Republicans Shae Sortwell and Matt Adamczyk, who saw school choice advocates back their opponents with independent expenditures, both won their GOP primaries on Tuesday.
Sortwell, a Town of Gibson supervisor, will be heavily favored to win this fall, while Adamczyk, who spent the past four years as the state treasurer, is running in a seat that Dem Hillary Clinton won in the 2016 presidential election.
Here are the results in some top legislative races:
2nd AD, GOP
With all precincts reporting, Sortwell he had nearly 55 percent of the vote to 45 percent for Dean Raasch, a De Pere alderman. He will now be the heavy favorite to replace outgoing GOP Rep. Andre Jacque, who is leaving the seat to run for state Senate.
The American Federation for Children’s independent expenditure arm backed backed Raasch with $14,732 in mail and online ads, according to filings with the Ethics Commission. Wisconsin Right to Life also endorsed Raasch. Still, Sortwell raised more than Raasch this year, $20,047 to $12,208.
14th AD, GOP
AFC backed Robin Moore, who has a background in the telecommunications/technology industry. But she finished second to Adamczyk, who won 48.9 percent of the vote to her 35.8 percent in the four-way race.
Clinton won the seat with 48 percent of the vote two years ago, and insiders have pondered if that was a blip or a trend for the district that starts in the Milwaukee suburb of Wauwatosa and stretches west into Waukesha County.
Adamczyk led the field financially with $27,003 in receipts. But $23,903 of that was personal loans.
23rd AD, GOP
Liz Sumner, a member of the Fox Point Village Board, won the Dem primary easily with 63.6 percent of the vote to 29.4 percent for Andy Lamb, a CPA, in the three-way primary.
The Chris Abele-funded Leadership MKE put nearly $50,000 behind Sumner in a district Clinton won two years ago with 49.2 percent of the vote. But the district in the Milwaukee suburbs, held by GOP Rep. Jim Ott went to Gov. Scott Walker with 60.4 percent of the vote four years ago.
Both Sumner and Lamb have outraised Ott so far this year.
AD 62, GOP
Robert Wittke, president of the Racine Unified School Board, won 67.6 percent of the vote for the GOP nomination to replace Republican Rep. Tom Weatherston, who is retiring from the Racine-area seat.
He topped John Leiber, former president of the Caledonia Parks and Recreation Commission, who worked for Weatherston in the Capitol. Leiber was endorsed by Wisconsin Right to Life, and the primary got ugly at the end with Leiber filing an ethics complaint accusing his opponent of not having a clear and legible disclosure on his campaign materials.
Weatherston dismissed it as “grasping at straws” and took a dig at his former aide in the closing days, saying, “As far as I know, John has only had a job with a paycheck for four years in his entire life, and that was with me.”
Wittke now faces former Dem state Sen. John Lehman.
AD 91, Dem
Jodi Emerson, director of public policy and community relations at the anti-human trafficking advocacy group Fierce Freedom, won the four-way Dem primary with 37 percent.
She will now be the heavy favorite to replacing Rep. Dana Wachs, D-Eau Claire, who gave up the seat to run for guv.
Thomas Vue, who was vying to be the first Hmong candidate elected to the state Legislature, finished second with 26.6 percent.
92nd AD, Dem
Rob Grover took 46.9 percent in the three-way primary to take on freshman GOP Rep. Treig Pronschinskel.
Pronschinske was a surprise winner two years ago, beating Dem Rep. Chris Danou in this western Wisconsin district, in part, due to the Donald Trump surge in that part of the state. But he lost his re-election bid as Mondovi mayor this spring and will be a top Dem target this fall.
Grover is a forme Danou campaign aide and was well ahead of Desiree Gearing-Lancaster, who pulled nearly 30 percent of the vote.
96th AD, Dem
Dairy farmer Paul Buhr beat Alicia Leinberger, who owns and operates Ethos Green Power, for the Dem nomination in the open seat.
With all of the vote in, Buhr was at 53.5 percent to 46.5 percent for Leinberger.
Buhr will now take on Loren Oldenburg, also of Viroqua, to replace GOP Rep. Lee Nerison, who is retiring. The southwestern Wisconsin seat has had a Dem lean at the top of the ticket in some statewide races and will be a target this fall.
