Hutton made his first run for public office in April 2004. He ran for a seat on the
Waukesha County board of supervisors, challenging incumbent supervisor Hank Carlson. Carlson won the election, but died less than a year later. Following his death, the board voted in February 2005 to appoint Hutton to finish out the remainder of his four-year term. Hutton was elected to a full four-year term in 2008, but did not run for re-election in 2012. In 2012, Hutton announced that he would run as a
Republican for the open
13th district seat in the
Wisconsin State Assembly. The district had been dramatically reconfigured in the 2011 Republican
legislative gerrymander, moving from a suburban Milwaukee district to stretch from western Milwaukee County into central Waukesha County. The Democratic incumbent,
David Cullen, had opted to run for Milwaukee County board rather than face a difficult re-election with an almost completely new electorate. Hutton faced two opponents in the Republican primary: Thomas J. Schellinger, a county supervisor and member of the Brookfield city council, and Nathaniel Ristow, who had worked as a lawyer in the office of Governor
Scott Walker. All three candidates ran on roughly identical policy platforms of tax cuts and regulatory reforms, so attempted to distinguish themselves through their resumes. Hutton won the primary with 57% of the vote. He won the general election with 60% of the vote over Democrat John Pokrandt. He was re-elected without opposition in 2014 and 2016, and his district was considered a safe Republican seat until the political coalition shifts prompted by the suburban backlash against the presidency of
Donald Trump. In 2018, Hutton was challenged by Democrat Dennis McBride, who resigned earlier that year after serving ten years as a member of the Wauwatosa city council. The 13th district was one of the most hotly contested races in the state in 2018; Hutton prevailed with just 51% of the vote. Hutton won the election, receiving 53% of the vote. On January 22, 2026, Hutton announced he would not run for another term in the
2026 election—his district was projected to be one of the most competitive races in the state Senate. ==Personal life and family==