Wisconsin Supreme Court elections

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Interim vacancies on the court are filled by gubernatorial appointment. Any interim justices so appointed must run for election the next spring in which no other justice is to be elected; however, f the vacancy occurs between December 1 and the spring election, appointees then run for election in the next spring's election.^[1]

Once a justice has first been elected to the court, he or she must run again in non-partisan elections for subsequent ten-year terms on the court.

This is an archived article. For more recent election information, please visit: Wisconsin judicial elections.

2011 race

Main article: Wisconsin judicial elections, 2011

In 2011, David T. Prosser successfully defended his seat against challengers Marla J. Stephens, Joel Winnig and JoAnne Kloppenburg. The primary date was February 15, 2011 and the general election was on April 5, 2011.

2009 race

In April 2009, there was an election for a seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court; incumbent justice Shirley Abrahamson defended her seat on the court against challenger, Jefferson County judge Randy Koschnick. Although the elections are technically non-partisan, Justice Abrahamson is identified with the Democratic Party and Judge Koschnick is identified with the Republican Party. Abrahamson won re-election.

2008 election

See also: Wisconsin Supreme Court elections (2008)

On April 1, 2008, Burnett County judge Michael Gableman defeated incumbent Justice Louis Butler in a fiercely contested race.

2007 election

On April 3, 2007, Washington County Circuit Court Judge Annette Ziegler soundly defeated Madison Area Immigration attorney Linda Clifford by a sizeable 2 to 1 margin by taking 65 out of Wisconsin's 72 counties including Milwaukee County^[2]. The race was a open seat due to the retirement of Jon Wilcox.

Voters in 2007 soundly rejected Clifford due to not having any prior judicial experience to serve on the state's highest court and also on negative advertising done by her campaign that attacked Ziegler despite Clifford's campaign railed on Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce on attack ads pointed towards Clifford^[3]. Despite, Clifford won her home county Dane County by nearly 30,000 votes, Ziegler won in counties that played well for conservatives in the past and also in liberal counties of Wisconsin. Ziegler won in all the conservative strongholds including Green Bay, Appleton, Fond du Lac, and Oshkosh. Ziegler also won by close margins in virtually every swing region including Kenosha, Racine, La Crosse, Eau Claire, Janesville, and Beloit^[2]. Also, Ziegler won Milwaukee County by over 10,000 votes^[2].

Ziegler had a broad appeal with independent, conservative and moderate voters that helped in her victory while Clifford was identified with many liberal voters^[3].

2007 Supreme Court Election Results