Rep. Warren Petryk

"To everything there is a season…" Ecclesiastes 3:1

After much prayer and thought, and numerous conversations with family, friends, colleagues, and mentors, I have decided to announce my decision to not seek reelection as Representative for the 93rd Assembly District for the upcoming term.

It is with a heart full of love and gratitude to the wonderful, remarkable, hard-working people of western Wisconsin that I write this letter with deep thanks for the bountiful blessings, the absolute privilege, and the distinct honor of serving as your Representative to the Wisconsin State Assembly for these past 14 extraordinary years.

Meeting and serving thousands of you over the years has been a source of pure delight as we spoke, laughed, sang, celebrated, cried, ate, worked for solutions, questioned, agreed, disagreed, and marveled with wonder and amazement as we watched your children grow into productive citizens of this, the greatest and most prosperous nation in history.

To have been able to actively participate as an elected policymaker in the Great Experiment that is the Republic of the United States has been the most humbling experience of my lifetime and one which I never have and never will take for granted.

It has been my duty to serve only at the pleasure of the voting public of my beautiful 93rd Assembly District which had stretched from Pleasant Valley in Eau Claire County, west to the Mississippi River at Prescott and down the river to Pepin. It included the awesome people of Ellsworth, Durand, Spring Valley, Meridean, Lima, Beldenville, Bay City, Diamond Bluff, El Paso, Trimbelle, Arkansaw, Downsville, Elmwood, Plum City, Hager City, River Falls, Caryville, Rock Falls, Stockholm, Cleghorn, and all parts in between.

My only regret as I leave office will be not having as much opportunity of seeing you as often as we have, but please know that we will remain in contact, even though my official duties as your Representative will end in January 2025.

It is with mixed emotions that I contemplate not driving thousands of delightful miles each year through the pristine beauty of the hills and bluffs and fields of my District to spend quality time with each of you; that said, my old truck, and my old body, just might enjoy their upcoming respite from the mechanical wear and tear. As entertainer Kris Kristofferson once said, "It's not the years, it’s the mileage."

When I was elected as a conservative Representative in 2010, I took a solemn oath on my first day in office to defend the Constitutions of both the United States and Wisconsin. It has been my mission to always do my best to remember and honor that oath throughout my actions every day of my past seven terms.

It has been the greatest honor and privilege of my life to be called to public service and represent, to the best of my ability, the wonderful people of Western Wisconsin these past 14 years. My eternal gratitude and thanks go out to those of you who have been my constituents, critics, supporters, detractors, mentors, teachers, colleagues, advisors, and the many of you who have become my dear and cherished friends. It was a constant learning, growing, and enlightening experience that I shall treasure in my heart all the remaining days of my life.

And now, as I embark upon new and exciting chapters in my life, please allow me to share the sentiments of President George Washington, taken from his resignation letter, dated Sept. 19, 1796:

"Though in reviewing the incidents of my Administration I am unconscious of intentional error, I am nevertheless too sensible of my defects not to think it probable that I may have committed many errors. Whatever they may be, I fervently beseech the Almighty to avert or mitigate the evils to which they may tend. I shall also carry with me the hope that my country will never cease to view them with indulgence, and that, after...years of my life dedicated to its service with an upright zeal, the faults of incompetent abilities will be consigned to oblivion, as myself must soon be..."

 My hope is that God will continue to bless each of you and your families, our beautiful Wisconsin, and our shining beacon of hope and freedom for the world, our United States of America!

 Forever your humble and grateful servant,

Warren Petryk

State Representative

93^rd Assembly District