The longest-serving incumbent in the Wisconsin Legislature has announced he will retire rather than run in a district now more favorable to Democrats or move under new district boundaries that take effect in November. Sen. Rob Cowles made the announcement Monday after previously saying he planned to move and run again to represent the bulk of the district he currently serves. The 73-year-old was first elected to the Senate in 1982 after serving four years in the Assembly. Under the new maps, Cowles was put in the same Green Bay-area Senate district as two other Republican incumbents. That district will now lean slightly Democratic.
