Drake Defeats Myers For State Senate Seat

Dora Drake. Photo from the candidate.

All she does is win.

Dora Drake defeated LaKeshia Myers for the second time in as many months, effectively ending one truly unusual election cycle.

The two Democratic state representatives first faced off in an early July primary to serve the remainder of Lena Taylor‘s term in the Wisconsin State Senate. Drake, the only candidate on the ballot, then won the July 30 general election. Now, Drake won the normally scheduled primary election and, because there are no Republicans running, is the only candidate on the ballot in November for a full, four-year term.

Taylor resigned in January after Governor Tony Evers appointed her to a vacant Milwaukee County Circuit Court judgeship. She had held the 4th District Senate seat for 19 years.

Wisconsin’s senate districts are formed by three assembly districts, with Myers representing the western portion of the 4th District, Drake the middle and Darrin Madison Jr. the eastern portion. But both Drake and Myers gave up their seats to run for the senate seat.

Sequanna Taylor, a county supervisor and former school board member, handily won a race to replace Drake, but the four-way Democratic race to replace Myers was too close to call. The winner in the four-way race will face Milwaukee County Supervisor Deanna Alexander, registered as an independent, in the general election.

As a result of redistricting, the senate district Drake will represent stretches southeast from Milwaukee County’s northwestern tip at N. 124th Street and W. County Line Road to E. Locust Street and N. Humboldt Boulevard in Riverwest. In addition to a large chunk of Milwaukee, the district includes portions of suburban Brown Deer and Wauwatosa and all of Glendale and Shorewood.

Drake won 62.4% to 37.6%. Approximately half of her margin of victory came from the suburban communities.

Drake was first elected to the Assembly in 2020 and previously worked at JusticePoint and the Center for Self-Sufficiency. She is a graduate of Marquette University.

Myers was first elected in 2018. Before being elected, Myers worked as a teacher at Milwaukee Public Schools. Since being elected, she’s worked for MPS, as an assistant principal in Madison and, most recently, as the dean of students for a Wauwatosa middle school, from which she resigned after an investigation.