Sen. Fred Risser, D-Madison, 50-year veteran of the state Senate and the longest serving state legislator in the nation, announced Saturday he will run for reelection.

In a statement, Risser, 84, pledged to work to remove the “radical right wing agenda” being pursued by the current administration and to “get Wisconsin back on track” as a progressive state.

“I want to run. … I have the seniority to restore Wisconsin’s government to what it once was,” Risser said in an interview with The Badger Herald.

Risser currently serves the University of Wisconsin, Madison and Shorewood Hills. He said under the new reapportionment plans passed by the Legislature this session, about 80 percent of the district has stayed the same, although he now has west Madison instead of Fitchburg and Middleton.

Risser served in the Assembly from 1956 to 1962 before being elected to the Senate. Risser has never lost a reelection bid.

He said a lot has changed since the start of his tenure as a legislator. He said the Legislature used to be all white men. However, now he said the Legislature has become far more cosmopolitan, as a third of the legislators are women.

He pointed to an increase in the number of African-Americans and Latinos as well. He also said the increase of new technologies such as wireless communications and computers led to a massive change in the way the Legislature accomplished things.

“There’s work to be done,” Risser added on his reelection bid.