Wisconsin local spring election results published April 13


Although Wisconsin held spring elections for municipal, county, and judicial offices on April 7, results from those elections were not released until April 13 due to court orders made regarding the coronavirus outbreak. Ballotpedia covered 86 seats across the nonpartisan general elections in Madison, Milwaukee, Dane County, and Milwaukee County.

Milwaukee held elections for mayor, city attorney, city comptroller, city treasurer, and all 15 common council members. According to unofficial results, Mayor Tom Barrett won re-election with 62.5% of the vote, and City Treasurer Spencer Coggs won re-election with 66.8% of the vote. The city comptroller seat was open and saw Aycha Sawa defeat Jason Fields with 50.4% of the vote. City Attorney Grant Langley was defeated by challenger Tearman Spencer, receiving 38.6% of the vote to Spencer’s 61.1%. Thirteen common council members were on the general election ballot. Eight faced challengers, and none were defeated.

Madison held a special election for the District 8 alderperson after Avra Reddy resigned from the Common Council on September 30, 2019. Max Prestigiacomo was the only candidate to file for the seat and won without opposition.

Dane County held elections for all 37 county board supervisors and a circuit court judgeship. Twenty-six supervisors sought re-election. Two incumbents were opposed on the general ballot, and neither lost their bids for re-election. Dane County Circuit Court Judge William Hanrahan was unopposed for re-election.

Milwaukee County held elections for county executive, county comptroller, all 18 county board supervisors, and eight circuit court judgeships. The county executive seat was open and saw State Rep. David Crowley (D) defeat State Sen. Chris Larson (D) with 51.8% of the vote. County Comptroller Scott Manske won re-election without opposition. Thirteen county board supervisors were on the general election ballot, and all were unopposed in their bids for re-election. All eight circuit court judges sought re-election. Two judges faced challengers and both were defeated. Judge Paul Dedinsky lost with 41.2% of the vote, and Judge Daniel Gabler lost with 29.1% of the vote.

Milwaukee County and Milwaukee Public Schools voters also decided local ballot measures: a nonbinding advisory question concerning statewide redistricting and a revenue limit increase measure.

Additional reading:
Changes to Wisconsin’s spring_elections in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, 2020
April 7, 2020 ballot measures in Wisconsin