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John G. Gard (born August 3, 1963) is an American lobbyist and former politician. A Republican, he was the 75th Speaker of the Wisconsin State Assembly (2003–2007) and was a member of the Assembly for 19 years. Gard also ran unsuccessfully for United States House of Representatives in Wisconsin's 8th congressional district in 2006 and 2008, losing both elections to Democrat Steve Kagen.
Gard is married to Cathy Zeuske, a former state treasurer of Wisconsin and former secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Revenue.
Gard was sworn in on October 12, 1987, at Lena High School. The location was intended to accommodate his ailing grandfather, who could not travel to Madison. Gard's grandfather died, however, on the morning of the swearing-in ceremony. At the time of his swearing-in, Gard was the youngest member of the Wisconsin Legislature.
In 1990, Gard faced his closest election, surviving by a margin of just 45 votes after a recount. Following the 1990 election, state redistricting removed Gard from the 88th district and placed him in the 89th district. After redistricting, Gard easily won a rematch with his 1990 opponent, Scott McCormick, and subsequently won reelection to six more terms representing the 89th Assembly district.
Following the indictment of Scott Jensen in Fall 2002, the Assembly Republican caucus elected Gard the next Speaker of the Wisconsin State Assembly. He served as speaker for the 96th and 97th Wisconsin Legislatures.
In the general election, Gard faced Democrat Steve Kagen, a medical doctor from Appleton, in what became the most expensive congressional race in Wisconsin history up to that point. The district was considered a slightly Republican-leaning toss-up by pollsters and ratings organizations like The Cook Political Report. The 2006 elections were driven by national issues like the Iraq War, healthcare, immigration, and earmark spending, and resulted in a Democratic wave, repudiating four years of Republican control of Washington, D.C. Gard was able to carry his home county of Marinette with 51.4% of the vote and neighboring Oconto County, where he grew up, by 52.1%. He lost Brown County, home to Green Bay, by less than 1,000 votes (less than 1%). Kagen carried his home county of Outagamie County with 54.5% of the vote. The cumulative result was a narrow victory for Kagen, taking 50.9% of the general election vote.
Other GOP potential candidates dropped out of the race, including State Assemblymen Frank Lasee and Steve Wieckert, and former Green Bay Mayor Paul Jadin. Gard received the Republican nomination, but lost the election by a count of 164,561 to 193,261.
In the 2010 Wisconsin gubernatorial election, Gard supported former Representative Mark Neumann, serving as a co-chair of his campaign.
Gard was also influential on behalf of Mike Gallagher in the 2016 Republican primary for the 8th congressional district. Gard was an outspoken surrogate for Gallagher and worked to raise Campaign finance for his campaign; he described Gallagher as a close family friend and likened him to a "young Paul Ryan."
In 2020, in an emotional op-ed, Gard inserted himself into the debate over athletes kneeling as a form of silent protest against racism. Recalling the debate over state funding for Lambeau Field renovations in 2000, Gard asserted that the Green Bay Packers were disrespecting their community and ruining the franchise for fans like him.
| Rep. | 690 | 15.14% | |||||||||
| Rep. | 483 | 10.60% | |||||||||
| Rep. | 375 | 8.23% | |||||||||
| Rep. | 366 | 8.03% | |||||||||
| Rep. | 115 | 2.52% | |||||||||
| Special | Republican | 5,037 | 51.59% | Dem. | 4,726 | 48.41% | 9,763 | 311 | |||
| Lib. | 308 | 1.88% | |
| Ind. | 257 | 1.57% | |
| colspan="6" style="text-align:center;background-color: #e9e9e9;"| General Election, November 7, 2006
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