Barbara Lawton

Barbara Lawton ( born July 5, 1951 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin) is an American politician. From 2003 to 2011 she was Deputy Governor of the State of Wisconsin.

Lawton studied Spanish at Lawrence University, where she received her BA in 1987, and then at the University of Wisconsin- Madison. There she received her MA in 1991. 2002 she was elected as a Democrat to the 43rd Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin and took office on January 3, 2003. 2006 saw her re-election. Lawton was the second woman, who exercised this office, and the first woman to be elected to this office. Its predecessor Margaret Farrow was appointed Deputy Governor, as Scott McCallum nachrückte to the post of governor.

Prior to the election for governor in 2010 she declared her candidacy in August 2009 for the succession of not more antretenden Jim Doyle. In October of the same year she pulled her candidacy for personal reasons. The Democrats nominated then Tom Barrett, who was defeated by Republican Scott Walker. The Office of the Lieutenant Governor again took a woman with Rebecca Kleefisch.

Lawton is married and has two children, a son and a daughter.