This past Tuesday, April 7, a little less than 20 percent of eligible Wisconsin voters (some 800,000) went to the polls to cast ballots in two state-wide elections and scores of local races across the state.

The two state-wide races were for a 10-year term on the State Supreme Court, where Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson,  who has served for 34 years on the state's highest court, defeated Randy R. Koschnick, a Jefferson County Judge and first time candidate for the State's highest court, by a wide margin of 59% to 41%. Abrahamson, 75, won by a 2-to-1 margin in Dane County, her political base.

Many Capitol insiders view Abrahamson's victory and its margin a good sign for the state's liberal-minded interests righting the ship after three straight losses in races for the Supreme Court..

Abrahamson, who has served as Chief Justice since the mid-1990's, ran a very aggressive campaign by hiring professional campaign staff  for the first-time in all of her races and by outraising her opponent by wide margins, which allowed the Chief Justice to run a couple weeks worth of important television time in the nearly all the state's television markets (www.wispolitics.com).

To view an article about Abrahamson's victory, please click here:
http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/42648362.html

In the state's other state-wide race, Tony Evers, Deputy Superintendent of the Department of Instruction (DPI), bested Rose Fernandez, a trauma nurse and former President of the Wisconsin Virtual School Families Coalition, by a somewhat sizeable margin of 57 to 43 percent in an open seat to replace outgoing DPI Superintendent Elizabeth "Libby" Burmaster.

Evers, 57, ran his campaign based on his 34 years of experience in public education as a teacher, principal, school superintendent, and for the last eight years as Deputy DPI Superintendent. In contrast, Fernandez, 51, ran a very spirited campaign that centered on the theme of reforming DPI and making the state's education establishment more accoutable to the school children and taxpayers.

According the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, spending in the race heavily favored Evers and was one of the main reasons for his victory. In addition to raising about twice as much money as Fernandez, Evers was aided by more than $500,000 in television and radio advertising funded by WEAC-PAC, the political arm for the state's largest teachers union, and even more contributed by local union organizations (www.jsonline.com).

To read more about this race, view here:
http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/42647882.html

In a few local elections of note, many of Wisconsin's larger cities will have new mayors. Sheboygan, La Crosse, and Manitowoc all elected new mayors.

In the cases of La Crosse and Manitowoc, youth was the theme of the night in mayoral races. In  La Crosse, its new mayor, Matt Harter, 24, ran an upstart, well-financed campaign and defeated a long-time alderwoman. And, in Manitowoc, 22-year old grocery cashier Justin Nickles, won his race to replace long-term Manitowoc Mayor Kevin Crawford, by 15 votes over a 39-year old MIT graduate.

To view an article about the Manitowoc Mayor's race, click here:
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2009/04/09/Wisconsin-city-elects-22-year-old-mayor/UPI-99371239321839/

Lastly, in Dane County, long-time County Executive Kathleen cruised to a somewhat suprising 59 to 41 percent margin over former Madison School Board member Nancy Mistele to serve a fourth term as the state's second largest county's top executive.