Doug La Follette

Doug La Follette
28th & 30th Secretary of State of Wisconsin
In office
January 3, 1983  March 17, 2023
GovernorTony Earl
Tommy Thompson
Scott McCallum
Jim Doyle
Scott Walker
Tony Evers
Preceded byVel Phillips
Succeeded bySarah Godlewski
In office
January 6, 1975  January 3, 1979
GovernorPatrick Lucey
Martin J. Schreiber
Preceded byRobert C. Zimmerman
Succeeded byVel Phillips
Member of the Wisconsin Senate
from the 22nd district
In office
January 1, 1973  January 6, 1975
Preceded byJoseph Lourigan
Succeeded byJohn J. Maurer
Personal details
Born (1940-06-06) June 6, 1940
Des Moines, Iowa, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic
EducationMarietta College (BS)
Stanford University (MS)
Columbia University (PhD)
Scientific career
FieldsOrganic chemistry
InstitutionsUniversity of Wisconsin–Parkside
ThesisIntramolecular Solvation (1967)
Doctoral advisorRonald Breslow

Douglas J. La Follette (born June 6, 1940) is a retired American academic, environmental scientist, and Democratic politician from Wisconsin. He was the 28th and 30th secretary of state of Wisconsin, serving from 1975 to 1979, and from 1983 to 2023. With his 44 years as secretary of state, La Follette is the longest-serving statewide elected official in Wisconsin history, and at the time of his retirement, he was the longest-serving statewide elected official in the United States (excluding U.S. senators). Earlier in his career, he was a member of the Wisconsin Senate, representing Wisconsin's 21st Senate district during the 19731974 term. He was also the Democratic Party nominee for lieutenant governor of Wisconsin in 1978, and made unsuccessful bids for U.S. House of Representatives (in 1970 and 1996) and for governor of Wisconsin (in 2012).