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TheWisconsin Progressive Party (1934–1946) was a politicalthird party that briefly held a major role inWisconsin politics under the two sons of the lateRobert M. La Follette.^[5] It was on the political left wing, and it sometimes cooperated with theNew Deal.^[6][7]

The Party was the brainchild ofPhilip La Follette andRobert M. La Follette, Jr., the sons ofWisconsin Governor and SenatorRobert M. La Follette, Sr. The party was established in 1934 as an alliance between the longstanding "Progressive" faction of theRepublican Party of Wisconsin, led by the La Follette family and their political allies, and certain radical farm and labor groups active in Wisconsin at the time.^[8] JournalistJohn Nichols argues that the1924 platform that Robert La Follette Sr., ran on:

"taxing the rich, cracking down on Wall Street abuses, empowering workers to organize unions, defending small farmers, breaking up corporate trusts, strengthening public utilities — fueled a resurgence of left-wing populist movements across the upper Midwest: the Non-Partisan League of North Dakota, the Farmer-Labor Party of Minnesota and the Progressive Party of Wisconsin."

Buoying off of popular discontent with both major parties, the La Follette brothers were both successful in their bids, and the party saw a number of other victories as well in the1934 and1936 elections, notably winning severalU.S. House seats and a majority of theWisconsin State Senate andWisconsin State Assembly in 1936. In 1936 it was informally allied with theNew Deal coalition and supported the reelection of PresidentFranklin Roosevelt.^[9]

This sectionneeds expansion with: Needs General information about Progressive governance of Wisconsin, This should also include information about the "Wisconsin Works Bill" and the "Wisconsin Reorganization Orders". You can help byadding to it.(April 2025)

Following the re-election of Philip, he took a far different tone for his second term than he had for his first. In his second inaugural address he stressed the need for reform in more concrete terms, advocating for an increase in executive power and calling for increased spending towards schools and wages despite a projected $9 million dollar shortfall in the budget.^[10]: 178

Their grip on power proved short-lived: they succumbed to a united Democratic and Republican front in 1938 which swept most of them out of office, including Philip La Follette. The party effectively collapsed when Philip went off to serve in thePacific War duringWorld War II. During La Follette's absence, the party failed to formulate a coherent party platform and instead opted to criticize the governor at the time,Julius P. Heil.

During its heyday, the Progressive Party usually did not run candidates in theSocialists (known as the "sewer socialists") stronghold ofMilwaukee. There were strong ideological differences between the two movements as the two aligned with differing national parties. (Socialist State RepresentativeGeorge L. Tews said during a 1932 debate onunemployment compensation and how to fund it argued for the Socialist bill and against the Progressive substitute, stating that a Progressive was "a Socialist with the brains knocked out"),^[11] when both faced opposition from the conservative major parties. During the period from 1939 on, the Progressives and the Socialists of Milwaukee sometimes made common cause, with Socialist legislators caucusing with the minority Progressives. In 1942, SocialistFrank P. Zeidler, later to be elected mayor of Milwaukee, was the nominee on the Progressive party line forState Treasurer of Wisconsin.

The last politician to hold office from the Wisconsin Progressive Party nationally wasMerlin Hull, a U.S. Representative from Wisconsin, elected as a Progressive in 1944. (Hull continued to be re-elected on the Republican ticket, and served until his death in 1953.)^[a]

This sectionneeds expansion with: This section doesn't have any content. You can help byadding to it.(May 2025)

As one of the Senate's leading isolationists, Robert helped found theAmerica First Committee in 1940 to oppose Roosevelt's foreign policy and denounce risk of U.S. entry into World War II.^[12] Soon Philip found himself working alongside figures such asCharles Lindbergh, which led some to assume he had shifted towards more conservative politics.^{[13][14][15][16]}

Orland Steen Loomis was the last Progressive to be elected Governor of Wisconsin, in the 1942 election. He died, however, before his inauguration as governor. Robert La Follette Jr. held on to his Senate seat until 1946, when the party decided to disband itself. Robert La Folletteran for re-election that year as a Republican rather than a Progressive, but was defeated in the Republican primary byJoe McCarthy.

By 1946, the Wisconsin Progressive Party had all but collapsed, barely qualifying for major party status after the 1944 elections. While Philip La Follette had desired for the party to continue on, after being advised to stay out of the 1946 convention, the Party voted to dissolve itself, voting 284 to 131 to rejoin theRepublican Party.^{[17][18][10]: 247}

Wisconsin Senate								Wisconsin Assembly
Election	Leader	Votes		Seats		Position	Control	Election	Leader	Votes		Seats		Position	Control
		No.	Share	No.	±					No.	Share	No.	±
1934	N/A	136,749	32.53%	11 / 33	11	2nd	Democratic–Republican	1934	Jorge W. Carow	304,804	34.09%	45 / 100	45	1st	Progressive minority
1936	Walter J. Rush	242,631	42.00%	16 / 33	5	1st	Progressive minority	1936		437,916	38.73%	46 / 100	1	1st	Progressive minority
1938	N/A	154,891	35.00%	11 / 33	5	2nd	Republican minority	1938	Paul Alfonsi			32 / 100	12	2nd	Republican
1940	Philip E. Nelson	212,631	32.09%	6 / 33	5	2nd	Republican	1940	N/A			25 / 100	7	2nd	Republican
1942		85,806	25.18%	6 / 33		2nd	Republican	1942	Andrew Biemiller			13 / 100	12	3rd	Republican
1944	N/A	47,895	8.81%	5 / 33	1	3rd	Republican	1944	Lyall T. Beggs			6 / 100	7	3rd	Republican

U.S. Senate						U.S. House of Representatives
Year	Nominee	# votes	% votes	Place	Notes	Election	Leader	Votes		Seats		Position	Control
1934	Robert M. La Follette Jr.	440,513	47.78 / 100	Re-elected		1934	George J. Schneider	334,345	37.76%	7 / 10	7	1st	Progressive
1936	No seat up					1936	George J. Schneider	479,263	42.69%	7 / 10		1st	Progressive
1938	Herman Ekern	249,209	26.58 / 100	2nd of 6		1938	George J. Schneider	330,823	36.26%	2 / 10	5	2nd	Republican
1940	Robert M. La Follette Jr.	605,609	45.26 / 100	Re-elected		1940	N/A	469,063	36.96%	3 / 10	1	2nd	Republican
1942	No seat up					1942	N/A	185,114	24.72%	2 / 10	1	3rd	Republican
1944	Harry Sauthoff	73,089	5.82 / 100	3rd of 5		1944	N/A	104,377	9.01%	1 / 10	1	3rd	Republican

• Political party strength in Wisconsin
• La Follette family
• Progressive Era
• Minnesota Farmer–Labor Party
• Third party (United States)

• Backstrom, Charles Herbert. "The Progressive Party of Wisconsin, 1934-1946" (PhD. Dissertation, University of Wisconsin, Madison; ProQuest Dissertations & Theses,  1956. 0018371).
• Beck, Elmer A.The Sewer Socialists: A History of the Socialist Party of Wisconsin, 1897–1940. Fennimore, WI: Westburg Associates, 1982.
• Brye, David L. "Wisconsin Scandinavians and Progressivism, 1900-1950."Norwegian-American Studies 27 (1977): 163–193.online
• Glad, Paul W.The History of Wisconsin, Volume V: War, A New Era, and Depression, 1914–1940. (State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1990). pp. 398–565.
• Gosnell, Harold F., and Morris H. Cohen. "Progressive Politics: Wisconsin an Example."American Political Science Review 34#5, (1940), pp. 920–35.online
• Johnson, Roger T.Robert M. LaFollette, Jr. and the Decline of the Progressive Party in Wisconsin (The State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1964).
• Kasparek, Jonathan.Fighting Son: A Biography of Philip F. La Follette. pp. 125–249.
• McCoy, Donald R. "The Formation of the Wisconsin Progressive Party in 1934."The Historian 14.1 (1951): 70–90.online
• Miller, John Edward. "Governor Philip F Lafollette, the Wisconsin Progressives, and the New Deal, 1930–1939," (PhD dissertation, University of Wisconsin - Madison; ProQuest Dissertations & Theses,  1973. 7321167).
• Rosenof, Theodore. "The Political Education of an American Radical: Thomas R. Amlie in the 1930's."Wisconsin Magazine of History (1974) 56#1: 19–30online
• Schmidt, Lester Frederick. "The Farmer-Labor Progressive Federation: The Study of a 'United Front' Movement Among Wisconsin Liberals, 1934-1941" (PhD Dissertation, University of Wisconsin—Madison;  ProQuest Dissertations & Theses,  1955. 0201215.)
• "Progressive Party, Wisconsin." Encyclopedia of American History. Answers Corporation, 2006. Answers.com 26 February 2009.http://www.answers.com/topic/progressive-party-wisconsin

• Defunct progressive parties in the United States
• Political history of Wisconsin
• Political parties disestablished in 1946
• Political parties established in 1934
• Political parties in Wisconsin
• 1934 establishments in Wisconsin
• 1946 disestablishments in Wisconsin

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• Short description is different from Wikidata
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