2019 Wisconsin elections

2019 Wisconsin elections

← 2018 April 2, 2019 2020 →

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.

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

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Turnout

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Turnout in the April 2 election was 27% of the voting age population.[1]

State elections

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Legislative

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State Assembly 64th district special election

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A 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

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Judicial elections were held in 2019.

State Supreme Court

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2019 Wisconsin Supreme Court election

← 2018 April 2, 2019 2020 →
← 2009
2029 →
Turnout35.4%[4]
 
Nominee Brian Hagedorn Lisa Neubauer
Popular vote 606,414 600,433
Percentage 50.2% 49.7%

County results
Hagedorn:      50–60%      60–70%      70–90%
Neubauer:      50–60%      60–70%      70–90%

Justice before election

Shirley Abrahamson
Nonpartisan

Elected Justice

Brian Hagedorn
Nonpartisan

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
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Results
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2019 Wisconsin Supreme Court election[8]
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

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Three 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

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Twenty 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

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Brown County

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Green Bay mayor

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  • 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

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Madison mayor

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Outagamie County

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Outagamie County executive

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  • 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

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Racine mayor

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  • 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

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Oshkosh mayor

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  • 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

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  • 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

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  1. ^ "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.
  2. ^ "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.
  3. ^ "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.
  4. ^ "April 1, 2019 Voter Registration Statistics | Wisconsin Elections Commission" (1 April 2019). elections.wi.gov. Wisconsin Elections Commission. Retrieved April 14, 2020.
  5. ^ Wilson, John K. (April 10, 2019). "Lisa Neubauer Concedes Wisconsin Supreme Court Race To Brian Hagedorn". Wisconsin Public Radio. Retrieved April 14, 2020.
  6. ^ Beck, Molly (August 16, 2018). "Appeals Judge Brian Hagedorn jumps into Wisconsin Supreme Court race". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
  7. ^ Beck, Molly (July 12, 2018). "Candidate Lisa Neubauer calls on outside groups to stay out of Wisconsin Supreme Court race". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
  8. ^ "2019 Spring Election Results" (PDF).
  9. ^ 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.
  10. ^ Mosiman, Dean (April 3, 2019). "Satya Rhodes-Conway trounces Paul Soglin to become Madison's mayor". Wisconsin State Journal. Retrieved May 18, 2020.
  11. ^ Outagamie County 2019 Spring Election (Report). Office of the Clerk of Outagamie County, Wisconsin. April 9, 2019. p. 2. Retrieved February 17, 2021.
  12. ^ Lieffring, Christina (April 2, 2019). "City of Racine incumbents re-elected except in 5th District". Racine Journal Times. Retrieved April 24, 2020.
  13. ^ Shuda, Nathaniel (April 2, 2019). "Lori Palmeri defeats incumbent Steve Cummings in Oshkosh mayoral race". Oshkosh Northwestern. Retrieved December 7, 2022.
  14. ^ 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.