THE RESULTS ARE IN: Incoming E.C. City Council President Gragert, Others Among Tuesday's Winners
a number of school district referendums, county boards, school boards and more local office seats have been determined
Over 1.5 million Wisconsinites cast their votes toward the singular state race on the spring election ballot – the State Supreme Court race – and, locally, a portion of those voters also determined who will fill seats across city councils, school boards, county boards and other area offices.
Eau Claire County saw 67.93% voters – roughly 19,000 – fill their ballots in support of Chris Taylor, the Democrat-backed Supreme Court candidate, with conservative candidate Maria Lazar coming in with 31.95% of the vote.
That race will further the State Supreme Court's liberal justices’ position, now with a 5-2 advantage.
Just over 30% of all eligible, registered voters in Eau Claire County showed up to the polls and cast their ballots. Eau Claire City Council President, which saw Jeremy Gragert and Scott Rogers vying for voters’ favor, was just one of of the races locals kept a keen eye on.
Gragert, a former city councilman, will return to the dais this spring thanks to 9,784 votes – or 60.06% – in his favor. Rogers garnered 6,443 votes, formally conceding around 9pm on April 7 by giving Gragert a congratulatory phone call.
"I look forward to working with the entire community – and our regional and state partners – to move our city forward."
JEREMY GRAGERT
EAU CLAIRE CITY COUNCIL PRESIDENT-ELECT
“I am honored to have the support of Eau Claire voters to serve as the next City Council President,” Gragert told Volume One on election night. “I want to thank everyone who turned out to vote and thank Scott Rogers for running a great campaign that made sure our community had two solid choices on the ballot.”
“I look forward to working with the entire community – and our regional and state partners – to move our city forward,” he said.
The following morning, April 8, Rogers shared a statement online.
Rogers stated he wishes Gragert well in his newly-elected role, sharing both he and Gragert have common ground in seeking the best for the Eau Claire community, and alluded to the non-local dollars which impacted the spring election.
As reported by WEAU-TV News Director, Rudy Murrieta, at least two outside organizations – the national Working Families Party PAC and the State & Local Election Alliance (SLEA) – put roughly $64,000 behind Gragert's campaign.
“I'm proud of the campaign we waged, even though it was not successful," Rogers wrote. " We ran an entirely local campaign, with funding only from local supporters, friends, and family, with all of our spending with local services and vendors, and talking only local issues.”
Also in the city of Eau Claire, the Eau Claire school board race was sought to fill three open seats. Incumbents Pa Thao (26.2% of the vote), Lori Bica (24.6%) and Jarrett Dement (19.2%) were affirmed by voters, keeping their board positions.
Several area school districts went to referendum this spring, asking voters for their support across capital campaigns and non-recurring referendums. Between Altoona, Augusta, Cornell, Eleva-Strum and Fall Creek, just one failed – 55.75% of voters in Augusta voted against the referendum.
Those referendum asks ranged from $750,000 to $24.8 million to support a variety of needs, such as building and renovation efforts, security improvements, educational programming and more.
Over in Dunn County's Menomonie, residents voted in favor of Matthew Crowe, who garnered 58.5% of the votes – 2,105 votes – over Randy Knaack, the longtime mayor, who saw 41.4% or 1,488 votes.
View the spring election results from Eau Claire County and Dunn County online at each county's respective websites.
