Spring Election Results
On April 2, Wisconsin voters went to the polls to cast ballots in a statewide Supreme Court race and several local races and referendums. Voter turnout was nearly 27% statewide, which was slightly larger than predicted.
State Supreme Court Race
The marquee race was to replace Supreme Court Justice Shirley Abrahamson when her term ends later this year. She announced in 2018 she would not seek reelection after serving on the court for 42 years.
While Supreme Court elections are officially non-partisan, conservative state Appeals Judge Brian Hagedorn faced off against liberal Appeals Judge Lisa Neubauer in what remains a close race. Hagedorn defeated Neubauer by about half a percentage point. In accordance with state law, Neubauer considered a recount since Hagedorn led by less than one percent. However, in the following weeks, Neubauer conceded the race.
Hagedorn’s victory marked the first statewide win for conservatives in quite some time. In November 2018 Republicans lost every statewide race and in April 2018 liberal candidate Rebecca Dallet won a seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
Many political spectators dissected the differences between Dallet’s victory and Hagedorn’s apparent win. Most notably, Dallet won her election by 11.5 percentage points, which means there was a 12 percentage point conservative swing in State Supreme Court races in the span of one year. As noted in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the conservative swing was particularly amplified in northeast Wisconsin, where the conservative margin swung 20 percentage points and in northcentral Wisconsin, where the conservative margin swung 17 points. Both northcentral and northeast Wisconsin performed particularly well for Donald Trump in 2016.
No doubt, the state Republican and Democratic parties will further investigate turnout numbers in every area of the state to better plan their strategies in 2020.
Hagedorn will take his seat on the court when Abrahamson’s term ends on August 1.
Madison Mayor’s Race
While the State Supreme Court race drew most of the attention, political spectators and the media also closely watched the race for Madison mayor. Incumbent Paul Soglin faced off Satya Rhodes-Conway who served 6 years on the Madison City Council. The race was officially nonpartisan, but both candidates are known Democrats.
In a somewhat surprising outcome, Rhodes-Conway handily defeated Soglin by over 24 percentage points. Rhodes-Conway’s victory marks the end of a storied mayoral career for Soglin, who served as mayor in three separate stints over the course of 46 years.
Soglin was first elected to serve as mayor from 1973 to 1979, when he left Madison to be a fellow at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. He was reelected in 1989 and served until 1997, when he resigned to make an unsuccessful run for Congress. In 2011, Soglin once again sought and won election to serve as mayor.
Soglin also notably ran for governor in 2018, but ultimately lost the Democratic primary to Governor Tony Evers. During his run for governor, Soglin publicly stated he would not run for reelection as mayor. However, following his primary defeat, he announced he would seek another term. While it’s unclear to what extent that reversal affected his reelection changes, political spectators can’t help but wonder if that misstep cost some support.
