272 Candidates Running for State Legislature

This year’s regular legislative elections feature the largest number of candidates in the primaries in eight years.

Candidate nomination papers were due last Monday at the Wisconsin Elections Commission, and a preliminary review of them shows 272 candidates qualified for the Aug. 11 primary ballot, including 135 Democrats, 130 Republicans, six Independents and one Libertarian.

This year’s slate of legislative candidates was the highest since 2012, when 298 candidates were on the ballot. The 2014, 2016, and 2018 legislative elections each had between 230 and 247 candidates in the primaries. The largest number of legislative candidates to square off in at least the past 25 years was 312 in the 2010 elections.

There are 115 legislative seats up in November, including all 99 Assembly seats and 16 state Senate seats.

The status of some candidates who did not appear to qualify for the ballot because of inadequate or improper signatures on their nomination papers may still change in the event they successfully appeal during a commission meeting next week.

Here are some other takes on this year’s legislative contests:

Twenty-five legislative races will feature only one major party candidate on the November ballot (see Table below). That’s a decline from recent years when there were 30 races in 2018 and 40 races in 2016 and again in 2014 that effectively gave voters no choice about their elected representative;

There are 20 open seats because the incumbent is either retiring or running for another office, including 13 in the Assembly and seven in the Senate. Open seat contests generally draw more candidates than races with incumbents because they are seen as an easier way by both parties to pick up a seat than in a race featuring an incumbent. This year, 84 candidates – nearly a third of all the legislative candidates – are running for the 20 open seats.

The largest primary fields of candidates vying for an open seat are in the 76th Assembly District, where eight will face off, and in the 26th Senate District, where seven candidates are on the ballot.

Table – Legislative Races No Major Party Opposition in November

S: Senate A: Assembly D: Democrat R: Republican I: Independent
*Incumbent with no major party opponent in November. Where no incumbent appears, the seat is vacant and only candidates from one party are running.

Districts	Candidates
A05	Jim Steineke* (R)
A07	Daniel Riemer* (D)
A10	David Bowen* (D)
A16	Kalan Haywood II* (D) & Dennis C. Walton (I)
A18	Evan Goyke* (D)
A20	Christine Sinicki* (D)
A22	Janel Brandtjen* (R)
A27	Tyler Vorpagel* (R)
A36	Jeffrey L. Mursau* (R)
A53	Michael Schraa* (R) & Joseph Connelly (I)
A58	Rick Gundrum* (R)
A59	Timothy Ramthun* (R)
A60	Robert Brooks* & Chris Reimer (R)
A61	Samantha Kerkman* (R)
A77	Shelia Stubbs* (D)
A78	Lisa Subeck* & Rob Slamka (D)
A84	Mike Kuglitsch* (R)
A86	John Spiros* (R)
A98	Adam Neylon* & Rob Ochoa (R)
A99	Cindi Duchow* (R)
S02	Rob Cowles* (R)
S04	Lena Taylor* (D)
S20	Duey Stroebel* (R)
S22	Bob Wirch* (D)
S26	Amani Latimer Burris, Kelda Roys, William Henry Davis III, Aisha Moe, John Imes, Brian Benford & Nada Elmikashfi (D)

Table subject to change due to future possible action by the Wisconsin Elections Commission.