By: Erika Strebel, [email protected]//April 4, 2017//
By: Erika Strebel, [email protected]//April 4, 2017//
Voters on Tuesday will weigh in on more than 50 state judicial races across the state.
Of the seats up for grabs Tuesday, 11 are contested. The notable races include one for Milwaukee County’s Circuit Court Branch 47 seat. Scott Wales, a Fox Point municipal judge and Milwaukee lawyer, is vying for the spot against Kashoua Yang, a Milwaukee lawyer who practices family law, family mediation, workers’ compensation law and social security disability.
In Dane County, Marilyn Townsend and Jill Karofsky are facing off for the Branch 12 seat. Townsend is a Madison employment lawyer; Karofsky is the executive director of the state Department of Justice’s Office of Crime victim services.
Meanwhile, 41 candidates are running unopposed. Among the incumbents who are running unopposed are Supreme Court Justice Annette Ziegler, District 1 Court of Appeals Judge Bill Brash and District 2 Court of Appeals Judge Brian Hagedorn. In Rock County, Circuit Court Judge Michael Fitzpatrick is running unopposed for a seat on the District 4 Court of Appeals.
For a seat on Milwaukee County’s municipal court bench, Milwaukee Municipal Court Judge Valarie Hill is trying to protect her seat from a challenge from William Crowley of Disability Rights Wisconsin.
Hill fended off three challengers in February’s primary, taking 47 percent of the vote, or 13,084 votes. Crowley, for his part, beat out two other candidates — Assistant City Attorney Kail Decker and Legal Aid Society of Milwaukee Staff Attorney Brian Michel — getting 19.2 percent of the vote, or 5,356 votes.
Here are the other uncontested judicial races in the state:
Columbia County Circuit Court Branch 2
Dane County Circuit Court Branch 9
Door County Circuit Court Branch 2
Fond du Lac County Circuit Court Branch 5
Grant County Circuit Court Branch 1
Green Lake County Circuit Court
Iron County Circuit Court Judge
Jefferson County Circuit Court Branch 4
Kenosha County Circuit Court Branch 4
Marathon County Circuit Court Branch 4
Marathon County Circuit Court Branch 5
Milwaukee County Circuit Court Branch 1
Milwaukee County Circuit Court Branch 4
Milwaukee County Circuit Court Branch 9
Milwaukee County Circuit Court Branch 10
Milwaukee County Circuit Court Branch 13
Milwaukee County Circuit Court Branch 18
Milwaukee County Circuit Court Branch 19
Milwaukee County Circuit Court Branch 21
Milwaukee County Circuit Court Branch 33
Milwaukee County Circuit Court Branch 35
Milwaukee County Circuit Court Branch 36
Oconto County Circuit Court Branch 1
Outagamie County District Court Branch 1
Polk County Circuit Court Branch 2
Racine County Circuit Court Branch 3
Rock County Circuit Court Judge Branch 6
Sheboygan County Circuit Court Branch 2
Sheboygan County Circuit Court Branch 3
Sheboygan County Circuit Court Branch 5
Washington County Circuit Court Branch 1
Waukesha County Circuit Court Branch 3
Waukesha County Circuit Court Branch 4
Waukesha County Circuit Court Branch 11
Waushara County Circuit Court
Winnebago County Circuit Court Branch 2
Winnebago County Circuit Court Branch 6
The following are the nine other contested state judicial races in other parts of the state:
Burnett County Circuit Court
Melissia Mogen, Siren attorney
David Grindell, Frederic attorney
Dodge County Circuit Court, Branch 2
Martin De Vries, incumbent, Gov. Scott Walker’s appointee to the bench
Randall Doyle, Beaver Dam attorney
Kenosha County Circuit Court, Branch 7
Jodi Meier, incumbent, Walker’s appointee to the bench
John Ward, Kenosha attorney
Manitowoc County Circuit Court, Branch 3
Bob Dewane, assistant district attorney for Manitowoc County
Patricia Koppa, Manitowoc register in probate
Polk County Circuit Court, Branch 1
Trempealeau County Circuit Court
Vernon County Circuit Court
Washington County Circuit Court, Branch 3
Waupaca County Circuit Court, Branch 1