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Wisconsin's 47th
State Assembly district
Wisconsin's 47th; State Assembly district
	2024 map defined in 2023 Wisc. Act 94; 2022 map defined in Johnson v. Wisconsin Elections Commission; 2011 map was defined in 2011 Wisc. Act 43
Assemblymember
	Jimmy P. Anderson; D–Fitchburg
	since January 2, 2017 (7 years)
Demographics	80.37% White; 6.34% Black; 7.94% Hispanic; 3.74% Asian; 1.53% Native American; 0.11% Hawaiian/Pacific Islander
Population (2020); • Voting age	58,987; 46,671
Website	Official website
Notes	Madison metro area (southeast)

The 47th Assembly district of Wisconsin is one of 99 districts in the Wisconsin State Assembly.^[1] Located in southern Wisconsin, the district comprises southeastern suburban and exurban areas of Madison within southern Dane County, including the cities of Fitchburg and Stoughton, and part of the village of McFarland. The district also contains Lake Kegonsa State Park.^[2] The seat is represented by Democrat Jimmy P. Anderson since January 2017.^[3] Prior to the Wisconsin Supreme Court overturning the 2020 district boundaries, District 47 was often used as one of the more extreme examples of Gerrymandering in the Wisconsin Legislature with the boundaries being compared to "swiss cheese".^[4]

The 47th Assembly district is located within Wisconsin's 16th Senate district, along with the 46th and 48th Assembly districts.^[5]

Lake Kegonsa State Park
Stoughton public library
Neighborhood in Fitchburg.
Fitchburg farm

History

The district was created in the 1972 redistricting act (1971 Wisc. Act 304) which first established the numbered district system, replacing the previous system which allocated districts to specific counties.^[6] The 47th district was drawn with novel boundaries, taking part of the former Dane County 5th district and part of the Rock County 2nd district. The last representative of the Rock County 2nd district, Janet Soergel Mielke, won the 1972 election to become the 1st representative of the 47th Assembly district.^[7]

The boundaries of the 47th district have changed significantly in almost every one of the redistrictings since 1982. The court-ordered 1982 redistricting placed the district in northern Wisconsin.^[8] The 1983 legislative redistricting, which superseded the court-ordered plan, brought the district back to southern Wisconsin, covering most of Green County, sprawling through western and northern Rock County into southwest Jefferson County.^[9] The 1992 and 2002 maps had the district based in Columbia County and parts of northern Dane County.^[10]^[11] The 2011 plan moved the district into central Dane County.

The district has several isolated territorial islands, due to the inclusion of the now defunct town of Madison and Blooming Grove which also as of 2023 has been mostly annexed into the city, but not the wards of city of Madison which would be needed to connect the various pieces of the former towns.

List of past representatives

List of representatives to the Wisconsin State Assembly from the 47th district
Member	Party	Residence	Counties represented	Term start	Term end	Ref.
District created
Janet Soergel Mielke	Dem.	Milton	Dane, Rock	January 1, 1973	January 6, 1975	^[7]^[12]^: 160
Lyman F. Anderson	Rep.	Oregon		January 6, 1975	January 3, 1977	^[12]^: 120
Jonathan B. Barry	Dem.	Mount Horeb		January 3, 1977	April 30, 1981	^[12]^: 122
--Vacant--				April 30, 1981	June 25, 1982
John T. Manske	Rep.	Milton		June 25, 1982	January 3, 1983
Robert J. Larson	Rep.	Medford	Barron, Price, Rusk, Taylor	January 3, 1983	January 7, 1985	^[8]^[12]^: 154
John T. Manske	Rep.	Milton	Green, Jefferson, Rock	January 7, 1985	January 5, 1987	^[9]^[12]^: 157
David G. Deininger	Rep.	Monroe	Green, Jefferson, Rock	January 5, 1987	January 4, 1993	^[12]^: 133
Eugene Hahn	Rep.	Cambria	Columbia, Dane	January 4, 1993	January 5, 2009	^[10]^[12]^: 143
Eugene Hahn	Rep.	Cambria	Columbia, Dane, Sauk	January 4, 1993	January 5, 2009	^[10]^[12]^: 143
Keith Ripp	Rep.	Lodi	Columbia, Dane, Sauk	January 5, 2009	January 7, 2013	^[11]
Robb Kahl	Dem.	Monona	Dane	January 7, 2013	January 2, 2017	^[13]
Jimmy P. Anderson	Dem.	Fitchburg	Dane	January 2, 2017	Current	^[3]

References

^ "Assembly District 47". Wisconsin Legislature. Retrieved February 2, 2021.
^ "Wisconsin Legislative Districts - Assembly District 47 Boundaries". Wisconsin Legislature. Retrieved February 2, 2021.
^ ^a ^b "Representative Jimmy Anderson". Wisconsin Legislature. Retrieved February 2, 2021.
^ "Lawsuit targets Wisconsin legislative districts resembling Swiss cheese". AP News. August 13, 2023. Retrieved January 4, 2024.
^ An Act ... relating to: legislative redistricting (Act 94). Wisconsin Legislature. 2023. Retrieved February 23, 2024.
^ Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau (1973). "Legislature" (PDF). In Theobald, H. Rupert; Robbins, Patricia V. (eds.). The state of Wisconsin 1973 Blue Book (Report). Madison, Wisconsin: State of Wisconsin. pp. 227–230. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
^ ^a ^b Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau (1973). "Biographies" (PDF). In Theobald, H. Rupert; Robbins, Patricia V. (eds.). The state of Wisconsin 1973 Blue Book (Report). State of Wisconsin. pp. 52–53. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
^ ^a ^b Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau (1983). "Biographies" (PDF). In Theobald, H. Rupert; Robbins, Patricia V. (eds.). The state of Wisconsin 1983-1984 Blue Book (Report). State of Wisconsin. pp. 78–79. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
^ ^a ^b Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau (1985). "Biographies" (PDF). In Theobald, H. Rupert; Robbins, Patricia V. (eds.). The state of Wisconsin 1985-1986 Blue Book (Report). State of Wisconsin. pp. 52–53. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
^ ^a ^b Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau (2001). "Biographies" (PDF). In Barish, Lawrence S.; Meloy, Patricia E. (eds.). State of Wisconsin 2001-2002 Blue Book (Report). State of Wisconsin. pp. 52–53. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
^ ^a ^b Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau (2011). "Biographies" (PDF). In Barish, Lawrence S.; Lemanski, Lynn (eds.). State of Wisconsin 2011-2012 Blue Book (Report). State of Wisconsin. pp. 50–51. ISBN 978-0-9752820-1-4. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Barish, Lawrence S.; Lemanski, Lynn, eds. (2007). "Feature Article: Those Who Served: Wisconsin Legislators 1848 – 2007" (PDF). State of Wisconsin 2007-2008 Blue Book (Report). State of Wisconsin. pp. 120, 122, 133, 143, 154, 157, 160. ISBN 978-0-9752820-2-1. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
^ "Representative Robb Kahl". Wisconsin Legislature. Retrieved February 2, 2021.