Protasiewicz, Kelly will square off for Wisconsin Supreme Court seat

Most voters in Wisconsin’s spring primary election saw a single entry on their ballot. But despite the scant opportunities to make their mark, a relatively large proportion of them turned out to decide which of the four candidates for Wisconsin Supreme Court moved on to April’s general election.

At the time of publishing, Wisconsin residents cast 958,849 votes for the race involving the high court. That’s nearly double the 534,980 who did so in the February 2018 state Supreme Court primary that ultimately led to Rebecca Dallet earning the open seat.

This time around, the field-narrowing vote resulted in Milwaukee County Judge Janet Protasiewicz (445,196 votes; 46.4%) and former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Daniel Kelly (232,316; 24.2%) being the last two candidates standing. Waukesha County Judge Jennifer Dorow tallied 209,586 votes as of this writing (21.9%) and Dane County Judge Everett Mitchell 71,738 (7.5%).

Protasiewicz and Kelly will now vie to fill the seat left by conservative Justice Patience Drake Roggensack, who decided not to run for re-election.

In addition to the Wisconsin Supreme Court primary, voters in the northern suburbs set the field for the state’s 8th Senate District, with Dan Knodl (13,966 votes; 56.8%) emerging from the three Republic options. He’ll face off against Democrat Jodi Habush Sinykin, who ran unopposed.

Milwaukee residents in three districts also had decisions to make about who will represent them on the Common Council. Here are the results from those races as of early Wednesday afternoon, with the top two advancing from each:

Alderperson, District 1

1. Andrea Pratt — 1,012 votes (34.2%)
2. David Bowen — 974 (33.0%)
3. Zandra Bailey — 513 (17.4%)
4. Vince G. Toney — 288 (9.7%)

5. Marshall Martin — 163 (5.5%)

Alderperson, District 5

1. Lamont T. Westmoreland —1,528 votes (29.5%)
2. Annette Jackson — 927 (17.9%)
3. Ray Banks — 803 (15.5%)
4. Jeff Spence — 620 (12.0%)
5. P. Thomas Thadison III — 527 (10.2%)
6. Bruce Winter — 369 (7.1%)

7. Joe Fisch — 364 (7.0%)

Alderperson, District 9

1. Odell Ball — 837 (23.7%)
2. Larresa Taylor — 727 (20.6%)
3. Amber Danyus — 622 (17.6%)
4. Russell Antonio Goodwin Sr. — 394 (11.2%)
5. Jasmine Tyler — 329 (9.3%)
6. Donna Ross — 302 (8.6%)
7. Walt Love — 259 (7.3%)
8. Cherie Ray — 44 (1.2%)