Dugan, Kies unseat opponents on bench

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Two solo practitioners unseated appointees of Gov. Scott Walker in Tuesday’s contested races for seats on the Milwaukee County Circuit Court bench. They will be among the new faces on the Milwaukee County bench in August.

There were a total of 66 races for circuit court judge in the state. Of those races, 10 were contested and Milwaukee County was the battleground for two of those races.

Both races featured candidates who had been appointed to their posts by Walker. Judge Michelle Ackerman Havas was appointed in August, and Judge Paul Rifelj was appointed in December.

The race for Branch 31 was a blowout: The solo practitioner Hannah Dugan pushed Rifelj from his seat on the bench by 62,375 votes. Dugan took 132,460 votes, or 64.9 percent of the votes, compared with Rifelj, who took 70,085 votes, or 34.3 percent of the votes, according to unofficial results from the Milwaukee County Clerk.

The race for Branch 45, on the other hand, was a close one. Jean Kies, another solo practitioner, edged out Judge Michelle Ackerman Havas by 1,086 votes. Kies took 100,352 votes, or 49.8 percent of the vote while her opponent took 99,266 votes, or 49.3 percent of votes.

In the uncontested races, Gwen Connolly, yet another solo practitioner, who won the spot on the Branch 45 bench. Judge Daniel Konkol will retire from the post at the end of his term in August; Connolly will take over from there.

Judges Glenn Yamahiro, Stephanie Rothstein, Mary Kuhnmuench and Christopher Foley all retained their spots on the Milwaukee County bench. Follow @erikastrebel