Races begin to shape up for the April 2025 general election
Voters will see familiar names on the local ballot when they go to the polls this April with a few high profile state races.
At the state level, there will be a race that could determine if the current liberal majority continues on the state Supreme Court or if the conservatives will reclaim leadership.
Justice Ann Walsh Bradley announced she would not seek another 10-year term on the court. Two candidates are seeking the spot. Dane County Circuit Court Judge Susan Crawford and Waukesha County Circuit Court Judge Brad Schimel.
Crawford comes with private practice experience serving as a partner in the Pine Bach law firm as well as serving as a prosecutor and legal counsel in state government. Schimel was previously the Waukesha County district attorney and served as the Wisconsin Attorney General from 2015 to 2019.
In another high-profile statewide race, Jeff Wright is challenging incumbent Dr. Jill Underly for the State Superintendent of Public Instruction position which heads up the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.
A Stevens Point native, Jeff Wright is the superintendent of the Sauk Prairie School District and was recently named '2024 Administrator of the Year' by the Wisconsin Rural Schools Alliance. He was first a Social Studies teacher and one of Disney's American Teacher Award honorees. After earning a degree from Harvard University, he served as a high school principal on the south side of Chicago.
Dr. Jill Underly was elected State Superintendent of Public Instruction in April 2021. Since 1999, she has worked in all facets of public education at the college level and also at both the state and district levels as a teacher and administrator. Underly received bachelor’s degrees in history and sociology from Indiana University-Bloomington, master’s degrees from both IUPUI and UW Madison, and her doctorate from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is the parent of two children, both in high school, and she lives with her family in southwestern Wisconsin.
Brittany Kinser, an education consultant from Wauwatosa, announced her candidacy in December, but as of December 30 had not filed nomination papers with the Wisconsin Election Commission.
Kinser previously led Wisconsin's Rocketship schools, which are part of a national network of public charter schools. She was also past president of City Forward Collective, a Milwaukee nonprofit that advocates for and funds charter schools.
Candidates for state superintendent of public instruction have until Jan. 7 to file paperwork and gather at least 2,000 signatures. If the filing paperwork of more than two candidates are approved, a primary election will be held Feb. 18.
While the state supreme court and superintendent of public instruction positions are officially non-partisan races, in recent years there has been a trend of political party endorsements in the races for those statewide offices. This has led to an increased level of spending in those campaigns, particularly in the state supreme court race.
On the local level, there will be municipal elections in the towns, villages and the city of Medford as well as members running for election on area school boards.
In the Gilman School Board, incumbent Lynn Rosemeyer filed candidacy papers to run for reelection.
Jessica Wisocky and Cheryl Ustianowski filed noncandidacy papers and will not be running for reelection.
In the Rib Lake school district the at-large seat held by Rollie Thums and the town of Greenwood seat held by Amanda Treffinger are up for reelection with both indicating they will run again.
In the Medford school district, incumbents Corey Dassow, Aemus Balsis and Kurt Werner are up for reelection.
Nomination for candidates are due by the end of the business day on January 7, 2025.
In the city of Medford, incumbent Peggy Kraschnewski in the second district is the only one who filed noncandidacy. As of Monday, Laura Holmes in the first district and Mike Bub in the fourth district have both turned in their information and Randy Haynes in the third district is circulating papers. In the second district former council member Tim Hansen is also circulating nomination papers.
In the village of Rib Lake, incumbent village president William Schreiner along with board members Rocky Jones, George Tesch and Randy Budimlija have filed for reelection.
