On April 2, spring election will be held across the state of Wisconsin. Positions which will appear on the ballot include candidates for Wisconsin’s state Supreme Court, mayor of Madison, school district board of education and Madison’s alder positions.
In the Wisconsin Supreme Court election, candidates are elected to serve ten-year terms. The state constitution allows for no more than one justice to be elected each year.
The candidates on the Wisconsin Supreme Court ballot are Lisa Neubauer and Brian Hagedorn.
Lisa Neubauer was elected to the appeals court in 2008 and re-elected in 2014. She has been chief judge of the court since 2015, has spent two decades as an attorney in private practice and clerked for U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb.
Neubauer is a common liberal favorite, with deep-running democratic ties. Her husband was a democratic lawmaker for four terms, state chairman for Bill Clinton in 1992 and 1996 and a member of a Democratic National Committee. Neubauer and her husband have also given $105,000 to liberal and democratic candidates and causes.
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Hagedorn served as a law clerk for state Supreme Court Judge Michael Gableman, assistant attorney general, worked in private practice and was former Gov. Scott Walker’s chief legal counsel for almost five years. Walker appointed him to the state appeals court in 2015 where Hagedorn won the election two years later.
Hagedorn also has deep-running GOP ties and is popular amongst Conservatives, according to the Journal Sentinel. On his 2015 application for a judicial appointment, he claimed he was a member of the Kenosha County Republican Party from 2005-09.
Mayoral candidate Satya Rhodes-Conway surpasses Soglin in fundraising
In the Madison mayoral election, candidates who advanced past the primary are current incumbent Mayor Paul Soglin and Managing Director for the Mayor’s Innovation Project Satya Rhodes-Conway.
Soglin, the current mayor who has held the position for a sum total of almost 22 years, has said that more still needs to be done to increase job opportunities, housing availability and access to health care.
Rhodes-Conway has listed bus rapid transit, racial disparities and climate change as her top priorities.
Rhodes-Conway also surpassed Soglin in campaign fundraising, raising $125,754 to Soglin’s $77,265 in the latest reporting period. That period covered from Feb. 5 through March 18 and was the last campaign finance report before the election.
Two UW freshmen declare candidacy for campus seat on Madison City Council
Two University of Wisconsin students are running for the Madison City Council for the 8th District seat, which covers most of the campus area. The seat is being vacated by Zach Wood, elected in 2015.
Matthew Mitnick, 18, is an electoral intern with Wisconsin Conservation Voters, according to his website. He is the President and founder of the Westlake Action Team, a nonprofit chapter providing the same opportunities to low-income youth. He is a district intern with California Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin, a legislative affairs intern with Associated Students of Madison and student chapter president with the International City-County Management Association.
Mitnick supports affordable housing, public safety — including lighting the Lakeshore path — flood prevention and sustainability, amnesty for medical care, increasing student engagement, boosting arts programs, diversity and transparency. He also prioritizes issues such as supporting neighborhood associations, late night transit, social justice, a balanced budget and LGBTQ+ rights.
Avra Reddy, 19, was a student representative for District 127 School Board in Grayslake, Illinois from 2016-18, according to her website. She moved to Madison in 2016 to work on the 2016 election.
Reddy prioritizes housing issues, public safety, sustainability, transit and inclusivity. She supported the banning of conversion therapy in Madison and also supports improving sexual assault services at UW.
Polls are open 7:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m. Voting locations based on your address can be found here.
