There are seven races we are tracking across the nation today. Voters in Wisconsin are heading to the polls to select who will make the general election ballot in a number of races, while voters in Virginia’s 4th Congressional District are voting in the first federal election of the year. Kentucky and New Hampshire have special elections today as well.
Wisconsin
Conservative justices currently hold a 4-3 majority on the state’s Supreme Court, but that majority could be lost this year with conservative Justice Patience Roggensack coming to the end of her 10-year term and retiring at the age of 82. Supreme Court elections in Wisconsin are technically nonpartisan races, but the ideological leanings of all the justices and candidates are usually known. This year is no different with the four candidates running to replace Justice Roggensack. Two of the candidates are conservatives, and two are liberals. All are running in the same field with the top two vote-getters moving on to the general election on April 4. You can read Nick Field’s closer look at the candidates for today’s contest and what could be at stake here. Polls close at 8 p.m. CST.
There are a few other races in America’s Dairyland we are tracking today as well. The seat in the 8th State Senate District is vacant following the retirement of Republican Alberta Darling. The 8th District covers portions of the WOW counties as well as the northeast corner of Milwaukee County. There are three candidates in the Republican primary, state Rep. Janel Brandtjen, state Rep. Daniel Knodl, and Thiensville Village President Van Mobley. State Rep. Brandtjen was thrown out of the Republican caucus in the State Assembly last year for supporting conspiracy theories surrounding the 2020 presidential election and pushing the Assembly Speaker to vote to overturn the results of the election. Wisconsin Democrats have been sending out mailers to support her in the Republican primary believing they have a better chance against her in the general for this more moderate district. Republicans in Wisconsin are currently one seat short of a supermajority in the State Senate, and this district would put them over the top. The Democratic primary is uncontested with only one candidate filing to run.
We also have the mayoral primary for Madison today. Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway is running for a second term. She faces two challengers in her bid, Gloria Reyes, the former Madison School Board President and deputy mayor, and Scott Kerr, a long-time traffic engineer for the City of Madison. The mayor’s office in Madison is a nonpartisan office. The top two vote-getters will move on to the general election on April 4.
Virginia 4th Congressional District
Voters in Virginia’s 4th Congressional District are heading to the polls today to choose their representative in the U.S. House for the district’s vacant seat following the death of Congressman Donald McEachin. Two candidates, who were chosen by their party in firehouse primaries back in December, are on the ballot today. They are State Senator Jennifer McClellan, who ran in the Democratic primary for governor in 2021, and Leon Benjamin, who was also the Republican nominee for this seat in the 2022 general election. Congressman McEachin defeated Benjamin by nearly 30 points in that race. The district covers all of the city of Richmond and stretches down to the southern border of the state in Brunswick, Greensville, and Southampton Counties. Polls close at 7 p.m. EST. We will have the election results below.
New Hampshire
In the Granite State, we have a rerun of a race from November 8. The race for Strafford County’s 8th State House District ended in a tie with Republican David Walker and Democrat Chuck Grassie each receiving 970 votes. The district lies completely within the city of Rochester where both candidates have previously served on the city council. Republicans hold a very narrow majority of 201 to 198 in the state house after the November election, which could narrow even further if Democrats prevail today. Polls close at 7 p.m. EST.
Kentucky
In Louisville, Kentucky, the seat in State Senate District 19 is vacant after Morgan McGarvey won the election for the state’s 3rd Congressional District back in November. Running to replace him is Democratic Louisville City Councilmember Cassie Chambers Armstrong and Republican Misty Glin who unsuccessfully ran for the Jefferson County School Board back in November. Polls close in Kentucky at 6 p.m. EST.