MADISON, Wis. (AP) - No one filed by Tuesday’s deadline to run against Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Annette Ziegler, leaving her unopposed for a second term, while state superintendent Tony Evers will face two challengers in a primary next month.
Those are the only two statewide races on the April 4 ballot. Both races are officially nonpartisan, but candidates and their supporters have lined up largely along partisan lines in recent years. Ziegler is part of a five-justice conservative majority on the Supreme Court, while Evers is backed heavily by Democrats and teachers unions.
Evers will face John Humphries, a Dodgeville school administrator and former Department of Public Instruction consultant, and Lowell Holtz, the former Beloit superintendent, in the Feb. 21 primary. The two top vote-getters will advance to the general election, where dozens of local judicial, school board and other contests will also be decided.
Many conservatives are lining up behind Humphries, who has touted his support for the private school voucher program that Republicans have championed and that Evers has opposed. Holtz previously ran against Evers in 2008 but came in fifth place in the primary with less than 9 percent of the vote.
Evers wasn’t worried about being targeted by conservatives, saying he didn’t think voters would view the race through a partisan lens. He noted that while Republican Donald Trump carried Wisconsin, those same voters also approved local referendums to raise property taxes to help schools.
“The fact of the matter is Donald Trump’s voters and Hillary Clinton’s supporters alike both want to have their schools properly resourced,” Evers said.
Evers, who as superintendent leads the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, is in his second term. The state superintendent is responsible for governing Wisconsin’s public schools, administering state and federal aid, and offering guidance to teachers and administrators.
Democrats were unable to field a candidate to challenge Ziegler for a second 10-year term on the Supreme Court. First elected in 2007, she began raising money and locking down endorsements for her re-election campaign early, helping to potentially scare off any opponents.
“We fielded a number of options for the Supreme Court, but those potential candidates decided not to run for office after taking personal stock and speaking with their families,” said Wisconsin Democratic Party spokesman Brandon Weathersby. “We remain committed to helping to elect progressive candidates up and down the ballot this spring.”
Ziegler had already raised $206,000 through the first six months of 2016, a number she touted in September while also announcing endorsements from 48 sheriffs and 38 district attorneys. She also formed a steering committee with big names, including former Republican Gov. Tommy Thompson and Mike Grebe, the recently retired president of the Bradley Foundation, which has financially backed conservative policy initiatives in Wisconsin.
“I am proud to have earned bipartisan support for my re-election from community leaders, district attorneys and sheriffs in every corner of our great state,” Ziegler said in a statement.
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This story has been corrected to show that Evers is in his second term, not third.
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