through December 31. There were also special sessions. The first special session was January 5. The second special session was August 1 through September 15.
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2016
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2016, click [show]. |
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In 2016, the Wisconsin State Legislature was in session from January 12 through March 15.
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2015
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2015, click [show]. |
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In 2015, the Wisconsin State Legislature was in session from January 5 through December 31.
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2014
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2014, click [show]. |
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In 2014, the Wisconsin State Legislature was in session from January 14 through June 4.
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2013
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2013, click [show]. |
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In 2013, the Wisconsin State Legislature was in session from January 7 to December 31.
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2012
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2012, click [show]. |
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In 2012, the Wisconsin State Legislature was in session from January 10 through March 16.
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See also
2026 Elections
External links
|
Officeholder Wisconsin State Senate District 17 |
Personal |
Footnotes
- ↑ Marklein, "Campaign website," accessed May 6, 2014
- ↑ Madison.com, "More than 100 ballots missing in 17th Senate District primary recount," August 27, 2014
- ↑ Wisconsin Government Accountability Board, "2014 Partisan Primary Candidates," accessed June 19, 2014
- ↑ Wisconsin Government Accountability Board, "Candidates Registered by Office," June 11, 2014
- ↑ Wisconsin Government Accountability Board, "Canvass Results for 2014 General Election," December 1, 2014
- ↑ Government Accountability Board, "2012 Fall Partisan Primary," accessed May 5, 2014
- ↑ Government Accountability Board, "2012 Fall General Election," accessed May 5, 2014
- ↑ Wisconsin Government Accountability Board, "Official 2010 Primary election results," accessed April 25, 2014
- ↑ Wisconsin State Journal, "Wisconsin GOP releases list of all 42 delegates to Republican National Convention," April 27, 2016
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Republican National Committee, "2016 Presidential Nominating Process," accessed October 6, 2015
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 CNN.com, "Republican National Convention roll call vote," accessed July 20, 2016 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name "rollcallvote" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedcampaign - ↑ Wisconsin Family Action, "2015-2016 legislative scorecard," accessed May 31, 2017
- ↑ Wisconsin Family Action, "2015-2016 legislative scorecard," accessed May 31, 2017
- ↑ Wisconsin Family Action, "2015-2016 legislative scorecard," accessed May 31, 2017
- ↑ Wisconsin Family Action, "2015-2016 legislative scorecard," accessed May 31, 2017
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by - |
Wisconsin State Senate District 17 2015-Present |
Succeeded by - |
| Preceded by - |
Wisconsin State Assembly District 51 2011-2015 |
Succeeded by - |
