Donna M. Rozar | |
|---|---|
| Member of theWisconsin State Assembly from the69th district | |
| In office January 4, 2021 – January 6, 2025 | |
| Preceded by | Bob Kulp |
| Succeeded by | Karen Hurd |
| Member of theBoard of Supervisors ofWood County, Wisconsin,from the 2nd district | |
| Assumed office April 2000 | |
| Preceded by | Donald Olson |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Donna Kay Mummau (1950-02-09)February 9, 1950 (age 75) Lancaster, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouses | |
| Children | 5 |
| Residence(s) | Marshfield, Wisconsin, U.S. |
| Alma mater |
|
| Profession | nurse, politician |
| Website | |
Donna Mummau Rozar (néeMummau; born February 9, 1950) is anAmerican businesswoman,nurse, andRepublican politician fromMarshfield, Wisconsin. She served two terms as a member of theWisconsin State Assembly, representingWisconsin's 69th Assembly district from 2021 to 2025. She is also a member of the board of supervisors ofWood County, Wisconsin, since 2000.
Donna Rozar was born Donna Kay Mummau inLancaster, Pennsylvania, and moved with her parents toOrange County, Virginia, where her father had purchased a farm.[1] She grew up on the farm and graduated fromOrange County High School in 1968.[2] In 1971, she earned hernursing diploma from the Virginia Baptist Hospital School of Nursing, inLynchburg, Virginia. She then worked a year as anemergency room nurse at theUniversity of Virginia Hospital inCharlottesville, where she earned hernurse practitioner certificate. For the next five years, she worked as a nurse practitioner atNorfolk General Hospital, where she met her future husband, Dr. Ed Rozar.[1][2] Donna Rozar held a certificate as a nurse practitioner from 1971-1977 in Virginia, and has never held prescriptive authority.[3] Her nursing license expired in Wisconsin in 2022 and she no longer holds an active nursing license.[4]
She married Rozar in 1975 inOrange, Virginia,[5] and moved with him toKnoxville, Tennessee. There she attended theUniversity of Tennessee and earned herbachelor's degree in nursing in 1981. The couple moved frequently, living inDallas, Texas,Pittsburgh,Pennsylvania, andMorgantown, West Virginia, over the next decade, adopting children along the way. They finally moved toMarshfield, Wisconsin, in 1988, where Ed was diagnosed withHIV/AIDS in 1989.[1] Ed, acardiothoracic surgeon, chose to retire from his practice to avoid accidentally exposing anyone else to the virus.[1]
Following Ed's diagnosis, the Rozars appeared onThe TODAY Show andGood Morning America to share their story; after Ed's death in 1993, Donna Rozar became a national speaker on AIDS awareness.[1]
In the 1990s, she also owned and operated Town & Country Ventures LLC, through which she invested in and managed a number of commercial and residential properties.
Aside from AIDS awareness, Rozar became an outspoken supporter ofpro-life causes, which led her intoRepublican Party politics in Wisconsin in the 1990s.
Rozar first ran for elected office in 1994, when she challenged 20-year incumbent Democratic state representativeDonald W. Hasenohrl for his seat in theWisconsin State Assembly. Hasenohrl prevailed in the general election, but the margin—667 votes—was his closest contest since 1978.[6]
Less than four months later, in February 1995, Rozar jumped into another campaign, running in thespecial election in the24th State Senate district to replace state senatorDavid Helbach, who resigned unexpectedly at the beginning of the1995–1996 term.[7][8] Again, Rozar was defeated, taking just 43% of the vote in the May 1995 special election.[6]
In 1996, Rozar made another attempt at elected office, once again challenging state representative Donald Hasenohrl in the 70th assembly district. In November, Rozar fell short again, this time winning just 39% of the vote.[9]
After 1996, Rozar took a brief pause from seeking elected office, but remained active politically as an officer in the Republican Party of Wood County and as president of theMarshfield Woman's Club. Additionally, Rozar served on state and local commissions by appointment. GovernorTommy Thompson appointed her to the state Examining Board of Architects, Landscape Architects, Professional Geologists, Professional Engineers, Designers, and Land Surveyors in 1996;[10] the Marshfield City Council appointed her to the local Cable Committee in 1997.[11] She also became associated with a local organization known as People Interested in Clean Air, which pressed the city of Marshfield for a ban on smoking in restaurants.[12]
In April 2000, Rozar achieved her first elected office when she was elected to the Wood County Board of Supervisors, though she did not face an opponent in the race.[13] A month later, at the Republican congressional district caucuses, Rozar was elected as a delegate supportingGeorge W. Bush for the2000 Republican National Convention.[14][15] Rozar ran for a seat on the Marshfield Common Council in 2001, but fell 100 votes short of her opponent.[16]
In 2003, the 24th senate district became vacant again when state senatorKevin Shibilski was appointedSecretary of Tourism in the newly inaugurated administration of GovernorJim Doyle.[17] Rozar again sought the seat, but was once again defeated, this time receiving less than 30% in the April special election.[18][19]
Following her loss in 2003, Rozar returned to nursing full time in 2003, working as a cardiac medical-surgical nurse at St. Joseph's Hospital inChippewa Falls, Wisconsin, and then atMarshfield Medical Center. She also pursued hermaster's in nursing fromViterbo University, completing the degree program in 2008.[2] She served as an instructor at the Marshfield satellite campus ofUniversity of Wisconsin–Eau Claire, but retired in 2020.[2]
In 2020, state representativeBob Kulp announced he would not seek another term in the Assembly in 2020.[20] In April 2020, after winning reelection to her 11th term on the Wood County Board, Rozar announced she would be a candidate forWisconsin State Assembly in the 69th district.[21] She faced a crowded Republicanprimary field, but prevailed over her three opponents with 53% of the primary vote.[22][23][24] In the general election she faced Brian Giles, a truck driver and first-time candidate.[25] In November, she won 65% of the vote and, on her fifth attempt, was elected to theWisconsin Legislature.[26]
After the2024 redistricting, Rozar was drawn out of her 69th Assembly district seat. Under the new plan, she faced an incumbent-vs-incumbent primary election againstJohn Spiros in the new86th Assembly district. Spiros prevailed in the primary with 43% of the vote, with a third candidate, Trine Spindler, receiving 25%.[27]
Donna Kay Mummau took the last name Rozar when she married Dr. Ed Rozar in 1993. Together they adopted five children who are now grown. Ed was amedical doctor and contracted HIV from a patient sometime in the mid 1980s. He died of AIDS-related complications in 1993.[2]
Donna remarried in December 1997 to Michael J. Masanz, but the marriage wasannulled five years later.[28][29]
She is a member of the Wisconsin Nursing Association, theAmerican Nursing Association, theAmerican Nurses Credentialing Center, and theSigma Theta Tau nursing honor society.[2]
| Year | Election | Date | Elected | Defeated | Total | Plurality | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | General[30] | Nov. 8 | Don Hasenohrl (inc.) | Democratic | 8,193 | 51.01% | Donna M. Rozar | Rep. | 7,526 | 46.86% | 16,060 | 667 |
| Wayne Wiedeman | Tax. | 341 | 2.12% | |||||||||
| 1996 | Primary[31] | Sep. 10 | Donna M. Rozar | Republican | 2,273 | 63.65% | Thomas M. Liebe | Rep. | 1,298 | 36.35% | 3,571 | 975 |
| General[32] | Nov. 5 | Don Hasenohrl (inc.) | Democratic | 12,957 | 60.96% | Donna M. Rozar | Rep. | 8,298 | 39.04% | 21,255 | 4,659 | |
| Year | Election | Date | Elected | Defeated | Total | Plurality | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Special[33] | May. 2 | Kevin Shibilski | Democratic | 15,923 | 57.00% | Donna M. Rozar | Rep. | 12,011 | 43.00% | 27,934 | 3,912 |
| Year | Election | Date | Elected | Defeated | Total | Plurality | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | General[34] | Apr. 3 | Brad Parks | Nonpartisan | 269 | 61.42% | Donna M. Rozar | Non. | 169 | 38.58% | 438 | 100 |
| Year | Election | Date | Elected | Defeated | Total | Plurality | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Special[35] | Apr. 29 | Julie M. Lassa | Democratic | 12,787 | 62.03% | Donna Rozar | Rep. | 6,118 | 29.68% | 20,613 | 6,669 |
| Jesse J. Higgins | Ind. | 972 | 4.72% | |||||||||
| Jo Seiser | Grn. | 720 | 3.49% | |||||||||
| Year | Election | Date | Elected | Defeated | Total | Plurality | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Primary[36] | Aug. 11 | Donna M. Rozar | Republican | 3,040 | 52.97% | Tim Miller | Rep. | 1,550 | 27.01% | 5,739 | 1,490 |
| Michael V. Smith | Rep. | 906 | 15.79% | |||||||||
| Matthew F. Windheuser | Rep. | 240 | 4.18% | |||||||||
| General[37] | Nov. 3 | Donna M. Rozar | Republican | 18,568 | 65.85% | Brian Giles | Dem. | 9,606 | 34.07% | 28,197 | 8,962 | |
| 2022 | General[38] | Nov. 8 | Donna M. Rozar (inc) | Republican | 15,032 | 64.27% | Lisa Boero | Dem. | 8,345 | 35.68% | 23,389 | 6,687 |
| Year | Election | Date | Elected | Defeated | Total | Plurality | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Primary[39] | Aug. 13 | John Spiros (inc) | Republican | 3,709 | 43.23% | Donna M. Rozar | Rep. | 2,721 | 31.71% | 8,580 | 988 |
| Michael V. Smith | Rep. | 2,143 | 24.98% | |||||||||
marsh20012 was invoked but never defined (see thehelp page).2020pri2 was invoked but never defined (see thehelp page).2020gen2 was invoked but never defined (see thehelp page).| Wisconsin State Assembly | ||
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| Preceded by | Member of theWisconsin State Assemblyfrom the 69th district January 4, 2021 – January 6, 2025 | Succeeded by |