MADISON, Wis. — A Republican state lawmaker says she's running to be Wisconsin's next secretary of state, saying she wants to turn the mostly powerless office into a check on the bipartisan Wisconsin Elections Commission.
State Rep. Amy Loudenbeck's announcement Wednesday is the Republicans' latest effort to weaken the agency that oversees the state's elections.
The 81-year-old Democratic incumbent, Doug La Follette, has held the office since 1978 but said Wednesday that he was "still thinking about" whether to run again. The secretary of state has not been in charge of running elections in Wisconsin since 1974.
