Wisconsin Megathread

[TJ in Oregon]

Paul Soglin was reelected as Mayor of Madison, by a pretty large margin.

Not shocking. I even voted for him.

[Gass3268]

Paul Soglin was reelected as Mayor of Madison, by a pretty large margin.

Not shocking. I even voted for him.

Not shocking at all, Resnick only won the campus area.

[RogueBeaver]

Abrahamson has sued, arguing that the referendum should only apply when her current term ends in 4 years.

[MasterJedi]

Abrahamson has sued, arguing that the referendum should only apply when her current term ends in 4 years.

Who wants to bet when she loses this challange she resigns to "spend more time with her family"?

[Gass3268]

Abrahamson has sued, arguing that the referendum should only apply when her current term ends in 4 years.

Makes sense, Wisconsin elected her to be Chief Justice, not an Associate Justice.

[MasterJedi]

Abrahamson has sued, arguing that the referendum should only apply when her current term ends in 4 years.

Makes sense, Wisconsin elected her to be Chief Justice, not an Associate Justice.

Politifact rated that Mostly False. They voted her into the supreme court, they weren't voting her into the Chief Justice position since that's only based on seniority. Wisconsin votes never truely had a say on the Chief Justice position.

[NeverAgain]

Welp, the 129 Year establishment of having judges being made Supreme Justices, is now changed so that the Judges decide. There are 7 Republicans and 2 Democrats on the bench... This was not for the "people to decide".

[TJ in Oregon]

A federal judge denied Abrahamson's initial request to block Supreme Court referendum.

[Gass3268]

2015 Supreme Court Referendum


2015 Supreme Court Race

[TJ in Oregon]

2015 Supreme Court Race

...looks like someone only did radio ads in Milwaukee.

[Torie]

Abrahamson has sued, arguing that the referendum should only apply when her current term ends in 4 years.

Is being Chief Justice really that big a deal? I mean, on SCOTUS, all the Chief Justice really gets to do that gives the position extra power, is as an initial matter, determine who gets to write the first draft of the majority opinion for the side that has a majority of the votes.

[RogueBeaver]

Althouse has analyzed this at length.

[TJ in Oregon]

Althouse has analyzed this at length.

Yup. Abrahamson's argument makes no sense. Even if she were re-elected as Chief Justice, if the constitution changes, she wouldn't necessarily still hold that position. This reminds me of when Cuyahoga County massively overhauled its county charter and a bunch of sitting office holders had their positions taken away from them. Shirley Abrahamson's power as Chief Justice stems from her being given that power by the Wisconsin State Constitution. After April 29th, the Wisconsin State Constitution will no longer give her that power. That's how amendments work.

I must say though, that the voters of Wisconsin re-elected Bradley and passed that amendment makes no sense. I would love to hear a coherent explanation of someone could vote for Bradley and Yes on the amendment. Yet, both passed, so clearly a lot of people did.

[Nhoj]

Althouse has analyzed this at length.

Yup. Abrahamson's argument makes no sense. Even if she were re-elected as Chief Justice, if the constitution changes, she wouldn't necessarily still hold that position. This reminds me of when Cuyahoga County massively overhauled its county charter and a bunch of sitting office holders had their positions taken away from them. Shirley Abrahamson's power as Chief Justice stems from her being given that power by the Wisconsin State Constitution. After April 29th, the Wisconsin State Constitution will no longer give her that power. That's how amendments work.

I must say though, that the voters of Wisconsin re-elected Bradley and passed that amendment makes no sense. I would love to hear a coherent explanation of someone could vote for Bradley and Yes on the amendment. Yet, both passed, so clearly a lot of people did.

Believing in retention of judges/not caring but thinking the amendment sounds More democratic/feel goody? Though perhaps you don't think that's coherent reasoning.

[Gass3268]

Althouse has analyzed this at length.

Yup. Abrahamson's argument makes no sense. Even if she were re-elected as Chief Justice, if the constitution changes, she wouldn't necessarily still hold that position. This reminds me of when Cuyahoga County massively overhauled its county charter and a bunch of sitting office holders had their positions taken away from them. Shirley Abrahamson's power as Chief Justice stems from her being given that power by the Wisconsin State Constitution. After April 29th, the Wisconsin State Constitution will no longer give her that power. That's how amendments work.

I must say though, that the voters of Wisconsin re-elected Bradley and passed that amendment makes no sense. I would love to hear a coherent explanation of someone could vote for Bradley and Yes on the amendment. Yet, both passed, so clearly a lot of people did.

Did not know that at all, yeah her argument has no grounds.

To your second point, Supreme Court Justices almost always get reelected in Wisconsin. Since the 1950's, sitting Justices have only lost twice, in 1967 and 2008. I'm not entirely sure why either. My guess would be a mix of low information voters, low voter enthusiasm as the elections are both in the Spring and the off-off-year and I know that Nhoj has said that parts of the state, especially the Northern part of the state, are very deferential to incumbents outside of waves.

Now why many of these same folks supported the referendum is a good question. I imagine that many felt like it was the more democratic thing to do. EDIT: Ha, Nhoj essentially said what I was gonna say.

[TJ in Oregon]

Federal judge clears way for chief justice vote.

And the cringeworthy comment of the week comes from Abrahamson's lawyer: “This surprised me because … the loss of civil rights, even for a short time is proven to be irreparable.”

[TJ in Oregon]

Patience Roggensack chosen as next Chief Justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

Some people speculated it would be Pat Crooks instead, but it seems the four conservatives chose one of their own. I like Roggensack and think they made the best choice of the four. She's saying the right things at least.

[RogueBeaver]

Feingold in.

[MasterJedi]

Good news guys, the second anti-streetcar petition in Milwaukee has imploded and there's nothing stopping any line expansions in the future from passing. Huge blow for Bathroom Bob Donovan's mayoral campaign, he's going to be crushed by Barrett come April and it's going to be a thing of beauty!

[Gass3268]

Cross posting here:

Obama/Walker Era Wisconsin

I wanted to come up with the average Wisconsin map since President Obama was elected in 2008. I decided to use all major statewide elections that have taken place since from 2008 onward. I have made three maps from this data. One that adds up the votes from each election in every Wisconsin county and then finds the partisan percentage by dividing it by total votes cast from 2008 onward. The second map takes the percentages for each election and averages them for each county. The third map is a frequency map, showing the percentage each county went for the party/side that won the most times. I am counting non-partisan elections, as there are clear ideological classifications for the candidates in those elections that allow me to categorize them into either the Democratic or Republican camps.

Here are the elections that I used:

2015:
Supreme Court: Ann Bradley (Left) over James Daley (Right) 58.03%-41.89%

2014:
Governor:  Scott Walker (R) over Mary Burke (D) 52.26%-46.59%
Attorney General: Brad Schimel (R) over Susan Happ (D) 51.54%-45.39%
Secretary Of State: Doug La Follette (D) over Julian Bradley (R) 50.00%-46.29%
Treasurer: Matt Adamczyk (R) over David Sartori (D) 48.80%-44.73%

2013:
Superintendent Of Public Instruction: Tony Evers (Left) over Don Pridemore (Right) 61.15%-38.67%

2012:
President: Barack Obama (D) over Mitt Romney (R) 52.83%-45.89%
Senator: Tammy Baldwin (D) over Tommy Thompson (R) 51.41%-45.86%
Governor Recall: Scott Walker (R) over Tom Barrett (D) 53.08%-46.28%
Lieutenant Governor Recall: Rebecca Kleefisch (R) over Mahlon Mitchell (D) 52.89%-46.99%

2011:
Supreme Court: David Prosser (Right) over Joanne Kloppenburg 50.18%-49.71%

2010:
Senator: Ron Johnson (R) over Russ Feingold (D) 51.68%-47.02%
Governor: Scott Walker (R) over Tom Barrett (D) 52.25%-46.48%
Attorney General: J.B. Van Hollen (R) over Scott Hassett 57.79%-42.12%
Secretary Of State: Doug La Follette (D) over David King (R) 51.61%-48.30%
Treasurer: Kurt Shuller (R) over Dawn Sass (D) 53.39%-46.47%  

2009:
Superintendent Of Public Instruction: Tony Evers (Left) over Rose Fernandez (Right) 57.15%-42.74%
Supreme Court: Shirley Abrahamson (Left) over Randy Koschnick (Right) 59.67%-39.44%

2008:
President: Barack Obama (D) over John McCain (R) 56.22%-42.31%

Breakdown of Elections
Number of Elections: 19
Partisan Elections: 14
Non Partisan Elections: 5
Democratic/Left Leaning Victories: 9
Republican/Right Leaning Victories: 10

Statewide Election Percentages
County Totals Percentages: Democratic/Left Leaners 49.41% - Republicans/Right Leaners 49.07%
Average of County Percentages: Democratic/Left Leaners 50.52% - Republican/Right Leaners 48.18%  

County Totals Percentage Map


County Percentage Average Map


County Frequency Map

[Kingpoleon]

Is La Follette considering challenging Feingold?

Between those two, I'd prefer the former.

[Maxwell]

Is La Follette considering challenging Feingold?

Between those two, I'd prefer the former.

La Follette is rapidly closing in on 80 years old.

[Kingpoleon]

Is La Follette considering challenging Feingold?

Between those two, I'd prefer the former.

La Follette is rapidly closing in on 80 years old.

He ran in 2012 for Governor.

[TJ in Oregon]

Governor Walker has appointed Wisconsin appeals court Judge Rebecca Bradley to the state Supreme Court to replace deceased Justice Crooks. Bradley is running for a full term this spring, so will likely do something for her chances of winning, though I'm not sure whether it will help her or hurt.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court looks like it will have a very polarized 5-2 conservative majority.

[SATW]

Is La Follette considering challenging Feingold?

Between those two, I'd prefer the former.

La Follette is rapidly closing in on 80 years old.

He ran in 2012 for Governor.

....stop.