It appears that a lot of Wisconsin parents are not happy with their local school boards.
Conservative and Republicans candidates for school boards did well in their races Tuesday, many of them new challengers who unseated longtime incumbents.
“Last night was a great night for parents looking to take back control of their children’s education and for liberty-oriented candidates generally,” Eric Bott with Americans for Prosperity in Wisconsin told the Center Square.
The Wisconsin Republican Party said party-backed and conservative candidates won two-thirds of the races where they were active.
“Conservatives fought and won across the state, including in swing and deep blue areas,” Wisconsin Republican Party Chairman Paul Farrow said on Wednesday. “We are proud of the slate of conservative candidates who stepped up to the plate across Wisconsin, as they’ve proven that when we stand up and fight back against the far-left takeover of our local governments, we win.”
Some highlights from last night’s election include:
- Maria Lazar’s victory marked the second time an Evers appointee was defeated in the Second District Appellate Court.
- Samantha Kerkman became the first woman, and reportedly the first Republican, elected as Kenosha County Executive in a historically Democrat county.
- A conservative was elected County Executive in Portage County, the heavily Democrat area once known as Dane County North.
- After Democrats spent about $100,000 on digital advertising on three Green Bay City Council seats, conservatives won two of those three seats and a majority on the council.
Adams, Calumet, Door, Kenosha, Marathon, Rock, and St. Croix counties all flipped their County Boards. An additional 9 County Boards are now within 3 seats of a Conservative majority. - Conservatives nearly doubled their seats on the 30-person La Crosse County Board, going from seven seats to 13 and nearly flipping control.
- Every targeted Conservative candidate won their School Board elections in Cedarburg, Elmbrook, Manitowoc, Menomonee Falls, Germantown, Wausau, Oconomowoc, Whitnall, Waukesha, Altoona, Amery, New London, Neenah, West Bend…. and many others!
- All 3 Conservative candidates in the Wausau School Board were victorious, leading to an 8-1 majority on the board, a board that in 2020 Democrats had control of 7-2.
- 3 School Boards in Kenosha County flipped to Conservative control.
- Conservative Jane Lang became the second female Mayor in the City of Neenah’s history while winning in a city President Biden won by over 1,000 votes in 2020.
- Conservatives in the City of Pewaukee saw phenomenal success as they won the mayoral election and their 3 target aldermanic races.
- Waukesha, Washington, and Langlade County all won over 80% of their targeted races across their respective Counties.
- Waukesha had over 170 candidates across the County.
- Conservatives in Rock County won almost 90% of the County Board races they were targeting, ultimately flipping the County Board their way. They also elected conservatives to School Boards in their two major Democratic cities of Beloit and Janesville.
- In southeast Wisconsin, conservative candidates won all of their Wisconsin school board races in Waukesha, New Berlin, and Cedarburg. Conservatives also did well in the Fox Valley and in northeast Wisconsin.
But it was not a total victory.
Three conservative candidates for school board in Eau Claire failed to win.
Challengers Nicole Everson, Melissa Winter, and Corey Cronrath lost by at least 1,000 votes each. The three gained national attention from bringing attention to Eau Claire School’s policy that states parents have to “earn” the right to know their child’s gender at school.
Progressive and liberal candidates also did very well in Dane County, while Milwaukee remained a deep-blue city.
Still, conservatives are optimistic heading into the November election.
“Last night proved that our grassroots operation is battle-tested and well-positioned to carry this momentum into November,” Farrow said.
“Conservatives have momentum heading into November but it’s premature to call it a red-wave,” Bott added. “Hard work and grassroots activism catapulted many candidates to victory last night. Conservatives will need to up their ground game to repeat these victories in the fall.”
