Tim Carpenter

Tim Carpenter
Carpenter in 2009
President pro tempore of the Wisconsin Senate
In office July 16, 2012 – January 7, 2013
Preceded by	Joseph K. Leibham
Succeeded by	Joseph K. Leibham
Member of the Wisconsin Senate from the 3rd district
Incumbent
Assumed office January 6, 2003
Preceded by	Brian Burke
Member of the Wisconsin State Assembly
In office January 4, 1993 – January 6, 2003
Preceded by	Walter Kunicki
Succeeded by	Josh Zepnick
Constituency	9th Assembly district
In office January 3, 1985 – January 4, 1993
Preceded by	James F. Rooney
Succeeded by	Rosemary Potter
Constituency	20th Assembly district
Personal details
Born	Timothy W. Carpenter (1960-02-24) February 24, 1960 (age 66) Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S.
Party	Democratic
Alma mater	University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee (BA) University of Wisconsin–Madison (MA)
Website	Official website

Timothy W. Carpenter (born February 24, 1960) is an American Democratic politician from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He has been a member of the Wisconsin Senate for more than 20 years, representing the Wisconsin's 3rd Senate district since 2003. His district comprises much of the south side of the city of Milwaukee. He previously served 18 years in the Wisconsin State Assembly (1985–2003).

Carpenter was born on February 24, 1960, at St. Francis Hospital in Milwaukee.^[1] He graduated from Milwaukee's Casimir Pulaski High School and attended Marquette University in 1978, before transferring to University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, where he received his bachelor's degree in political science and history in 1982.^[2] He continued graduate work at Milwaukee, but was interrupted when he was elected to the Legislature in 1984. He later resumed his education at the La Follette School of Public Affairs at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where he earned his master's degree in 1995.^[1]

After graduating from college, Carpenter worked briefly at a number of jobs, at Rustlers Steak House and as a courier for Federal Express.^[1] He had become involved with the Democratic Party of Wisconsin at an early age and became a member of the state party's administrative committee.^[3]

Carpenter made his first bid for elected office in 1984, at age 24, while still a student at the La Follette School of Public Affairs. He announced he would run for Wisconsin State Assembly in the 20th district seat being vacated by the retirement of James F. Rooney. The 20th Assembly district was heavily Democratic, based in southern Milwaukee—Carpenter faced five opponents in the Democratic primary. He prevailed in the six-way race with just 27% of the vote, and faced no opponent in the 1984 general election.^[4]

He went on to serve four terms representing the 20th district before the 1992 court-ordered redistricting, which shifted him into the 9th Assembly district. He won five more terms in the 9th district, remaining in the Assembly until 2003. He briefly served in caucus leadership when Democrats held the majority in the early part of the 1993 term, and served as speaker pro tempore.

In 2002, incumbent state senator Brian Burke announced his retirement, and Carpenter entered the race to succeed him in the 3rd state Senate district. During the 2007–08 biennium, he served as President Pro Tempore of the Wisconsin State Senate. He faced two opponents in the primary, including former state senator Roman R. Blenski; Blenski, at age 85, died before the primary election, however, and Carpenter prevailed with 53% of the vote.^[5] He was unopposed in the general election and took office in January 2003.^[6]

In 2004, Milwaukee's 20-year incumbent U.S. representative Jerry Kleczka announced he would retire. At the time, Wisconsin's 4th congressional district contained virtually all of the city of Milwaukee; Carpenter and north-side state senator Gwen Moore entered the race, as did former Democratic Party of Wisconsin chair Matt Flynn. Carpenter finished in a distant third place with only 10% of the vote. Moore won the primary and the election, and became Wisconsin's first African American representative in Congress.^[7][8]

When Democrats achieved a Senate majority in the 2007–2008 term, Carpenter was elected chair of the Senate Committee on Public Health, Senior Issues, Long Term Care, and Job Creation, and served as vice chair of the Committee on Small Business, Emergency Preparedness, Workforce Development, Technical Colleges and Consumer Protection. In the 2009–2010 term, he was also co-chair of the Committee on Law Revision, and vice chair of the Committee on Health, Health Insurance, Privacy, Property Tax Relief, and Revenue.^[9]

In the 2010 election, Republicans won full control of Wisconsin state government, part of a national backlash against the Democratic Party over the slow economic recovery from the Great Recession, and the then-controversial Affordable Care Act. Immediately after taking office, Wisconsin governor Scott Walker advanced a bill to strip public employee unions of their collective bargaining power, euphemistically titled the "Budget Repair Bill". The announcement sparked mass protests at the Wisconsin State Capitol.

As Republicans raced to pass the legislation, Democratic state senators decided that their only tool to slow down passage was to deny the Republicans a quorum. To avoid being arrested and forced back to the capitol by state police, Carpenter and 13 other Democratic state senators fled to neighboring Illinois. The situation received national media attention. During the standoff, Governor Walker was tricked by a prank phone call; believing he was talking to billionaire political contributor David Koch, Walker spoke freely about the situation making some embarrassing statements. The blogger who perpetrated the prank, Ian Murphy, later said that he was inspired to do so after reading Tim Carpenter's interview with Amanda Terkel of Huffington Post, in which Carpenter explained that Walker was not even attempting to negotiate with the Democrats, and would not take their phone calls.^[10]

The standoff eventually ended when Republicans in the Senate stripped out budgetary items from the bill, enabling them to circumvent budget-related quorum rules.

The Democrats briefly regained the Senate majority in 2012 due to the 2012 Wisconsin Senate recall elections, and during the remainder of that term, Carpenter served as president pro tempore of the Senate.

In February 2012, Carpenter was one of two State Senators (the other being fellow Democrat Spencer Coggs) to win a place on the ballot for Milwaukee City Treasurer in the Spring 2012 election, defeating former State Treasurer Dawn Marie Sass and Socialist Rick Kissell in the non-partisan primary.^[11] Coggs polled 13,559 votes; Carpenter 12,880; Sass 5,089 and Kissell 2,241.^[12] In the general election, Coggs won 35,096 votes to Carpenter's 34,293.^[13]

In 2015, Carpenter ran in a special election for the Milwaukee Common Council on August 18, 2015. A primary took place on July 21, 2015. Carpenter advanced in the primary along with Mark Borkowski, who ended up winning with 50.7% of the vote.^[14]

On June 23, 2020, Carpenter was recording a protest near the Wisconsin State Capitol when he was assaulted by Black Lives Matter protesters. A short time later he collapsed and was taken to the hospital for a suspected concussion.^[15]

Carpenter is gay, and is one of three openly LGBTQ members of the Wisconsin Legislature. He is a member of the Sierra Club, Jackson Park Neighborhood Association, Story Hill Neighborhood Association, and the Milwaukee VA Soldiers Home Advisory Council.

• Official (Senate) website
  • Archived 2010-05-08 at the Wayback Machine
• Campaign website
  • Archived 2019-09-16 at the Wayback Machine
• Senator Tim Carpenter (2025) at Wisconsin Legislature
  • (2023 • 2021 • 2019)
• Profile at Vote Smart
• Map of Wisconsin's 3rd Senate district