Donovan Fends Off Second Challenge from Bird

Robert Donovan unveils vehicle theft strike force at a 2022 press conference. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

Longtime Milwaukee-area politician Robert Donovan (R-Greenfield) held onto his seat in the Wisconsin State Assembly Tuesday, fending off another challenge from Hales Corners resident LuAnn Bird, a Democrat.

Donovan narrowly defeated Bird, carrying 51.5% of the vote to Bird’s 48.3%.

Before moving to Greenfield, Donovan was a longtime southside alderman in the city of Milwaukee and one of the few conservatives serving on the Milwaukee Common Council.

Donovan has long run as a law-and-order candidate, including during his council campaigns and his two runs for mayor of Milwaukee in 2016 and 2021. Donovan has made crime and public safety major features of his Assembly campaigns as well.

City residents helped the former south sider hang onto his Assembly seat, with the district’s eight city wards all going for Donovan.

Donovan was first elected to the state Assembly in 2022, winning just over 50% against Bird, a resident of Hales Corners and a former executive director and lobbyist for the League of Women Voters.

Bird got involved in politics in Oshkosh when she ran for school board to improve access to local schools for persons with disabilities, according to her campaign website. Her husband was paralyzed in a construction accident in 1990.