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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 / Wisconsin WatchFact Checker

Tom Kertscher joined as a Wisconsin Watch fact checker in January 2023 and contributes to our collaboration with the The Gigafact Project to fight misinformation online. Kertscher is a former longtime newspaper reporter, including at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, who has worked as a self-employed journalist since 2019. His gigs include contributing writer for PolitiFact and sports freelancer for The Associated Press.