# Joel Kitchens

Joel Kitchens is a Republican member of the Wisconsin House for district 1.

- Party: Republican
- Seat: Wisconsin House, district 1
- Serving since: 2015-01-06
- Current term: WI 2025–26 session
- Open States ID: ocd-person/e127b754-c756-4017-a414-83cff1bb30f5

Source: https://americaspoliticalpulse.com/p/e127b754-c756-4017-a414-83cff1bb30f5 (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

Kitchens sits at +0.58 on the CSIP scale, more conservative than 84% of State House Republicans.

## Ideology (CSIP)

CSIP score +0.58 (standard error 0.02), from 558 donors and 551 roll calls. Negative is left of 0, positive right of it, on one scale for every official. 84% 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 122 bills: 122 reached committee, 53 passed one chamber, 29 passed both, 23 became law. Cosponsored 0. 70.5% of sponsored bills got out of committee (Wisconsin House 45.2%; rank 31 of 99).

Recent sponsored bills:

- AB 1199: Relating to: fee for the inland waters trout stamp. (FE) (in committee, 2026-04-09) https://openstates.org/wi/bills/2025/AB1199/
- AJR 139: Relating to: reaffirming Wisconsin’s commitment to the strengthening and deepening of the sister ties between the State of Wisconsin and Taiwan, reaffirming… (in committee, 2026-03-23) https://openstates.org/wi/bills/2025/AJR139/
- 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 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/
- AB 948: Relating to: policies to prohibit the use of wireless communication devices during the school day in public schools. (passed one chamber, 2026-03-23) https://openstates.org/wi/bills/2025/AB948/
- AJR 132: Relating to: the life and public service of George Meyer. (in committee, 2026-03-23) https://openstates.org/wi/bills/2025/AJR132/
- AB 911: Relating to: funding for a battery collection and recycling program and making an appropriation. (FE) (became law, 2026-04-02) https://openstates.org/wi/bills/2025/AB911/
- AB 856: Relating to: repealing unconstitutional provisions related to operating while intoxicated. (became law, 2026-04-03) https://openstates.org/wi/bills/2025/AB856/
- AB 848: Relating to: operation of autonomous vehicles on highways and providing a penalty. (in committee, 2026-03-23) https://openstates.org/wi/bills/2025/AB848/

## Campaign money (2026 cycle)

Itemized receipts $40.7K (State House Republicans median $33.7K). 95% of itemized individual money came from in state. Aggregates only; no individual donors.

## Links

- Official site: https://legis.wisconsin.gov/assembly/01/kitchens
- Campaign site: https://www.joelkitchens.com/
- X: https://x.com/RepKitchens
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RepKitchens
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeIEqcy5R6bFkdk3W3PaQMg

Full profile, with every chart and the methods: https://americaspoliticalpulse.com/p/e127b754-c756-4017-a414-83cff1bb30f5