The 2019 Wisconsin Spring Election was held in the U.S. state of Wisconsin on April 2, 2019. There was one seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court on the ballot, as well as several other nonpartisan local and judicial elections. There were also a number of local referendums for school funding. The 2019 Wisconsin Spring Primary was held February 19, 2019.
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There was an additional special election held in the 64th Wisconsin State Assembly district.
In the Supreme Court election, the Republicans' preferred candidate defeated the Democrats' preferred candidate. In all, only 1 incumbent judge lost their seat in this election, while 2 others retired.
Election information
editTurnout
editTurnout in the April 2 election was 27% of the voting age population.[1]
State elections
editLegislative
editState Assembly 64th district special election
editA special election was held to fill the 64th district seat of the Wisconsin State Assembly. The seat was vacated by former Wisconsin Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca who had been appointed to the cabinet of Governor Tony Evers. At the time of the election, the 64th Assembly district contained the northern half of the city of Kenosha, along with suburban areas of southeastern Racine County. It is considered a safe democratic seat.
The primary for this seat was held at the spring general election on April 2. Democrat Tip McGuire defeated Gina Walkington and Spencer Zimmerman for the Democratic nomination while Mark Stalker won the Republican nomination unopposed.[2] The special general election was then held April 30, and McGuire defeated Stalker 62.35% to 37.56%.[3]
Judicial
editJudicial elections were held in 2019.
State Supreme Court
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| Turnout | 35.4%[4] | |||||||||||||
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 County results Hagedorn: 50–60% 60–70% 70–90% Neubauer: 50–60% 60–70% 70–90% | ||||||||||||||
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A regularly-scheduled Wisconsin Supreme Court election was held April 2. Incumbent Shirley Abrahamson did not seek reelection.
Republican-backed Brian Hagedorn narrowly defeated Democratic-backed Lisa Neubauer.[5]
Candidates
edit- Brian Hagedorn, Judge of the Wisconsin Court of Appeals (District II division) and former chief legal counsel to Governor Scott Walker[6]
- Lisa Neubauer, Chief Judge of the Wisconsin Court of Appeals[7]
Results
edit| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nonpartisan | Brian Hagedorn | 606,414 | 50.22% | |
| Nonpartisan | Lisa Neubauer | 600,433 | 49.72% | |
| Write-in | 722 | 0.06% | ||
| Total votes | 1,207,569 | 100.0% | ||
State Court of Appeals
editThree seats on the Wisconsin Court of Appeals were up for election in 2019. All three were uncontested.
- Judge Mark Gundrum was unopposed seeking re-election to a second full term in District II.
- Judge Lisa K. Stark was unopposed seeking re-election to a second full term in District III.
- In District IV, administrative law judge Jennifer E. Nashold was unopposed in the election to succeed retiring judge Paul Lundsten.
State Circuit Courts
editTwenty nine of the state's 249 circuit court seats were up for election in 2019. Only three of those seats were contested. Only one incumbent was defeated for re-election—Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Andrew A. Jones, who had been appointed a year earlier by Governor Scott Walker to fill the vacancy created by Judge Rebecca Dallet's elevation to the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
| Circuit | Branch | Incumbent | Elected | Defeated | Defeated in Primary | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Votes | % | Name | Votes | % | Name(s) | |||
| Brown | 3 | Tammy Jo Hock | Tammy Jo Hock | 36,134 | 99.25% | ||||
| 7 | Timothy A. Hinkfuss | Timothy A. Hinkfuss | 36,900 | 99.26% | |||||
| Dane | 16 | Rhonda L. Lanford | Rhonda L. Lanford | 103,480 | 99.03% | ||||
| Dodge | 3 | Joseph G. Sciascia | Joseph G. Sciascia | 13,303 | 100.00% | ||||
| Jefferson | 1 | William V. Gruber | William V. Gruber | 13,004 | 99.22% | ||||
| 2 | William F. Hue | William F. Hue | 13,239 | 99.24% | |||||
| La Crosse | 1 | Ramona A. Gonzalez | Ramona A. Gonzalez | 15,852 | 100.00% | ||||
| 2 | Elliott M. Levine | Elliott M. Levine | 16,258 | 100.00% | |||||
| 3 | Todd Bjerke | Todd Bjerke | 16,579 | 100.00% | |||||
| 4 | Scott L. Horne | Scott L. Horne | 16,978 | 100.00% | |||||
| Lincoln | 2 | Robert R. Russell | Robert R. Russell | 4,279 | 99.58% | ||||
| Manitowoc | 1 | Mark R. Rohrer | Mark R. Rohrer | 12,629 | 99.14% | ||||
| Marinette | 2 | James A. Morrison | James A. Morrison | 6,867 | 100.00% | ||||
| Marquette | Bernard Ben Bult | Chad A. Hendee | 2,885 | 99.28% | |||||
| Milwaukee | 11 | David C. Swanson | David C. Swanson | 87,138 | 98.54% | ||||
| 26 | William S. Pocan | William S. Pocan | 87,258 | 98.61% | |||||
| 36 | Laura A. Crivello | Laura A. Crivello | 87,994 | 98.75% | |||||
| 40 | Andrew A. Jones | Danielle L. Shelton | 71,649 | 57.07% | Andrew A. Jones | 53,407 | 42.54% | ||
| 41 | Audrey K. Skwierawski | Audrey K. Skwierawski | 85,654 | 98.73% | |||||
| Monroe | 1 | Todd L. Ziegler | Todd L. Ziegler | 7,354 | 99.69% | ||||
| Ozaukee | 2 | Joe Voiland | Steve Cain | 14,800 | 58.02% | Angela C. Foy | 10,650 | 41.75% | Mark E. Larson James Wawrzyn |
| Racine | 3 | Maureen M. Martinez | Maureen M. Martinez | 24,151 | 98.99% | ||||
| 7 | Jon E. Fredrickson | Jon E. Fredrickson | 18,606 | 59.59% | Jamie M. McClendon | 12,512 | 40.08% | ||
| Rock | 1 | Karl R. Hanson | Karl R. Hanson | 19,396 | 99.22% | ||||
| 2 | Derrick A. Grubb | Derrick A. Grubb | 19,185 | 99.04% | |||||
| 4 | Daniel T. Dillon | Daniel T. Dillon | 18,977 | 99.17% | |||||
| St. Croix | 2 | Edward F. Vlack | Edward F. Vlack | 10,174 | 99.05% | ||||
| Waukesha | 1 | Michael O. Bohren | Michael O. Bohren | 75,867 | 99.06% | ||||
| 6 | Brad Schimel | Brad Schimel | 81,363 | 97.85% | |||||
Local elections
editBrown County
editGreen Bay mayor
edit- A regularly scheduled mayoral election was held in Green Bay concurrent with the Spring election. Democratic former state representative Eric Genrich defeated small business owner Patrick Buckley. Four-term Republican incumbent mayor Jim Schmitt was not a candidate for re-election.[9]
Dane County
editMadison mayor
edit- A regularly scheduled mayoral election was held in Madison concurrent with the Spring election. Seven-term incumbent mayor Paul Soglin was defeated by former city councilmember Satya Rhodes-Conway.[10]
Outagamie County
editOutagamie County executive
edit- A regularly scheduled county executive election was held in Outagamie County concurrent with the spring election. Democratic incumbent executive Tom Nelson was reelected without opposition.[11]
Racine County
editRacine mayor
edit- A regularly scheduled mayoral election was held in Racine concurrent with the Spring election. Incumbent mayor Cory Mason won his first full term, defeating a write-in campaign by city councilmember Sandy Weidner. Mason had previously won a special election to fill the remainder of the term of Mayor John Dickert, who had resigned.[12]
Winnebago County
editOshkosh mayor
edit- A regularly scheduled mayoral election was held in Oshkosh concurrent with the Spring election. Incumbent mayor Steve Cummings was defeated by city councilmember and deputy mayor Lori Palmeri.[13]
School referendums
edit- There were 60 local education-funding referendums on the ballot in the 2019 election, at a total value of approximately $1.2 billion. 45 of those referendums passed, awarding the school districts approximately $783 million in additional funding.[14]
References
edit- ^ "Voter turnout hit 34% for Wisconsin Supreme Court race, 71% of ballots were cast absentee". FOX6Now.com. WITI. April 14, 2020. Retrieved April 14, 2020.
- ^ "WEC Canvass Reporting System Canvass Results for 2019 Spring Election - 4/2/2019 5:00:00 AM" (PDF). elections.wi.gov. Wisconsin Elections Commission. Retrieved April 14, 2020.
- ^ "WEC Canvass Reporting System Canvass Results for Rep Assembly District 64 Special Election - 4/30/2019 5:00:00 AM" (PDF). elections.wi.gov. Wisconsin Elections Commission. Retrieved April 14, 2020.
- ^ "April 1, 2019 Voter Registration Statistics | Wisconsin Elections Commission" (1 April 2019). elections.wi.gov. Wisconsin Elections Commission. Retrieved April 14, 2020.
- ^ Wilson, John K. (April 10, 2019). "Lisa Neubauer Concedes Wisconsin Supreme Court Race To Brian Hagedorn". Wisconsin Public Radio. Retrieved April 14, 2020.
- ^ Beck, Molly (August 16, 2018). "Appeals Judge Brian Hagedorn jumps into Wisconsin Supreme Court race". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
- ^ Beck, Molly (July 12, 2018). "Candidate Lisa Neubauer calls on outside groups to stay out of Wisconsin Supreme Court race". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
- ^ "2019 Spring Election Results" (PDF).
- ^ BeMiller, Haley (April 2, 2019). "Eric Genrich defeats Patrick Buckley to become Green Bay's first new mayor in 16 years". Green Bay Press-Gazette. Retrieved May 18, 2020.
- ^ Mosiman, Dean (April 3, 2019). "Satya Rhodes-Conway trounces Paul Soglin to become Madison's mayor". Wisconsin State Journal. Retrieved May 18, 2020.
- ^ Outagamie County 2019 Spring Election (Report). Office of the Clerk of Outagamie County, Wisconsin. April 9, 2019. p. 2. Retrieved February 17, 2021.
- ^ Lieffring, Christina (April 2, 2019). "City of Racine incumbents re-elected except in 5th District". Racine Journal Times. Retrieved April 24, 2020.
- ^ Shuda, Nathaniel (April 2, 2019). "Lori Palmeri defeats incumbent Steve Cummings in Oshkosh mayoral race". Oshkosh Northwestern. Retrieved December 7, 2022.
- ^ Cannon, Margaret (April 10, 2019). "Wisconsin voters again improve spending increase for schools, but some large building projects rejected". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Retrieved April 25, 2020.