James Harsdorf (born November 7, 1950) is an American dairy farmer and Republican politician from the U.S. state of

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

. He served eight years in the Wisconsin State Senate and three years in the

State Assembly State Assembly is the name given to various legislatures, especially lower houses or full legislatures in states in federal systems of government. Channel Islands States Assembly is the name of the legislature of the Bailiwick of Jersey. The Baili ...

Biography

Born in Stillwater, Minnesota, Harsdorf graduated from the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

with a degree in animal science. He was elected to the

Wisconsin State Assembly The Wisconsin State Assembly is the lower house of the Wisconsin Legislature. Together with the smaller Wisconsin Senate, the two constitute the legislative branch of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Representatives are elected for two-year terms, ...

in a 1977 special election, defeating future Wisconsin Secretary of Agriculture Rod Nilsestuen, and served until 1981. He won election to the Wisconsin State Senate in 1980, defeating first-term incumbent

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

Michelle Radosevich. He served from 1981 to 1989. In

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

, he ran for the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the Lower house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being ...

in the open seat for

Wisconsin's 3rd congressional district Wisconsin's 3rd congressional district covers most of the Driftless Area in southwestern and western Wisconsin. The district includes the cities of Eau Claire, La Crosse, and Stevens Point, as well as many Wisconsin-based exurbs of the Minneap ...

. He was defeated by Democrat Ron Kind, receiving 48% of the vote. Harsdorf's younger sister, Sheila, was elected to his former assembly seat in 1988, and served in that body until 1999. She subsequently ran for and won his old senate seat, serving from 2001 to 2017.

References

People from Stillwater, Minnesota University of Minnesota College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences alumni Members of the Wisconsin State Assembly Wisconsin state senators 1950 births Living people {{Wisconsin-WISenate-stub