Here’s a quick analysis of local political results. Precinct detail is available online for Walworth and Jefferson Counties, and statewide totals (including limited local information for Whitewater) is available online at the Journal Sentinel.
Singer-Crone At-Large Contest. The only citywide council race finished 724-452 (12 write-in votes). That’s 61%-38%-1%, in a city that mostly picks district-by-district (unlike the Whitewater Schools).
Uncontested Council Races. Olsen (1st District), Winship (3rd District), and Bregant (5th District) all won, as expected.
Uncontested School Board Contests. Nass and Brunner both won without opposition (Nass 1251, Brian Brunner 1084, assorted write-in 32) in the city and neighboring towns.
Evers-Pridemore Dept. of Public Superintendent. Evers prevailed statewide (61-39%) and in Whitewater (73-27% of two-candidate vote). There’s the sign: Evers found a better percentage in the city than the state.
Roggensack-Fallone Supreme Court Race in Whitewater.
Alternative headline:
Fallone lost big statewide (43-57%), but carried Whitewater (54-46% of two-candidate vote). And yet, although Fallone prevailed in Whitewater, one finds that the proportion of heterosexual and homosexual residents of the city is…the same as a few days ago.
I’m not surprised, but it must come as a shock to at least a few people in town. Only six weeks ago one read elsewhere, after all, that Prof. Fallone’s distinguished career meant simply that “Fallone is endorsed by former Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold and two LGBT groups.”
An awkward, silly effort to paint Fallone as extreme – when the endorsement of these groups through a conventional electoral process demonstrates the very opposite — redounds only to the detriment of those who so foolishly described his campaign.
Note to the university’s administration: you’ve rightly made an effort toward promoting tolerance on campus. Consider being your own messenger, where you can offer a consistent message, rather than relying on others who’ll undermine your messaging.
Move to Amend referendum. I thought this referendum would carry the city, but not so convincingly. Bad idea (to my way of thinking), but big electoral success yesterday, 1013-198, 84-16%.
Gateway expansion referendum. Rejected everywhere, including Whitewater: no surprise, that.
Whitewater’s electorate. Now slightly blue even in a low-turnout, spring election that should hospitable for conservatives. If Whitewater’s conservatives can’t win in that environment…
(For an earlier assessments of Whitewater’s electoral politics, see Politics in Whitewater, Wisconsin: Recent Races, The (Red) State, the (Blue) City, and earlier, Why Whitewater Isn’t a Progressive City; Why Whitewater’s ‘Conservatives’ Hold the City Tenuously.)
City conservatives, particularly, might ponder new ways of Getting the Word Out. . They don’t have to do so; it only matters if they want to win.
We’ll see.
Nice assessment. Keep up the good work, Mr. Adams. We’re here and we’re reading.