# Bob Donovan

Bob Donovan is a Republican member of the Wisconsin House for district 61.

- Party: Republican
- Seat: Wisconsin House, district 61
- Serving since: 2023-01-03
- Current term: WI 2025–26 session
- Open States ID: ocd-person/54522ac6-81ad-4b83-929f-b94e94b8acb4

Source: https://americaspoliticalpulse.com/p/54522ac6-81ad-4b83-929f-b94e94b8acb4 (America’s Political Pulse, Polarization Research Lab), data through 2026-10-27. Data under CC BY 4.0. Cite as: Westwood, Sean J., and Yphtach Lelkes. 2024. America's Political Pulse [data set].

## Headline

24% of Donovan’s statements criticize a policy, 2.5 times the State House Republican average of 9.3%.

## What Donovan says (WI 2025–26 session)

335 classified statements: 335 posts on X. Each rate is the share of statements with the label, against the State House Republicans average; rank 1 is the highest rate.

| Label | Donovan | State House Republicans average | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Personal attacks | 1.5% | 2.9% | 347 of 791 |
| Policy criticism | 23.6% | 9.3% | 75 of 791 |
| Policy discussion | 53.4% | 31.9% | 88 of 791 |
| Bipartisanship | 3.3% | 1.8% | 148 of 791 |
| Credit claiming | 18.5% | 12.7% | 200 of 791 |
| Extreme labels | 0.0% | 1.4% | 618 of 791 |

Most discussed policy areas: Crime and Law Enforcement 45% (State House Republicans 11%); Education 15% (State House Republicans 15%); Transportation and Public Works 12% (State House Republicans 4.4%); Government Operations and Politics 11% (State House Republicans 18%); Environmental Protection 5.6% (State House Republicans 1.9%).

## Ideology (CSIP)

CSIP score +0.69 (standard error 0.02), from 781 donors and 311 roll calls. Negative is left of 0, positive right of it, on one scale for every official. 91% of State House Republicans score lower.

## Votes (WI 2025–26 session)

245 roll calls. Attendance 100% (Wisconsin House 97.7%). Party unity 100% (97.6%). 0 votes against the party majority.

Key votes:

- 2026-05-13 · voted yea · PASSAGE · AB 1 Relating to: an income tax subtraction for qualified tips and for qualified overtime compensation; state aid for school districts; surplus refund… · pass · https://openstates.org/wi/bills/2026S1/AB1/
- 2026-02-19 · voted yea · CONCURRENCE · SB 181 Relating to: a levy limit exemption for regional emergency medical systems and eligibility for the expenditure restraint incentive program. (FE) · pass · https://openstates.org/wi/bills/2025/SB181/
- 2026-02-19 · voted yea · PASSAGE · AB 659 Relating to: tuition and fee remission or grants for certain veterans and their dependents enrolled in the University of Wisconsin System, a technical… · pass · https://openstates.org/wi/bills/2025/AB659/
- 2026-02-19 · voted yea · PASSAGE · AB 997 Relating to: funding for the Department of Financial Institutions for contributions to Trump accounts and making an appropriation. (FE) · pass · https://openstates.org/wi/bills/2025/AB997/
- 2026-02-19 · voted yea · CONCURRENCE · SB 439 Relating to: levy increase limit for the village of Oregon and the towns of Oregon and Rutland. (FE) · pass · https://openstates.org/wi/bills/2025/SB439/
- 2026-02-19 · voted yea · PASSAGE · AB 812 Relating to: allowing more than 35 percent of the area within a tax incremental district in the Village of Somers to be used for residential use. (FE) · pass · https://openstates.org/wi/bills/2025/AB812/
- 2026-02-19 · voted yea · PASSAGE · AB 870 Relating to: adopting changes to the federal Internal Revenue Code for state tax purposes and modifying administrative rules related to such changes.… · pass · https://openstates.org/wi/bills/2025/AB870/
- 2026-02-19 · voted yea · PASSAGE · AB 996 Relating to: contributions by the Department of Financial Institutions to Trump accounts. · pass · https://openstates.org/wi/bills/2025/AB996/
- 2026-02-19 · voted yea · PASSAGE · AB 957 Relating to: Internet crimes against children law enforcement and making an appropriation. (FE) · pass · https://openstates.org/wi/bills/2025/AB957/
- 2026-02-19 · voted yea · CONCURRENCE · SB 501 Relating to: creating a veterinary loan repayment grant program administered by the Higher Educational Aids Board and exempting from taxation amounts… · pass · https://openstates.org/wi/bills/2025/SB501/

## Legislation (WI 2025–26 session)

Sponsored 141 bills: 141 reached committee, 59 passed one chamber, 36 passed both, 24 became law. Cosponsored 0. 67.4% of sponsored bills got out of committee (Wisconsin House 45.2%; rank 41 of 99).

Recent sponsored bills:

- AB 1098: Relating to: depositing tires on private property and providing a penalty. (in committee, 2026-03-23) https://openstates.org/wi/bills/2025/AB1098/
- AB 1062: Relating to: prohibited employment for former members of the Public Service Commission. (in committee, 2026-03-23) https://openstates.org/wi/bills/2025/AB1062/
- AJR 141: Relating to: Commemorating the 250th anniversary of one of the first major victories for the Patriots in the Revolutionary War and recognizing the… (in committee, 2026-03-23) https://openstates.org/wi/bills/2025/AJR141/
- AB 1019: Relating to: state parks vehicle admission receipts purchased with motor vehicle registration. (in committee, 2026-03-23) https://openstates.org/wi/bills/2025/AB1019/
- AB 1009: Relating to: tourism promotion improvement districts. (FE) (in committee, 2026-03-23) https://openstates.org/wi/bills/2025/AB1009/
- AB 968: Relating to: virtual currency kiosks. (became law, 2026-04-09) https://openstates.org/wi/bills/2025/AB968/
- AB 984: Relating to: requirements for the use of a memory care designation by community-based residential facilities. (FE) (in committee, 2026-04-07) https://openstates.org/wi/bills/2025/AB984/
- AB 970: Relating to: grants for community emergency medical services, grants for falls prevention awareness and initiatives, and making an appropriation. (FE) (passed one chamber, 2026-03-23) https://openstates.org/wi/bills/2025/AB970/
- AB 990: Relating to: personal financial literacy high school graduation requirement. (in committee, 2026-03-23) https://openstates.org/wi/bills/2025/AB990/
- AB 974: Relating to: a public affairs network trust fund, grants to the WisconsinEye Public Affairs Network, and making an appropriation. (FE) (passed one chamber, 2026-03-23) https://openstates.org/wi/bills/2025/AB974/

## Campaign money (2026 cycle)

Itemized receipts $224.0K (State House Republicans median $33.7K). 97% of itemized individual money came from in state. Aggregates only; no individual donors.

## Recent statements

Newest first. Posts on X are listed by date and link only.

- 2026-07-04 · Post on X · https://x.com/repdonovan/status/2073391385248755982
- 2026-06-08 · Post on X · https://x.com/repdonovan/status/2064027886982398376
- 2026-05-28 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion, credit claiming · https://x.com/repdonovan/status/2059825334346830294
- 2026-05-21 · Post on X · https://x.com/repdonovan/status/2057285192146878707
- 2026-05-15 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion, bipartisanship · https://x.com/repdonovan/status/2055309148422619289
- 2026-05-08 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion · https://x.com/repdonovan/status/2052843353088065927
- 2026-05-01 · Post on X · labels: policy discussion, credit claiming · https://x.com/repdonovan/status/2050251799689330788
- 2026-04-22 · Post on X · https://x.com/repdonovan/status/2047030393254158342
- 2026-03-25 · Post on X · labels: policy criticism, policy discussion · https://x.com/repdonovan/status/2036603062098276435
- 2026-03-17 · Post on X · https://x.com/repdonovan/status/2033943183793521078

## Links

- Official site: https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/document/legislator/2023/2555
- Campaign site: https://www.donovanforassembly.com/
- X: https://x.com/repdonovan
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bob.donovan.73/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bob-donovan-27a4046b

Full profile, with every chart and the methods: https://americaspoliticalpulse.com/p/54522ac6-81ad-4b83-929f-b94e94b8acb4