2023 Wisconsin elections

A special election will be held concurrent with the spring general to fill the 8th State Senate seat vacated by the resignation of Alberta Darling. The primary for this election will be held concurrent with the spring primary.[1][2]

Republican candidates include state representatives Dan Knodl and Janel Brandtjen, college student Robert Albrightson and Thiensville village president Van Mobley.[3][4][5] Former state senator Randy Hopper briefly entered the race, but then withdrew and endorsed Knodl.[6][7]

The only Democratic candidate is Whitefish Bay attorney Jodi Habush Sinykin.[8]

A regularly scheduled Wisconsin Supreme Court election will be held on April 4, 2023. The incumbent judge, Patience D. Roggensack, is retiring after 20 years on the court.[9] Declared candidates so far include former Wisconsin Supreme Court justice Daniel Kelly[10] and current Wisconsin circuit court judges Everett Mitchell of Dane County,[11] Janet Protasiewicz of Milwaukee County,[12] and Jennifer Dorow of Waukesha County.[13] Kelly and Dorow are considered conservatives, while Mitchell and Protasiewicz are considered liberals. This election will decide the balance of power on the court for the next two years, until the next scheduled Supreme Court election in 2025.[14][15]

Two seats on the Wisconsin Court of Appeals are scheduled for election on April 4, 2023.

• In District I, William W. Brash III, chief judge of the Court of Appeals, is expected to run for second full six-year term in 2023. He was appointed by Governor Scott Walker in 2015. He faces Milwaukee labor and employment attorney Sara Geenen.[16]
• In District IV, incumbent Michael R. Fitzpatrick will not run for re-election. Dane County circuit judge Chris Taylor has announced her candidacy for the office.

Forty nine of the state's 261 circuit court seats will be up for election in April 2023. This total includes four new seats to be created due to a 2020 act of the Legislature.[17] Only 11 seats are contested, and only four incumbent judges are facing a challenger.[2]

• In Clark County, attorneys William Bratcher and Jake Brunette are running for a newly created judicial seat.
• In Grant County, former Jefferson County circuit judge Jennifer Day, Grant County district attorney Lisa A. Riniker, and Lancaster attorney Jeffrey W. Erickson are running for the judicial seat being vacated by Judge Robert P. VanDeHey.
• In Oneida County, incumbent judge Mary Roth Burns faces a challenge from Oneida County district attorney Michael W. Schiek and Oneida County corporation counsel Mike Fugle.
• In Sawyer County, Thomas J. Duffy and Monica Isham Chase are running for a newly created judicial seat.
• In Sheboygan County Branch 2, municipal judge Natasha L. Torry and former assistant district attorney James A. Haasch are running for the judicial seat being vacated by Judge Kent Hoffman.
• In Sheboygan County Branch 5, public defender Cassandra Van Gompel and attorneys George Limbeck and Todd E. Basler are running for the judicial seat being vacated by Judge Daniel Borowski.
• In Vernon County, district attorney Timothy J. Gaskell and attorney Angela Lynn Palmer-Fisher are running for the judicial seat being vacated by Judge Darcy Rood.
• In Washington County, incumbent judge Ryan J. Hetzel faces a challenge from Hartford attorney Russell Jones.
• In Waukesha County, incumbent judge Fred Strampe faces a challenge from former state representative Cody Horlacher.
• In Winnebago County, incumbent judge Scott C. Woldt faces a challenge from former Winnebago County circuit judge LaKeisha D. Haase.
• In Wood County, district attorney Craig Lambert and Wisconsin Rapids attorney Timothy Gebert are running for a newly created judicial seat.

There is likely to be an amendment to the Constitution of Wisconsin on the ballot in either the Spring or Fall general election, depending on when the proposal is moved through the Legislature. The proposed amendment would make two changes to Section 8 of Article I of the Wisconsin Constitution, dealing with conditions for pre-trial release of those accused of crimes.[18]

• First, it would raise the conditions necessary for release, removing the word "bodily" from the phrase "All persons, before conviction, shall be eligible for release under reasonable conditions designed to ... protect members of the community from serious bodily harm".
• Second, it would insert an additional paragraph allowing judges wider latitude for when to apply cash bail for people accused of violent crimes. The current language of the constitution allows imposition of cash bail only in situations where it is believed "necessary to assure appearance in court." The amendment would allow judges to impose cash bail (on those accused of a violent crime) based on the "totality of the circumstances".

• A regularly scheduled mayoral election is to be held in Green Bay, Wisconsin, concurrent with the Spring general election. Incumbent mayor Eric Genrich has indicated he will run for a second four-year term. Former state legislator Chad Weininger has announced he will challenge Genrich.[19]

• A regularly scheduled mayoral election is to be held in Madison, Wisconsin, concurrent with the Spring general election. Incumbent mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway has indicated she will run for a second four-year term. Former deputy mayor and Madison Metropolitan School District School Board President Gloria Reyes announced she will also be a candidate for mayor.[20] Also running is Scott Kerr, a career city employee of the city of Madison. Daniel Howell, a recent University of Wisconsin graduate, missed the filing deadline but is running as a write-in candidate.[21]

• A regularly scheduled mayoral election is to be held in Racine, Wisconsin, concurrent with the Spring general election. Incumbent mayor Cory Mason has indicated he will run for a second full four-year term. Other declared candidates include city councilmember Henry Perez and retirement financial advisor Jim DeMatthew.[22]