Peter Barca
Barca in 2009
14th Secretary of theWisconsin Department of Revenue
In office January 8, 2019 – April 9, 2024
Governor	Tony Evers
Preceded by	Richard Chandler
Succeeded by	David Casey
Minority Leader of theWisconsin State Assembly
In office January 3, 2011 – September 30, 2017
Preceded by	Jeff Fitzgerald
Succeeded by	Gordon Hintz
Member of theWisconsin State Assembly from the64th district
In office January 5, 2009 – January 8, 2019
Preceded by	James Kreuser
Succeeded by	Tip McGuire
In office January 7, 1985 – May 4, 1993
Preceded by	Joseph Wimmer
Succeeded by	James Kreuser
Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromWisconsin's1st district
In office May 4, 1993 – January 3, 1995
Preceded by	Les Aspin
Succeeded by	Mark Neumann
Personal details
Born	Peter William Barca (1955-08-07)August 7, 1955 (age 70) Kenosha, Wisconsin, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Kathleen Han ​ (m. 1979)​
Children	2
Education	University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee (BA) Harvard University University of Wisconsin, Madison (MA)
Website	Campaign website

Peter William Barca (born August 7, 1955) is anAmericanDemocratic politician fromKenosha, Wisconsin. He was the 14th secretary of theWisconsinDepartment of Revenue (2019–2024) in the administration of GovernorTony Evers. He was a candidate forU.S. House of Representatives inWisconsin's 1st congressional district in2024 losing to incumbentBryan Steil; he previously represented the district during the103rd Congress (1993–1995).^[1]

Barca also served nine terms in theWisconsin State Assembly, covering the years 1985 through 1993 and 2009 through 2019, and was elected Democratic floor leader from 2011 through 2017. He represented the north side of the city of Kenosha and part ofSomers. Between his stints in the Assembly, he also served as the Midwest Regional Administrator of theU.S. Small Business Administration during thepresidency of Bill Clinton.

Barca was born in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on August 7, 1955, and spent his entire youth in the Kenosha area. He graduated from Kenosha'sMary D. Bradford High School in 1973 and went on to earn his bachelor's degree from theUniversity of Wisconsin–Milwaukee in 1977.

After earning his bachelor's degree, he returned to Kenosha and started his career as a teacher for emotionally disturbed children and a team leader for students with special needs, Barca went on to become the director of the Friendship Camp, a camp for children with disabilities.^[2]

Barca's work as a teacher led to involvement with the teachers' union and local politics; he soon became active in theDemocratic Party of Wisconsin and was elected chairman of the Kenosha County Democratic Party in 1979.^[3] He resigned from the office a year later to attendHarvard Graduate School.^[4] He ultimately returned to Wisconsin and completed his M.A. in public administration and educational administration from theUniversity of Wisconsin–Madison in 1983.^[5] After returning to Kenosha, he was employed at the Kenosha Achievement Center and worked in job placement.^[6]

Barca made his first run for public office in 1984. That year, Kenosha's north side state representative,Joseph Andrea, announced that he would run forWisconsin Senate that fall, creating an open seat in the recently redrawn64th Assembly district.^{[6][note 1]} Barca was one of eight candidates who sought the Democratic nomination in that primary, including former county supervisor David Holtze, former city councilmember Gerald Bellow, former school board member Mark Lindas, former UAW local leader Frank Perone, and city police and fire commission member Marlene Mura.^[7] Barca prevailed over the divided field with 34% of the vote. At the time of the primary, Barca and others credited his victory to a strong campaign organization. Barca also acknowledged the popularity of his family name, due to his father's decades operating popular Kenosha restaurants.^[8] Barca went on to win the general election with nearly 80% of the vote in the heavily Democratic district.^[9]

During his initial tenure in the State Capitol, Barca authored and passed a wide variety of proposals covering issues such as economic development, protection for seniors and the disabled, education, employment and job training, criminal justice, and environmental protection. He also worked closely with the Kenosha delegation to help pass legislation that led to the creation of the Lakeview Corporate Park. Barca also chaired several special legislative committees that led to Wisconsin’s nationally recognized welfare reform program, implemented the award-winning 'one stop shop' employment and training systems, and developed the roadmap for rail services between Kenosha and Milwaukee.^[1]

After winning his fourth term in 1990, Barca was elected to a party leadership position in the Assembly, serving as majority caucus chair for the1991 legislative term. He was re-elected to that leadership position in the1993 term, but resigned from the Assembly after his election to theU.S. House of Representatives that May.

In early 1993, newly inaugurated PresidentBill Clinton appointed Wisconsin U.S. representativeLes Aspin asUnited States Secretary of Defense. Aspin therefore had to resign his seat inWisconsin's 1st congressional district and aspecial election was called to fill the balance of his term in the103rd United States Congress. Barca was one of three incumbent state representatives who ran for the Democratic nomination in the special election, the others beingJeffrey A. Neubauer of Racine andWayne W. Wood of Janesville. Barca won the primary with 48% of the vote, assisted by strong turnout from his native Kenosha County, where he won the support of 80% of Democratic primary voters.

In the general election, Barca faced RepublicanMark Neumann, who had been Aspin's opponent in the 1992 congressional election. Barca won by only 675 votes, mainly due to a weak showing in Racine.^[10] Neumann, in turn, defeated Barca in the regular 1994 election 17 months later, winning by a similarly narrow margin of just 1,120 votes.^[11]

After Barca narrowly lost his re-election bid, President Clinton appointed him to serve as Midwest Regional Administrator to the U.S. Small Business Administration. He also served as National Ombudsman to the SBA. Barca was also leader of the National Regulatory Fairness Program, an initiative which included more than fifty company presidents throughout the country aimed at making regulatory enforcement small business friendly. He later went on to become Vice President and then President of Aurora Associates International, an international project management company.^[12][13]

In November 2008, after a 14-year absence, Barca waselected to represent the 64th Assembly district once again. He was again chosen to be Majority Caucus Chairperson, and served as co-chair of the Joint Legislative Audit Committee, and chair of the Partnership for a Stronger Economy.

As chair of the Partnership for a Stronger Economy, Barca traveled the state meeting with various small businesses owners and economic development professionals to craft an economic plan for Wisconsin. The Partnership led the way in helping to pass over 50 economic initiatives in the 2009–10 legislative session, including the Small Business Capital Access Program and the Entrepreneurial Assistance Grant Program, both authored by Barca.^[2] During this first session back in the Assembly, he also authored legislation to bantext messaging while driving in Wisconsin.^[14]

In the2010 midterm elections, Republicans won complete control of government in Wisconsin. Following the election, Barca was elected by his colleagues to serve as Assembly Democratic Leader in the100th Wisconsin Legislature.^[15] He rose to national prominence shortly after the start of that legislative term, as a leader in the opposition against new GovernorScott Walker's"budget repair" bill. Democrats derided the legislation as a historic rollback to union rights in Wisconsin, stripping public employee unions of their right tocollective bargaining. The bill immediately resulted inmass protests on theWisconsin State Capitol grounds, which ultimately lasted for nearly four months. In an attempt to slow down the bill, 14 state senate Democrats fled the state in order to deny a quorum to the state senate. Barca led the opposition in the Assembly, culminating in his coordination of a 60 hour floor debate in which members of the Democratic caucus highlighted their many complaints about the legislation.^[16] Barca then led Assembly Democrats in protesting the Republicans' alleged violation of open meetings laws after they stripped out budgetary items from the bill in order to bypass the quorum issue and pass the bill through the Senate.^[17]

He remained leader of the Democratic minority until September 2017. Officially, he resigned from leadership to focus more attention on his own constituency,^[18] but his resignation was also at least partly an acknowledgement of discontent within the caucus—particularly among new members of the legislature—over his support for theFoxconn in Wisconsin funding package.^[19][20][16]

Following the2018 election, Barca was among the first nominees for cabinet positions under new governorTony Evers. Barca was nominated for secretary of theWisconsin Department of Revenue on January 7, 2019, and resigned his Assembly seat the next day. Although his Senate confirmation wasn't completed until the fall, he was able to begin work immediately as secretary-designee. The Senate Committee on Agriculture, Revenue and Financial Institutions unanimously approved his nomination on February 22, 2019, and the full Senate confirmed his appointment on October 8, 2019.^[21][22]

During theCOVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Barca's Department of Revenue played an important role in facilitating business and farm loans in Wisconsin through the federalCARES Act,^[23] and informing the public about how to obtain federal financial support during the pandemic.^[24]

Barca and the Department of Revenue were also important to major bipartisan legislation advanced during the2023 term, including the repeal of Wisconsin's unique personal property tax and the compromise which unlocked badly needed shared revenue for Wisconsin's county and municipal governments.^[25][26]

In the summer of 2023, Barca was named president of the board of trustees of the Federation of Tax Administrators, a national organization that provides research, training, and other support to state and local tax administrators.^[27]

On March 28, 2024, Barca announced he would resign as secretary of the Department of Revenue on April 9. At the same time, Barca also publicly expressed interest in running for Congress again inWisconsin's 1st congressional district.^[28]

On April 18, 2024, Barca told theMilwaukee Journal Sentinel that he plans to run for the 1st congressional district seat in2024, challenging incumbentBryan Steil.^[29] He announced his campaign later that day on twitter, then formally launched his campaign at the Apple Holler apple orchard in Racine County.^[30][31]

Barca is a son of Peter Barca and his wife Joyce (née Ashmus). The elder Peter Barca was anItalian American immigrant, who emigrated to Kenosha at age 18. After becoming established in Kenosha, he operated Barca Belting Co., a conveyor belt distributor, and then owned two popular Kenosha restaurants—the Maywood and the Flamingo.^[32]

Barca married Kathleen Mary Han from North Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, in 1979.^[33] They still reside in Kenosha and have two adult children.^[13]

The former company of Peter Barca was registered in the offshore tax haven ofBarbados.^[34]

• Campaign website (2024)
• Representative Peter Barca (Archived) atWisconsin Legislature
• Secretary Peter Barca (Archived March 4, 2024) atWisconsin Department of Revenue
• United States Congress."Peter Barca (id: B001226)".Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
• Financial information (federal office) at theFederal Election Commission
• Legislation sponsored at theLibrary of Congress
• Profile atVote Smart
• Peter Barca atBallotpedia
• Appearances onC-SPAN

• 1955 births
• 2012 United States presidential electors
• 20th-century members of the United States House of Representatives
• 21st-century members of the Wisconsin Legislature
• American people of Italian descent
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