By allowing ads to appear on this site, you support the local businesses who, in turn, support great journalism.
Crowded field in state elections
Placeholder Image

http://www.facebook.com

MONROE - With the recall elections over, Wisconsin candidates are igniting their two-month campaigns leading up to the state partisan primary Tuesday, Aug. 14.

In Green County and Lafayette County, the fall elections will include races for U.S. Senate; House of Representatives; the state Assembly; district attorneys; and county offices.

Incumbents at the county level are running unopposed, including Mike Doyle, county clerk; Sherri Hawkins, treasurer; and Cynthia Meudt, register of deeds, in Green County; and Linda Bawden, county clerk; Becky Taylor, treasurer; and Joe Boll, register of deeds, in Lafayette County.

Also running unopposed is Green County District Attorney Gary Luhman.

But in Lafayette County, Kate Findley and Duane Jorgenson, are vying for the Democratic spot on the November ticket for district attorney, with no candidates in any other parties running. Current D.A. Charlotte Doherty signed non-candidacy papers and will not be running.

Voters in Green County will need to determine which set of state assembly candidates to watch, after the state redistricting last year broke the county into three districts.

Four townships in the southwest corner of Green County - Cadiz, Clarno, Jordan and Monroe, including the City of Monroe - will join with most of Lafayette County to vote for a state representative in District 51. Incumbent Howard Marklein, Spring Green, will be running unopposed on the Republican ticket, while Pat Bomhack, Dodgeville, and Maureen May-Grimm, Mineral Point, will compete for the Democratic place in the fall.

On the east side of the county, voters in the Towns of Jefferson, Spring Grove, Sylvester, Decatur, Albany and parts of Mount Pleasant will be in Assembly District 45, along with the far western and southern parts of Rock County. These voters will choose one candidate for each the Republican and Democratic tickets.

Janis Ringhand, Evansville, who was representing most all of Green County before redistricting, filed her 80th District non-candidacy papers and will now face challenger, Sheila De Forest, Beloit, in the 45th District for the Democratic ticket. Beth Schmidt and Russell Rucker, both from Orfordville, will contend for the Republican ticket.

The remainder of Green County, the north and northwest townships, now make up the southern-most edge of the new 80th District. The district includes eastern Iowa County and southwestern Dane County, as well as parts of the City of Verona and Village of Oregon.

The 80th Assembly District Democratic primary ticket will pit Sondy Pope-Roberts, Cross Plains, now representing the old 79th District, against Joseph Wineke, Verona, and Charles Uphoff, Fitchburg. Wineke served in the 79th Assembly District from 1982 to 1993, and the 27th Senate District from 1993 to 1999, before being succeeded by Sen. Jon Erpenbach.

Republicans have one candidate, Tom Lamberson, Verona, on the 80th Assembly ticket.

State Senate races this year involve only even-numbered district, so local voters can rest easy - Green and Lafayette are in odd-numbered Senate districts.

But they should still hold on to their hats as more than a dozen candidates have thrown in their hats for one of the two spots on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.

For Lafayette County, no decision is needed for the August primary for U.S. House Representative District 3. With neither having a party challenger, this fall incumbent Ron Kind, (D-La Crosse) will meet Republican challenger, Ray Boland, Sparta, a retired Army colonel and former Wisconsin state Veterans' Affairs secretary.

In Green County, the District 2 race of the U. S. House of Representatives is not as neat. Rep. Tammy Baldwin signed her non-candidacy papers to make her run for U.S. Senate, leaving the ticket wide open in August for Democrats - and they are making their moves.

Dennis Hall, Cambridge; Kelda Helen Roys, Madison; Matthew D. Silverman, Madison; and Mark Pocan, Madison, make up the Democratic ticket. Chad Lee, Mt. Horeb, is the only Republican running.

Roys is currently representing the 81st Assembly District. Pocan is currently representing the 78th Assembly District.

On the U. S. Senate side, to fill a seat left vacant by Sen. Herb Kohl, who filed non-candidacy papers, the party lineup is just the opposite. Baldwin, Madison, is the only name on the Democratic ticket, while the Republican challengers have several familiar political names.

Voters will choose Mark Neumann, Nashotah; Tommy Thompson, Madison; Jeff Fitzgerald, Horicon; or Eric D. Hovde, Madison, as the Republican to go up against Baldwin; Libertarian Joseph Kexel, Kenosha; and Independent Nimrod Maurice Joseph Allen III, Milwaukee, in November.

Neumann represented Wisconsin's 1st congressional district from 1995 to 1999. Thompson was U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services under President George W. Bush from 2003 to 2005, and served four terms as Wisconsin's 42nd Governor, 1987-2001.

Fitzgerald is the Speaker of the Wisconsin Assembly, and Hovde, a businessman, is breaking into politics for the first time.

The deadline to file nomination paper with the Government Accountability Board was Friday, June 1. The partisan primary is Tuesday, Aug. 14, and the general election is Tuesday, Nov. 6. Polls will be open 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. both days.