Longtime Dem Secretary of State Doug La Follette turned back a primary challenge Tuesday and will face Republican Jay Schroeder to retain the office he first one 44 years ago.
With more than half of the vote in, La Follette was winning 65.1 percent of the vote to 34.9 percent for Madison Ald. Arvina Martin.
Meanwhile, Schroeder, a licensed mortgage loan officer and small business owner, was at 71.6 percent of the vote to 28.4 percent for Spencer Zimmerman.
La Follette first won the office in 1974 before leaving to run for lieutenant governor in 1978. He then beat Vel Phillips, the first African-American woman elected to statewide office, in the 1982 Dem primary as he reclaimed the office. He’d held it ever since.
