At the local level, the April 5 election was a night for incumbents, with one exception.
At the presidential level, the April 5 election was a night for candidates who don’t hew to the party whose nomination they seek.
The three Platteville School Board incumbents on the ballot — Nancy Bongers, Brian Miesen and Abulkhair Masoom — defeated challengers Curt Timlin, Jeremy Johnson and Brian Brown.
School boards: Bongers had 2,246 votes, Miesen 2,011 and Masoom 1,642 in the race for three-year terms. The challengers lost in their second try for office — Timlin had 1,496 votes, Johnson 1,191 and Brown 1,013.
Potosi School Board incumbents Craig Bierman and Peggy Udelhoven finished first and second with 505 and 493 votes, respectively. Newcomer Scott Warren won the third seat, with 384 votes, over challenger Harry Pitzen, with 245 votes.
Iowa–Grant School Board member Chris Richards was reelected to his Linden seat, defeating Amy Jo Hunt 805–495. School board members Renee Linscheid, who represents Cobb, and Fred DiVall, who represents Livingston and Montfort, were unopposed.
Belmont School Board members Dana Harcus and Sheila Simpson were unopposed.
Municipal races: Katherine Burk won the Platteville Common Council at-large seat, defeating Darrel Browning 1,695–1,321. Burk won in all four city aldermanic districts in the race to defeat retiring Ald. Mike Denn.
Burk will be joined on the council by Don Francis, who was unopposed in District 1 to replace retiring Ald. Barb Stockhausen.
Incumbent Dickeyville trustee Josh Kuepers will be joined by newcomers Jay Redfern and George E. Little. Kuepers received 223 votes, Redfern 177 and Little 176, with challenger Joshua Roling finishing fourth with 16 votes.
Judicial races: Iowa County voters chose Mineral Point attorney Margaret Koehler over Dodgeville attorney Tim McKinley, 4,534–4,307, to succeed late Iowa County Circuit Judge William Dyke. Koehler won four area precincts — Montfort, Rewey, Eden and Mifflin — and tied 1–1 in Livingston.
State Supreme Court Justice Rebecca Bradley used her 7,541–7,401 edge in Grant County over Court of Appeals Judge Joanne Kloppenburg on the way to winning 52 percent of the statewide vote. Kloppenburg won in Platteville 1,806–1,450, Lafayette County 2,710–2,558, and Iowa County 5,195–3,140 in the largest voter turnout for a Supreme Court election in state history.
Referenda: The Move to Amend referendum to amend the U.S. Constitution to overturn U.S. Supreme Court decisions on campaign financing, won easily in Platteville 2,738–528, and in Belmont, with 88 percent of the vote. The referendum also won in Lancaster, with 85 percent of the vote, and Darlington, with 81 percent of the vote.
According to Wisconsin United to Amend, 72 Wisconsin communities have approved Move to Amend-style referenda.
The Iowa–Grant School District referendum to exceed revenue limits by $1.8 million beginning next school year, won 799–651.
County boards: Grant County District 10 Sup. Mark Stead was reelected over Joyce Bos, 590–451. Stead won in Platteville’s District 1 447–367 and in the Town of Platteville Ward 1 143–84.
District 8 Sup. Pat Schroeder was the only county board incumbent to lose April 5, losing to Ron Coppernoll 433–364. Coppernoll won because he won in Lancaster 240–95, along with wins in the district’s North Lancaster and South Lancaster wards, overcoming Schroeder’s advantage in Liberty, Lima and Clifton.
Unopposed Platteville county supervisors were Sups. Dale Hood, whose county District 11 includes city District 2; Dwight Nelson, whose county District 12 includes city District 3; and Carol Beals, whose county District 13 includes city District 4.
Other unopposed area Grant County supervisors were Sups. Lester Jantzen in District 14, which includes the town and village of Potosi, Tennyson, Harrison and Ellenboro; John Beinborn in District 15, which includes parts of the towns of Platteville and Smelser; and Dan Timmerman in District 17, which includes Dickeyville and Paris.
Unopposed Lafayette County supervisors included District 1 Sup. Larry Ludlum, who represents the towns of Belmont and Elk Grove; District 2 Sup. Bill Moody, who represents the village and town of Belmont; District 3 Sup. Jack Sauer, who represents the towns of Darlington, Kendall and Seymour; and District 13 Sup. Ted Weigel, who represents part of the city of Shullsburg and the towns of Elk Grove, Monticello, Seymour, Shullsburg and White Oak Springs.
Unopposed Iowa County supervisors included District 19 Sup. Carol Anderson, whose district includes parts of Montfort, Eden and Mifflin; and District 21 Sup. Bob Bunker, whose district includes Livingston, Rewey and parts of Mifflin.
Presidential primaries: U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (Ind.–Vermont) won Platteville and all three area counties on the way to defeating former U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D–New York) in the Wisconsin Democratic primary.
Sanders won 1,159–632 in Platteville on the way to winning in Grant County 4,484–3,036. Sanders won in Iowa County 3,198–2,161 and in Lafayette County 1,330–1,167.
U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R–Texas) won in Wisconsin, but not in Grant, Lafayette or Iowa counties, finishing second to developer Donald Trump, with Gov. John Kasich (R–Ohio) third.
Cruz won in Platteville with 733 votes to Trump’s 447 and Kasich’s 358, but Trump won in Grant County, with 3,462 votes to Cruz’s 3,243 and Kasich’s 1,557. Trump also won in Lafayette County, with 1,199 votes to Cruz’s 1,062 and Kasich’s 563, and in Iowa County, with 1,609 votes to Cruz’s 1,501 and Kasich’s 825.
The next elections take place this summer and fall, with primaries Aug. 9 and the general election Nov. 8. In addition to the presidential race, U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson (R–Wisconsin) is opposed by former Sen. Russ Feingold (D–Wisconsin), who lost to Johnson in 2010. All eight Congressional seats will be up for election, as well as all 99 Assembly seats, including the seats of Rep. Travis Tranel (R–Cuba City) and Todd Novak (R–Dodgeville). County district attorneys, clerks, treasurers and registers of deeds will also be up for election this fall.
