The 2019 Wisconsin Spring Election was held in the
U.S. state
In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...
of
Wisconsin
Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...
on April 2, 2019. There was one seat on the
Wisconsin Supreme Court
The Wisconsin Supreme Court is the Supreme court, highest and final court of appeals in the state judicial system of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. In addition to hearing appeals of lower Wisconsin court decisions, the Wisconsin Supreme Court also ...
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
The Wisconsin State Assembly is the lower house of the Wisconsin Legislature. Together with the smaller Wisconsin Senate, the two constitute the legislative branch of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The Assembly is controlled by the Republican ...
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
Turnout
Turnout in the April 2 election was 27% of the voting age population.
State elections
Legislative
State Assembly 64th district special election
A special election was held to fill the 64th district seat of the
Wisconsin State Assembly
The Wisconsin State Assembly is the lower house of the Wisconsin Legislature. Together with the smaller Wisconsin Senate, the two constitute the legislative branch of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The Assembly is controlled by the Republican ...
. The seat was vacated by former Wisconsin Assembly Minority Leader
Peter Barca who had been appointed to the cabinet of Governor
Tony Evers
Anthony Steven Evers ( ; born November 5, 1951) is an American politician and educator serving since 2019 as the 46th governor of Wisconsin. A member of the Democratic Party, he served from 2009 to 2019 as Wisconsin's 26th superintendent of p ...
. At the time of the election, the 64th Assembly district contained the northern half of the city of
Kenosha
Kenosha () is a city in Kenosha County, Wisconsin, United States, and its county seat. It is the fourth-most populous city in Wisconsin, with a population of 99,986 at the 2020 census. Situated on the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan, Ke ...
, 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.
The special general election was then held April 30, and McGuire defeated Stalker 62.35% to 37.56%.
Judicial
Judicial elections were held in 2019.
State Supreme Court
=Results
=
State Court of Appeals
Three seats on the
Wisconsin Court of Appeals
The Wisconsin Court of Appeals is an intermediate appellate court that reviews contested decisions of the Wisconsin circuit courts. The Court of Appeals was created in August 1978 to alleviate the Wisconsin Supreme Court's rising number of appe ...
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
Twenty nine of the state's 249
circuit court
Circuit courts are court systems in several common law jurisdictions. It may refer to:
* Courts that literally sit 'on circuit', i.e., judges move around a region or country to different towns or cities where they will hear cases;
* Courts that s ...
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.
Local elections
Brown County
Green Bay mayor
* 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.
Dane County
Madison mayor
* A regularly scheduled mayoral election was held in
Madison concurrent with the Spring election. Seven-term incumbent mayor
Paul Soglin
Paul R. Soglin (born April 22, 1945) is an American politician and former three-time Mayor of Madison, Wisconsin, having served a total of 22 years in that office 1973-79, 1989-1997, and 2011-19. A member of the Democratic Party, he was a candida ...
was defeated by former city councilmember
Satya Rhodes-Conway.
Outagamie County
Outagamie County executive
* 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.
Racine County
Racine mayor
* 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.
Winnebago County
Oshkosh mayor
* 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.
School referendums
* There were 60 local education-funding
referendum
A referendum, plebiscite, or ballot measure is a Direct democracy, direct vote by the Constituency, electorate (rather than their Representative democracy, representatives) on a proposal, law, or political issue. A referendum may be either bin ...
s 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.
References
{{2019 United States elections
Wisconsin
Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...