Dave Hansen
Encyclopedia
Dave Hansen is a Democratic Party
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...

 member of the Wisconsin Senate, representing the 30th District since 2001.

Early life and education

Hansen was born in Green Bay, Wisconsin
Green Bay, Wisconsin
Green Bay is a city in and the county seat of Brown County in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, located at the head of Green Bay, a sub-basin of Lake Michigan, at the mouth of the Fox River. It has an elevation of above sea level and is located north of Milwaukee. As of the 2010 United States Census,...

. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin–Green Bay in 1971, marrying his wife, Jane, the same year. They have three children.

Early career

Before being elected to public office, Hansen was a school teacher, a Teamster’s Union steward, and also a truck driver
Truck driver
A truck driver , is a person who earns a living as the driver of a truck, usually a semi truck, box truck, or dump truck.Truck drivers provide an essential service to...

 for the City of Green Bay. He served on the Board of Supervisors for Brown County from 1996 to 2002.

Wisconsin Senate

Hansen was elected to the Wisconsin State Senate
Wisconsin State Senate
The Wisconsin Senate, the powers of which are modeled after those of the U.S. Senate, is the upper house of the Wisconsin State Legislature, smaller than the Wisconsin State Assembly...

 in November 2000. He defeated incumbent Republican Senator He was re-elected in 2004 and 2008. He has served as the Assistant Minority Leader
Minority leader
In U.S. politics, the minority leader is the floor leader of the second largest caucus in a legislative body. Given the two-party nature of the U.S. system, the minority leader is almost inevitably either a Republican or a Democrat, with their counterpart being of the opposite party. The position...

 since 2003.

2011 Union protests

On February 20, 2011, it was reported that Hansen, along with the 13 other Democratic State Senators, left the state to deny the State Senate a quorum on Governor Scott Walker
Scott Walker (politician)
Scott Kevin Walker is an American Republican politician who began serving as the 45th Governor of Wisconsin on January 3, 2011, after defeating Democratic candidate Tom Barrett, 52 percent to 47 percent in the November 2010 general election...

's legislation which removed collective bargaining on benefits for public employees.

2011 Recall effort

Hansen was the target of a recall effort as a result of the 2011 Wisconsin protests
2011 Wisconsin protests
The 2011 Wisconsin protests were a series of demonstrations in the state of Wisconsin in the United States beginning in February involving at its zenith as many as 100,000 protestors opposing the Wisconsin Budget Repair Bill. Subsequently, anti-tax activists and other conservatives, including tea...

. On July 19, however, he handily defeated his challenger and retained his seat.

A chronology of the recall effort:
  • February 25: The committee "Recall Dave Hansen" officially registered with the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board. 13,582 signatures were required by April 26, 2011 to force a recall election. He was considered to be one of the three potentially vulnerable Democratic senators.

  • March 17: One Republican petitioner collecting signatures to recall Hansen allegedly stole several personal belongings from a couple. The man was found to be from Colorado and had a felony record; he came to Wisconsin with other out-of-state petitioners.

  • April 21: Recall supporters filed about 18,872 signatures with Wisconsin's Government Accountability Board.

  • June 10: Wisconsin's Government Accountability Board certified the recall election.

  • July 19: Hansen defeated his recall challenger, Republican David VanderLeest, receiving 66% of the vote.

External links

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