Primary Results

Some of the results of yesterday’s primary were predictable — but not necessarily by me. Let’s review.

Referendums go down. The two state constitutional referendums (which were really one issue) went down to defeat by a healthy margin. I’m a little surprised, but I didn’t care much one way or the other. The amendments were engineered by the Republican Legislature to get back at Democratic Gov. Tony Evers. The Republicans wanted to control spending of federal emergency relief money instead of letting Evers have all the fun. If the situation had been reversed so would have been the positions. Democrats were against this because the governor is a Democrat. Nonetheless, as a matter of public policy, I think they were right to oppose it. The point of emergency money is to meet the emergency and that’s better done by the governor instead of a deliberative body that is designed to, well, deliberate. Still, I thought that, since most people didn’t know much about the issue, they might vote for it since it seemed reasonable to have the Legislature have a say. I suppose what made the difference was that there was at least some small organized campaign against these questions.

Things are Cookeing in the Third. In another surprise, Rebecca Cooke won the Democratic primary to take on Republican incumbent Derrick Van Gordon. She beat Katrina Shankland, a former legislator who had the support of the big endorsers. But Cooke raised more money and apparently had more grass roots support. Given her background — she’s never held public office — she might actually be the stronger candidate against the nutty, Trumpy Van Gordon.

Wieds grow in the Eighth. Less surprising is the victory of Tony Wied in the Republican Party primary in this Northeast Wisconsin congressional district to replace Mike Gallagher, who resigned. Wied, a political novice, beat out two long-time conservative Republican legislators simply because he won the endorsement of Donald Trump. It once again demonstrates that the Republicans have become a wholly owned subsidiary of one man.

Pellebon surprises. The surprises kept on coming (for me, at least) when former Dane County Supervisor Dana Pellebon finished second to Melissa Agard in the race for county exec. It was a foregone conclusion that State Senator Agard would win, but I was quite certain that Madison Alder Regina Vidaver would come in second. Not sure what happened here, but Pellebon will be the (better qualified) underdog in November just as Vidaver would have been.

Ratcliff wins easily. In the race to replace Agard in Dane County’s 16th Senate District, Melissa Ratcliff cruised to victory over her fellow State Reps. Jimmy Anderson and, my choice, Samba Baldeh. Again, I wasn’t close enough to the on-the-ground stuff to know why Ratcliff won so easily, but congratulations to her in any event.

Two out of three ain’t bad. In three contested Assembly seats in Dane County, two of my candidates won. Shelia Stubbs won easily in the 78th while Mike Bare also glided to victory in the 80th. I was disappointed that the decent and earnest Chuck Erickson lost in a blowout to Ranuka Mayadev in my own backyard, the 77th. It seemed to me that Chuck had earned the Assembly post by putting in his time on the Dane County Board. Mayadev was the only woman in a race with two men and, in identity obsessed Madison, that probably was the key factor.

Brandtjen goes down. Outside of Dane County a legislative race I was watching was in Menomonee Falls where the Trump-endorsed election denier Janel Brandtjen was up against Sen. Dan Knodl, who had been redistricted out of his Senate seat and chose to run for the Assembly against Brandtjen. Knodl is very conservative, but also sane. It was good to see him win and it leavens somewhat Wied’s victory in the Eighth CD.

Overall, I can’t really discern any theme from these results. Democrats are doing some crowing over the referendums, but it seemed that they ran a campaign against them while the Republicans didn’t do much of anything in their support. So many of these local races come down to who works harder, is better organized and has laid the groundwork beforehand. But I do know how hard it is to put your name on the line, so congratulations to the winners and to everyone who wanted to serve.