Fresh Off Reelection, Secretary of State Doug La Follette Retires
Governor Evers appoints former treasurer Sarah Godlewski to remainder of 82-year-old's term.
State Treasurer Sarah Godlewski, right, talks with state superintendent Carolyn Stanford Taylor during Gov. Tony Evers’ first State of the State address in Madison, Wisconsin, at the State Capitol building on Jan. 22, 2019. Emily Hamer/Wisconsin Watch
Doug La Follette, Wisconsin’s longtime secretary of state who has held the job for more than 44 years, announced Friday he is retiring just months into his latest term. Former Wisconsin Treasurer Sarah Godlewski has been appointed by Gov. Tony Evers to replace him.
La Follette, 82, was first elected in 1974, left for four years following a failed bid for lieutenant governor in 1978, then won again in 1982. He’s held the office ever since.
La Follette ran for reelection last year because he said it was important to keep his office in Democratic hands at a time when Republicans around the country were giving secretaries of state more power to run elections. He defeated Republican challenger Amy Loudenbeck by the narrowest of margins — just 7,442 votes out of more than 2.6 million votes cast.
Godlewski, 41, won her first race for treasurer in 2018. She ran unsuccessfully for U.S. Senate last year, dropping out of the race shortly before the August primary.
La Follette saw firsthand as the office of secretary of state lost duties over the years. During an interview last summer, he said he started with about 48 employees in the 1970s, handling a variety of documents for businesses, like trademarks and uniform commercial codes.
Former Republican Gov. Scott Walker made further cuts, and today the secretary of state has just one employee, focusing mainly on authentication documents called apostles.
La Follette alluded to the years of cutbacks in an undated letter to the governor released by Evers’ office Friday.
“It is with a heavy heart that I submit my resignation as Secretary of State of Wisconsin, effective March 17, 2023,” La Follette wrote. “After many years of frustration, I’ve decided I don’t want to spend the next three and a half years trying to run an office without adequate resources and staffing levels. After decades of public service, I must now focus on my personal needs.”
Evers thanked La Follette in a written statement, saying there was no on more uniquely qualified or better suited for the job than Godlewski.
“The people of Wisconsin placed their trust and faith in Sarah’s experience and values to serve as our state treasurer, and she’ll bring those same qualities to her new role as Wisconsin’s Secretary of State,” Evers said.
Godlewski, whose star was rising in Democratic politics before her loss in last year’s U.S. Senate primary, said she was humbled by the appointment.
“To become just the third woman in our state’s history to hold this office is the honor of a lifetime,” Godlewski said. “I know how important this role is and my responsibilities are, and I’m looking forward to getting to work.”
Like the secretary of state’s office, the treasurer’s office has had its responsibilities stripped away over the years. Both offices are now located in the state Capitol’s basement.
Godlewski will officially begin as Wisconsin’s new secretary of state on Saturday.
Longtime Secretary of State Doug La Follette retires, to be replaced by former Treasurer Sarah Godlewski was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.
