incumbent Vel Phillips. La Follette has been the Secretary of State of Wisconsin ever since. Upon his swearing in on January 3, 1983, Follette is currently the earliest serving, non-federal, statewide elected official in the United States holding the same office. He has run opposed and unopposed several times for Secretary of State and shuns fundraising in the style of former Wisconsin Senator William Proxmire. In 1990, his opponent, Madison attorney and radio personality Stuart Levitan, campaigned on a promise to eliminate the Secretary of State's office, whose duties have been reduced and transferred to other agencies (including the State Board of Elections) by the state legislature, under La Follette's tenure. Since being elected Secretary of State, La Follette has run twice for federal office. In 1988, he ran for the U.S. Senate, losing the primary to Herb Kohl. In 1996, he made another bid for the U.S. House of Representatives, losing in the Democratic primary for Wisconsin's 1st congressional district to Lydia Spottswood, who went on to lose the general election to Mark Neumann. In 2012, La Follette ran in the Democratic primary in the special election to recall Scott Walker. Other roles La Follette is the author of the 1991 book The Survival Handbook: A Strategy for Saving Planet Earth. He has also served on the board of directors of Friends of the Earth and the Union of Concerned Scientists. In 2003 he ran for, and was elected to, the board of directors of the Sierra Club for a three-year term. He did not seek reelection in 2006. He was a Fulbright Distinguished American Scholar in 2003. Electoral history U.S. House (1970) | colspan="6" style="text-align:center;background-color: #e9e9e9;"| Democratic Primary, September 8, 1970 Wisconsin Senate (1972) | colspan="6" style="text-align:center;background-color: #e9e9e9;"| Democratic Primary, September 12, 1972 | colspan="6" style="text-align:center;background-color: #e9e9e9;"| General Election, November 7, 1972 Wisconsin Secretary of State (1974) | colspan="6" style="text-align:center;background-color: #e9e9e9;"| Democratic Primary, September 10, 1974 | colspan="6" style="text-align:center;background-color: #e9e9e9;"| General Election, November 5, 1974 Wisconsin Lieutenant Governor (1978) | colspan="6" style="text-align:center;background-color: #e9e9e9;"| Democratic Lieutenant Governor Primary, September 12, 1978 | colspan="6" style="text-align:center;background-color: #e9e9e9;"| General Election, November 7, 1978 Wisconsin Secretary of State (1982, 1986, 1990, 1994) U.S. House (1996) | colspan="6" style="text-align:center;background-color: #e9e9e9;"| Democratic Primary, September 10, 1996 Wisconsin Secretary of State (1998–Present) References External links Office of the Wisconsin Secretary of State Clean Wisconsin |- |- 1940 births Living people 20th-century American politicians 21st-century American politicians