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Yes.

In three conservative counties bordering Milwaukee, Janet Protasiewicz won a higher percentage of the vote in the 2023 Wisconsin Supreme Court election than Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers won in his 2022 re-election.

Waukesha, Ozaukee and Washington, known as the WOW counties, typically vote for conservative candidates.

Protasiewicz, a liberal Milwaukee County judge, won the nonpartisan April 4, 2023 election for Supreme Court. Evers, a Democrat, was re-elected Nov. 8, 2022.

Here is the percentage of the total vote each candidate received, along with the number of votes, in each county:

Waukesha

Protasiewicz: 41.8% (68,257); Evers: 39.4% (88,564).

Ozaukee

Protasiewicz: 47.6% (18,528); Evers: 44.1% (23,104).

Washington

Protasiewicz: 33.6% (17,621); Evers: 30.7% (22,698).


With 10% of the votes still uncounted, The Associated Press reported that the April 4 turnout — measured by percentage of voting-age residents casting ballots — was 36%, breaking the previous record of 34% for a spring election that doesn’t coincide with a presidential primary.

November election turnouts always exceed spring turnouts.

This Fact Brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

Sources

Waukesha County 2023 Spring Election

State of Wisconsin WEC Canvass Reporting System County by County Report

Ozaukee County April 4, 2023 Spring Election

Washington County April 4, 2023 Election Summary Report

AP News Turnout in Wisconsin Supreme Court race breaks record

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Tom Kertscher joined Wisconsin Watch as a full-time Milwaukee-based reporter in October 2024 after starting as a freelance Fact Briefs reporter in January 2023. In addition to contributing to Wisconsin Watch’s collaboration with The Gigafact Project to combat online misinformation, he reports on Wisconsin policy, labor, energy and the rapid expansion of data centers across the state. Kertscher is a former longtime reporter at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, a contributing writer for Milwaukee Magazine and the author of two sports books, on Al McGuire and Brett Favre.