Susan Crawford won the contested battle for Dane County Circuit Court Judge, Branch 1, while Gloria Reyes beat out incumbent Anna Moffit for seat one on the school board in the Wisconsin 2018 Spring Elections.
Tuesday’s election voted on the state offices for multiple court of appeals judges for Districts I and IV, circuit court Judges, and two school board seats.
With 87 percent of precincts reporting, Crawford, a local attorney, is up three points on Townsend, the municipal court judge in Shorewood Hills. This election was particularly difficult for voters to gauge because both candidates had fairly similar platforms.
Crawford was the chief legal counsel for Gov. Jim Doyle, and has since worked on cases that challenged a number of Gov. Scott Walker’s policies at Pines Bach Law firm.
“For over 35 years my practice has focused on representing individuals,” Crawford said. “So much of what the criminal court is about is individuals who come before the judge. As a municipal court judge it is individuals who come into my courtroom, many of whom are not represented by counsel.”
Reyes unseats incumbent in school board race
Additionally, two seats on the Madison Metropolitan School District were up for election.
Gloria Reyes won the only contested race beating out incumbent Anna Moffit. Reyes is the daughter of immigrant parents and a graduate of UW-Madison.
She was previously a police detective before becoming deputy mayor of public safety, civil rights and community services for the city of Madison in 2014.
“I do feel a sense of urgency right now in public education and safety in our schools. That's why ultimately I decided to run,” Reyes said in a statement regarding her run.
The second seat of the Madison School Board was delegated to incumbent Mary Burke, who was first elected in 2012. Burke ran for Governor of Wisconsin in 2014, and is the founder of non-profit social media app, “Building Brave,” designed as an online support system for women.
When asked why she was running for a third term at the South Side Madison School Board Forum, Burke stated: “I believe we have so much more work to do.”
In other races, Incumbent Court of Appeals Judge JoAnne Fishman Kloppenburg was re-elected after an unopposed race in Madison’s District 4.
A graduate of UW-Madison Law School, past member of the Peace Corps and assistant attorney general at the Wisconsin Department of Justice for 23 years, Kloppenburg was first elected to the Court of Appeals in 2012. She was previously a candidate for the Wisconsin Supreme Court in both 2011 and 2016.
Incumbent Dane County Circuit Court Judges, Frank Remington and Ellen Berz, were both re-elected for Branches 8 and 11 respectively.
Remington was previously a law professor at UW-Madison before being appointed by Walker in 2011 for Dane County Circuit Court Judge. Remington obtained endorsements from a wide range of Democratic and Republican supporters for his first election to this position.
Berz attended UW-Milwaukee and then UW Law School. She was the co-founder of the University of Wisconsin Law School’s Mock Trial team, and previous director of the Assigned Counsel Division and director of training before being elected to Branch 11 in 2012.
