# Wisconsin's 89th Assembly district

The 89th Assembly district of Wisconsin is one of 99 districts in the Wisconsin State Assembly. Located in Northeastern Wisconsin, the district is entirely contained within central Brown County. It includes the village of Ashwaubenon and much of the west side of the city of Green Bay. The district contains Lambeau Field, home of the Green Bay Packers. The district is represented by Democrat Ryan Spaude, since January 2025.
The 89th Assembly district is located within Wisconsin's 30th Senate district, along with the 88th and 90th Assembly districts.
* Lambeau Field
* Green Bay's Broadway District

## 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. The 89th district was drawn mostly in line with the boundaries of the previous Brown 3rd district, which comprised roughly the northwest corner of Brown County, including coastal areas of the city of Green Bay. The last representative of the Brown 3rd district, Cletus J. Vanderperren, was elected in 1972 as the first representative of the 89th Assembly district.
The 1982 court-ordered redistricting plan briefly moved the district into central Fond du Lac County, including the city of Fond du Lac. The 1983 redistricting act brought the district back to its previous location with nearly identical boundaries to the 1972 map. The 1992 court-ordered redistricting plan dramatically changed the boundaries, removing the city of Green Bay and most of the Green Bay suburbs, and instead stretching north into eastern Oconto and eastern Marinette counties, taking over territory previously assigned to the 88th district. The 2002 redistricting kept those boundaries largely intact. The 2011 redistricting (2011 Wisc. Act 43) also roughly maintained the geography of the district, but added back areas of eastern Howard, as part of a broader scheme to pack Democratic votes into the 90th district. The 2022 court ordered plan mostly maintained that district.
The 2024 redistricting (2023 Wisc. Act 94) dramatically reorganized the 30th Senate district, moving the 89th district back into the core of the Green Bay metro area, comprising much of the west side of the city of Green Bay and the neighboring village of Ashwaubenon. Under the new map configuration, the 89th Assembly district is projected to be one of the most competitive districts in the state legislature.

## List of past representatives

List of representatives to the Wisconsin State Assembly from the 89th district :
| Member | Party | Residence | Counties represented | Term start | Term end |
| District created |||||||
| Cletus J. Vanderperren | Dem. | Pittsfield | Brown | January 1, 1973 | January 3, 1983 |
| Earl F. McEssy | Rep. | Fond du Lac | Fond du Lac | January 3, 1983 | January 7, 1985 |
| Cletus J. Vanderperren | Dem. | Green Bay | Brown | January 7, 1985 | January 4, 1993 |
| John Gard | Rep. | Suamico | Brown, Marinette, Oconto | January 4, 1993 | January 1, 2007 |
| John Nygren | Rep. | Marinette | Brown, Marinette, Oconto | January 1, 2007 | December 2, 2020 |
| --Vacant-- | --Vacant-- | --Vacant-- | Brown, Marinette, Oconto | December 2, 2020 | May 11, 2021 |
| Elijah Behnke | Rep. | Pensaukee | Brown, Marinette, Oconto | May 11, 2021 | January 6, 2025 |
| Ryan Spaude | Dem. | Ashwaubenon | Brown | January 6, 2025 | Current |

## Electoral history

| Year | Date | Elected | Elected | Elected | Elected | Defeated | Defeated | Defeated | Defeated | Total | Plurality | Other primary candidates |
| 1972 | Nov. 7 | Cletus J. Vanderperren | Democratic | 11,442 | 70.23% | Henry A. Rueden | Rep. | 4,851 | 29.77% | 16,293 | 6,591 | |
| 1974 | Nov. 5 | Cletus J. Vanderperren (inc) | Democratic | 8,910 | 100.00% | | | | | 8,910 | 8,910 | |
| 1976 | Nov. 2 | Cletus J. Vanderperren (inc) | Democratic | 12,657 | 68.71% | John R. Hansen | Rep. | 5,628 | 31.29% | 17,984 | 6,728 | |
| 1978 | Nov. 7 | Cletus J. Vanderperren (inc) | Democratic | 8,826 | 64.57% | William H. Dierks | Rep. | 4,842 | 35.43% | 13,668 | 3,984 | |
| 1980 | Nov. 4 | Cletus J. Vanderperren (inc) | Democratic | 12,685 | 59.04% | Robert A. Thompson | Rep. | 8,799 | 40.96% | 21,484 | 3,886 | Wendell W. McLester (Dem.) |
| 1982 | Nov. 2 | Earl F. McEssy | Republican | 10,394 | 56.58% | Rosalie Tryon | Dem. | 7,975 | 43.42% | 18,369 | 2,419 | |
| 1984 | Nov. 6 | Cletus J. Vanderperren | Democratic | 13,318 | 65.29% | James D. Shatswell | Rep. | 7,079 | 34.71% | 20,397 | 6,239 | |
| 1986 | Nov. 4 | Cletus J. Vanderperren (inc) | Democratic | 10,721 | 68.73% | James D. Shatswell | Rep. | 4,878 | 31.27% | 15,599 | 5,843 | |
| 1988 | Nov. 8 | Cletus J. Vanderperren (inc) | Democratic | 15,089 | 68.04% | James D. Shatswell | Rep. | 7,089 | 31.96% | 22,178 | 8,000 | Raymond C. Maxwell (Rep.) |
| 1990 | Nov. 6 | Cletus J. Vanderperren (inc) | Democratic | 9,604 | 58.71% | Gary F. Drzewiecki | Rep. | 6,755 | 41.29% | 16,359 | 2,849 | Raymond C. Maxwell (Rep.) Serena E. Mommaerts (Rep.) |
| 1992 | Nov. 3 | John Gard | Republican | 14,826 | 64.02% | Scott McCormick | Dem. | 8,331 | 35.98% | 23,157 | 6,495 | |
| 1994 | Nov. 8 | John Gard (inc) | Republican | 10,325 | 68.53% | Kim Fenske | Dem. | 4,742 | 31.47% | 15,067 | 5,583 | |
| 1996 | Nov. 5 | John Gard (inc) | Republican | 14,113 | 66.67% | Kim Fenske | Dem. | 7,056 | 33.33% | 21,169 | 7,057 | |
| 1998 | Nov. 3 | John Gard (inc) | Republican | 13,088 | 97.96% | Alan S. Hager (write-in) | Dem. | 272 | 2.04% | 13,360 | 12,816 | |
| 2000 | Nov. 7 | John Gard (inc) | Republican | 18,372 | 72.65% | Alan S. Hager | Dem. | 6,904 | 27.30% | 25,290 | 11,468 | |
| 2002 | Nov. 5 | John Gard (inc) | Republican | 11,335 | 69.06% | Alan S. Hager | Dem. | 4,501 | 27.42% | 16,414 | 6,834 | |
| 2002 | Nov. 5 | John Gard (inc) | Republican | 11,335 | 69.06% | Justin Ingalls | Lib. | 308 | 1.88% | 16,414 | 6,834 | |
| 2002 | Nov. 5 | John Gard (inc) | Republican | 11,335 | 69.06% | Jake Neta | Ind. | 257 | 1.57% | 16,414 | 6,834 | |
| 2004 | Nov. 2 | John Gard (inc) | Republican | 18,216 | 63.81% | Bruce J. Berman | Dem. | 10,318 | 36.15% | 28,546 | 7,898 | Don Peterlin (Dem.) |
| 2006 | Nov. 7 | John Nygren | Republican | 11,844 | 54.10% | Randy Koehn | Dem. | 10,011 | 45.73% | 21,891 | 1,833 | Gary F. Drzewiecki (Rep.) Bruce J. Berman (Dem.) |
| 2008 | Nov. 4 | John Nygren (inc) | Republican | 14,814 | 53.54% | Randy Koehn | Dem. | 12,839 | 46.40% | 27,668 | 1,975 | |
| 2010 | Nov. 2 | John Nygren (inc) | Republican | 15,788 | 67.68% | Bob Orwig | Dem. | 7,520 | 32.24% | 23,326 | 8,268 | |
| 2012 | Nov. 6 | John Nygren (inc) | Republican | 16,081 | 59.05% | Joe Reinhard | Dem. | 11,129 | 40.87% | 27,232 | 4,952 | |
| 2014 | Nov. 4 | John Nygren (inc) | Republican | 18,483 | 99.38% | | | | | 18,599 | 18,367 | |
| 2016 | Nov. 8 | John Nygren (inc) | Republican | 19,429 | 68.20% | Heidi Fencl | Dem. | 9,055 | 31.78% | 28,489 | 10,374 | |
| 2018 | Nov. 6 | John Nygren (inc) | Republican | 17,091 | 66.85% | Ken Holdorf | Dem. | 8,461 | 33.10% | 25,565 | 8,630 | |
| 2020 | Nov. 3 | John Nygren (inc) | Republican | 22,823 | 68.73% | Karl Jaeger | Dem. | 10,374 | 31.24% | 33,207 | 12,449 | Andi Rich (Rep.) |
| 2021 | Apr. 6 | Elijah Behnke | Republican | 8,129 | 63.17% | Karl Jaeger | Dem. | 4,732 | 36.77% | 12,868 | 3,397 | Michael Kunesh (Rep.)Debbie Jacques (Rep.)Michael Schneider (Rep.)David Kamps (Rep.) |
| 2022 | Nov. 8 | Elijah Behnke (inc) | Republican | 17,514 | 66.52% | Jane Benson | Dem. | 8,800 | 33.42% | 26,329 | 8,714 |
| 2024 | Nov. 5 | Ryan Spaude | Democratic | 15,169 | 51.32% | Patrick Buckley | Rep. | 14,343 | 48.52% | 29,559 | 826 |