So was it good for you?
Wisconsin’s election results seem to be a mixed bag, without a lot of clear messages that I can decipher this morning, without the help of final, granular numbers. But here goes:
GOP voters supported the establishment: Ted Cruz got 48% of the Republican primary vote, delivering a wound, possibly not fatal, to Donald Trump. As we all witnessed in the previous week, Wisconsin Republicans didn’t support Cruz because they love him and want him to become president. No, they voted for him because the establishment told them they needed to do so to stop Trump. Scott Walker, right-wing talk radio, and we can assume RNC Chair Reince Priebus all wanted Cruz to happen in Wisconsin, so voters followed suit. That’s not to say that Trump didn’t have die-hard support among Republicans. It’s just that they didn’t get the memo, or chose to ignore the memo, when voting. What happens next—if it’s Trump or Cruz or even Paul Ryan or someone else who wasn’t on the ballot—is anyone’s guess.
Democrats went their own way: Bernie Sanders won 57% of the Democratic vote, a decisive victory over Hillary Clinton in a race that had echoes of the Obama/Clinton 2008 primary. Clinton is obviously the establishment candidate in the race for the 2016 nomination, but she doesn’t seem to have much traction in Wisconsin, and never really has. Whether she can turn that around if she ultimately is the nominee is, of course, to be seen. The state Democratic Party will offer a delegate breakdown later this morning, when the numbers are more solid.
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“Justice” Bradley wins: When Rebecca Bradley had to own up to her old anti-gay, anti-feminist, anti-birth control essays, it seemed like she wouldn’t recover. But she won 52% of yesterday’s vote over JoAnne Kloppenburg. I haven’t drilled down into the data yet, but I’ll assume Bradley’s win was due to GOP turnout, massive spending on her behalf from dark-money groups and voters showing up for the presidential primary and not casting a ballot in this race. Whatever the cause is, this is the first state Supreme Court justice who truly owes her place on the court to Scott Walker, so I think it’ll be pretty easy to predict just how she’ll come down on cases involving politics or big donors.
Abele’s money wins: Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele poured at least $4 million of his own money into this race, flooding the county with flyers that will end up in the landfill and TV ads that were as aggressively offensive as the GOP presidential candidates’. Yes, Abele won a decisive victory, but at what cost? He slammed state Sen. Chris Larson from every angle, throwing everything but the kitchen sink at him in an embarrassing onslaught of negative ads. It doesn’t bode well for Abele that he cemented his win by alienating a large but important segment of Democrats. Then again, Abele has always turned to Republican legislators to get what he wants, so I assume that’ll continue in the next four (or two?) years. All I can say is, bye-bye Domes.
Barrett cruises to re-election: The only surprise here is the margin of victory. Tom Barrett won his fourth term with 70% of the vote, showing that despite taking leadership on some volatile issues, city residents are happy with his stewardship of the city. And what can I say about Bob Donovan? He’s more of a fringe candidate who simply wasn’t up to the job. His views are more in tune with the suburban talk radio crowd than with the average Milwaukeean. That said, he barely won another term as alderman so he can hang on to his taxpayer-funded paycheck.
Newcomer attorneys displace Walker appointees in Milwaukee County Circuit Court: Walker’s strategy of appointing judges before an election to give them the power of incumbency may have worked for Rebecca Bradley, but it totally failed in Milwaukee County. Both of his recently appointed judges lost last night. Has the county totally soured on Scott Walker? Perhaps. But the credit goes to the attorneys who prevailed—Hannah Dugan and Jean Kies—who ran strong, steady and tough campaigns. Kudos to them.
The political revolution that wasn’t: By and large, Milwaukee hung on to incumbents and didn’t support the right-wing, anti-streetcar candidates for Milwaukee Common Council who were being propped up by outside operatives. For the most part, the “new urban” candidates won and the reactionary candidates lost. Notable contests include Alderman Terry Witkowski’s win over right-winger Chris Wiken on the far South Side, newcomer Chantia Lewis’ squeaker over Alderman Robert Puente on the far Northwest Side (another woman on the council—imagine that!), and Khalif Rainey’s and Chevy Johnson’s victories in open seats. Bob Donovan won with fewer than 200 more votes than Justin Bielinski. Bielinski is a great candidate with a positive message and tons of energy, so I hope he continues to be involved in the political sphere in some form. The next battle is over leadership of the council, which is what the anti-streetcar folks were after. But Common Council President Michael Murphy can make a persuasive case that he should hold on to his leadership position. As always, though, there will be some horse-trading behind the scenes.
County board limps into the future: Abele famously had his Republican friends cut the power of the Milwaukee County board and consolidate that power in his own hands. After the election, the board is expected to go part-time and have their pay slashed. (Although I assume that they’ll be expected to show up for every meeting and respond to their 50,000-plus constituents as before.) Interestingly, despite the elites’ dissatisfaction with the board, constituents seem to like their own representatives. Incumbents were re-elected throughout the county—even the despised Deanna Alexander won. New supervisors include Sequanna Taylor, who ran uncontested for Khalif Rainey’s seat; Sheldon Wasserman, who ran uncontested for Gerry Broderick’s seat; MPS teacher Marcelia Nicholson, who won Martin Weddle’s former district; David Sartori who won Patricia Jursik’s former district; and tea party gadfly Dan Sebring, who won Mark Borkowski’s vacant seat. I think it’s safe to say that the board will do as much as it can to provide the checks and balances that the county desperately needs during the Abele era.
Battle of the brands: It’s safe to say that the anti-streetcar folks got trounced at the city level, but I’m sure they have tons of dark money to keep going. Their ultimate prize is knocking off DA John Chisholm in the fall as payback for the John Doe investigation. The Wisconsin Working Families Party showed that they are a force in local politics. Their candidates won almost across the board, including newcomers who took on conservative candidates. True, Chris Larson didn’t win, but he was up against an unprecedented $4 million of negative campaigning. Overall, though, the WFP showed that knocking on doors and consistent messaging still can power candidates to victory.
And the Shepherd’s endorsed candidates? Some prevailed, some didn’t—as happens every year. No matter who holds office, though, we’ll keep providing an alternative view of our government in action. Stay tuned.
