Welcome to the Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025, Brew.
By: Lara Bonatesta
Here’s what’s in store for you as you start your day:
- A comprehensive look at 178 years of ballot measures in Wisconsin
- Inside New Jersey’s Republican gubernatorial primary
- Through Feb. 1, Trump had yet to appoint any federal judges
A comprehensive look at 178 years of ballot measures in Wisconsin
As we mentioned in our Jan 9. and Feb. 5 editions of the Brew, Ballotpedia’s Historical Ballot Measure Factbook will document nearly 200 years of direct democracy in the United States. This ongoing research effort will provide an unparalleled resource for researchers, reporters, and the public on how ballot measures have evolved, the issues they have covered, and their role in our civic life.
We introduced this project last summer when we featured Texas’ historical ballot measures and gave Brew readers a sneak peek at what to expect as we expand our Fact Book to all 50 states. Since then, we’ve published summary content about California and Oklahoma’s historical ballot measures. Today, let’s look at historical ballot measures in Wisconsin.
Our comprehensive inventory of all Wisconsin ballot measures spans from 1846 – the year voters approved Question 1 to form the state government – to 2024.
In that time, Wisconsinites decided on 257 ballot measures, approving 184 and defeating 73, an approval rate of about 71.6%.
The chart below shows the total number of measures voters decided in each decade. Between the 1840s and 2020s, voters decided on an average of 14 measures each decade.
Here is a breakdown of ballot measures by type.
Wisconsin is one of 24 states that does not have a statewide citizen initiative process. In 1914, voters defeated an amendment that would have established such a process 63.6%-36.4%. Wisconsin is one of four states– the others being Minnesota, Rhode Island, and Texas – where voters have defeated constitutional amendments to establish initiative and referendum processes and have never approved one. Three other states—Mississippi, Missouri, and Wyoming— also rejected such amendments before approving them on a second attempt.
Only the Wisconsin Legislature can put a constitutional amendment on the ballot. The Legislature must approve a joint resolution by a simple majority of each chamber during two consecutive legislative sessions to put an amendment on the ballot.
Ballot measure topics in Wisconsin
Wisconsin ballot measures have addressed 59 unique topics, with some addressing multiple topics in one measure.
Here is a selection of important and interesting measures from the Factbook:
- Wisconsin voters decided on four measures – in 1847, 1849, 1857, and 1865 – that would have given Black men the right to vote. A measure was approved in 1849, but it was challenged in court because a majority of all voters in the election did not vote for it. The Wisconsin Supreme Court upheld the election results in 1866. The 15th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which prohibited voting rights discrimination based on race, was ratified on Feb. 3, 1870.
- In 1914 – the same year voters rejected an amendment to create an initiative and referendum process – voters rejected an amendment to adopt a recall process for certain elected officials 63.9%-36.1%. In 1926, voters approved an amendment to create a recall process 50.6%-49.4%.
- In April 2020, Wisconsin became the 13th state to decide on a constitutional amendment to adopt Marsy’s Law, a set of constitutional protections for crime victims. The amendment was approved with 74.9% of the vote.
2025 election
In the spring general election on April 1, Wisconsin voters will decide a constitutional amendment to require photo identification to vote. The Legislature voted to put the amendment on the ballot on Jan. 14.
While state law has required voters to show photo ID since 2011, this measure would add the requirement to the state’s constitution. According to Votebeat Wisconsin, the measure wouldn’t change the state’s current law but would allow for future modifications.
The Wisconsin Require Voter Photo Identification Amendment authorizes the Legislature to establish acceptable forms of photo ID and exceptions to the requirement. Voters who do not provide a valid form of photo ID on Election Day would be permitted to cast a provisional ballot and have until 4 p.m. on the Friday following Election Day to show a photo ID to the municipal clerk.
Click here to see our coverage of the measure in the Jan. 17 edition of the Brew.
Inside New Jersey’s Republican gubernatorial primary
Ten candidates are running in New Jersey’s June 10 Republican gubernatorial primary. Incumbent Gov. Phil Murphy (D) is term-limited. The last Republican governor was Chris Christie, who left office in 2018.
Rider University’s Micah Rasmussen said, “It has been a long time since it’s been up for grabs, and so, all of our top figures on the Republican side and the Democratic side are finding this an irresistible race to jump at.”
Among Republicans, Jon Bramnick, Jack Ciattarelli, and Bill Spadea lead in polling, endorsements, and fundraising.
Bramnick represented District 21 of the New Jersey General Assembly from 2003 to 2022 when he was elected to the state Senate. In the former role, he served as Assembly minority leader. Bramnick began his legal career as an attorney in New York City. He was later a business law professor at Rider University and Rutgers University and founded the law firm Bramnick, Rodriguez, Grabas & Woodruff.
Before the 2024 presidential election, Bramnick said, “If Donald Trump wins New Jersey, I will absolutely withdraw. Because if that’s what New Jersey wants, I ain’t your guy.” His campaign website listed the economy, community safety, sustainable energy, preventing overdevelopment, education, healthcare, and government efficiency as key issues.
This is Ciattarelli’s third run for governor. He first ran in 2017, when he lost in the Republican primary to Kim Guadagno. He won the Republican primary in 2021 and lost 51-48% to Murphy in the general election. Ciattarelli previously served on the Raritan Borough Council and the Somerset County Board of Commissioners before representing the 16th District in the General Assembly.
Ciattarelli’s campaign website said, “When you compare the records of the announced and presumptive GOP gubernatorial candidates as individual vote-getters and party leaders, there is no comparison. By far, Jack Ciattarelli is superior.”
Spadea was a radio host, most recently of the Bill Spadea Show. He formerly served in the U.S. Marine Corps and hosted Chasing News with Bill Spadea. Spadea’s first run for office was for New Jersey’s 12th Congressional District in 2004. He also ran in a 2012 special election for a state Assembly seat.
Spadea’s campaign website listed illegal immigration, the economy, and infrastructure as priorities. In a campaign ad, Spadea said, “I’m a real conservative, tough on immigration, and will cut taxes. As your governor, I will put you and New Jersey first.”
Bramnick, Ciattarelli, Spadea, and former state Sen. Ed Durr (R) debated on Feb. 4. The New Jersey Monitor’s Dana DiFilippo wrote, “Spadea, Durr, and Ciattarelli fought over who was most MAGA. … Bramnick, the lone anti-Trump Republican on the stage, took a different tack…”
During the debate, the candidates also disagreed on several other issues, including abortion, transgender rights, and the state’s recently passed Assembly Bill 3446, which limited book bans in public schools and libraries and established certain protections for librarians and other library staff.
Roger Bacon, Monica Brinson, Robert Canfield, James Fazzone, Hans Herberg, and Mario Kranjac are also running.
There are also five candidates running in the Democratic primary. They include U.S. Rep. Mikie Sherrill, U.S. Rep. Josh Gottheimer, Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop, and former state Senate President Steve Sweeney. Make sure to check out tomorrow’s Brew for our coverage of that race.
New Jersey is one of two states – the other being Virginia – that will elect new governors in 2025. To learn more about the gubernatorial elections in both states, check out our recent episode of On The Ballot, featuring author of Politico’s New Jersey Playbook Matt Friedman and the Virginia Scope’s Brandon Jarvis.
Through Feb. 1, Trump had yet to appoint any federal judges
As of Feb. 1, President Donald Trump (R) has not yet appointed any Article III federal judges in his second term in office. That’s not unusual. Since Ronald Reagan (R) took office in January 1981, no president has made any Article III judicial appointments before Feb. 1 of their first year.
When Trump was inaugurated on Jan. 20, he inherited 40 lifetime federal judicial vacancies. Former President Joe Biden (D) inherited 46 Article III lifetime federal judicial vacancies when he took office in 2021. Trump inherited 108 vacancies when he was inaugurated in 2017.
Biden made his first 12 nominations in April of his first year in office. Trump made his first nomination on Feb. 1, 2017, the first year of his first term, and former President Barack Obama (D) made his first nomination in March 2009, the first year of his first term.
Trump announced his nomination of Justice Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court on Jan. 31, 2017, and according to the Federal Judicial Center, the Senate received the nomination on Feb. 1, 2017. Biden nominated Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court on Feb. 28, 2022.
There are currently 42 vacancies out of 870 active Article III judicial positions, a total vacancy percentage of 4.8%. There were 39 vacancies as of Jan. 1, a vacancy percentage of 4.5%.
Three of 179 U.S. Appeals Court positions are vacant, and 39 of 677 U.S. District Court positions are vacant. None of the nine U.S. Court of International Trade positions are vacant, and the nine-member U.S. Supreme Court has no vacancies.
A vacancy occurs when a judge resigns, retires, takes senior status, or dies. Presidents appoint Article III federal judges to life terms subject to U.S. Senate confirmation.
Ballotpedia publishes a monthly federal vacancy count report detailing vacancies, nominations, and confirmations to all United States Article III federal courts. Click here to read this month’s report.
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