Milwaukee teachers union candidates win two of three contested races

Unions celebrated partial victory in Milwaukee School Board races; Democrats got wins in school districts like Mequon, Cedarburg and Wauwatosa; and Republicans triumphed in much of Waukesha County on Tuesday.

In many areas, the parties made historic get-out-the-vote efforts for the state Supreme Court race, while also promoting their favored school board candidates and hoping their work would pay off down-ballot.

View vote counts for all races on our election results page.

Milwaukee School Board

Union-backed candidates won two of the three contested school board races in Milwaukee Tuesday, celebrating wins for Missy Zombor and Marva Herndon, while Darryl Jackson came out ahead in District 3.

While the city tallied final votes, Zombor declared victory and her opponent, Jeff Spence, told the Journal Sentinel he conceded and wished Zombor well. Spence is a senior fellow for the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District who had also run for the Milwaukee Common Council but lost in the primary.

Zombor, who previously served as communications director for the teachers union, will hold the board’s only citywide seat, replacing school board president Bob Peterson, who's stepping down. Zombor won about 60% of the votes in the race.

Herndon, who already held the District 1 school board seat, had faced competition from longtime educator and consultant Shandowlyon Hendricks Reaves. Herndon won about 58% of the votes in the district.

Zombor and Herndon were among a group of candidates in Milwaukee who were backed by the Milwaukee Teachers Education Association and other unions, while Spence, Hendricks Reaves and Jackson were backed by business leaders who support charter and voucher schools. Candidates and their supporters collectively poured over $240,000 into their races.

In District 3, Jackson, a real estate investor, won about 60% of the votes in the district. He was competing with union-backed Gabi Hart to replace board vice president Sequanna Taylor, who is stepping down.

In Districts 2 and 6, union-backed incumbents Erika Siemsen and Megan O’Halloran were alone on the ballot for their races and will keep their seats. Siemsen had faced a write-in campaign from Milwaukee Police Sgt. Pamela Holmes. Siemsen won about 97% of the counted votes in District 2, with about 3% being write-in votes.

Many voters who spoke to the Journal Sentinel on Tuesday said they turned out to vote because of the state Supreme Court race. Some didn’t vote in the school board race, or voted based on name recognition from fliers without much knowledge of the candidates, while others had done more research.

Voting for Zombor on the northwest side, Trameika Sanders said she expected Zombor would support better pay and benefits for MPS staff. Sanders, who works as a MPS safety assistant, said she has seen the district struggle to keep staff, while those remaining have had to take on new challenges.

“Times have drastically changed — the circumstances kids are facing, the mass shootings,” she said. “We go through mass shooting training every year; we make sure everyone who comes into the schools are safe.”

In Sherman Park, Allen Neuwirth said he voted for Spence after learning of Spence’s proposal to consolidate students and staff to fully utilize district buildings and sell off other buildings, potentially for use by charter schools.

“There are too many used, unoccupied school buildings that are just a huge expense to keep up,” Neuwirth said.

Cedarburg School Board

Winners: Candidates Kate Erickson and Connie Kincaide have won the two seats up for election on the board in a race featuring four candidates. Erickson was first with 4,560 votes (28.76%) and Kincaide was second with 4,169 votes (26.29%). Placing third was Corey Kubichka with 3,772 votes (23.79%) and last was Scott Sidney with 3,290 votes (20.75%). Sidney and Kubichka were endorsed by the Republican Party of Ozaukee County, while Erickson and Kincaide were backed by the Democratic Party of Ozaukee County. Sidney has been accused by former employees of harassment and inappropriate comments and behavior during his time as owner of a downtown coffee shop.

Elmbrook School Board

Winners: In two contested races, one of two candidates backed by the Waukesha County Republican Party, WisRed and the anti-critical race theory group the 1776 project, won his respective race while the other lost.

For the at-large seat, Republican-backed Sam Hughes won in a close race with 9,803 votes (50.2%) against his opponent David Irwin, who had 9,682 votes (49.5%). There were also 56 write-in votes, according to unofficial results on the Waukesha County website. Both ran to replace incumbent Jennifer Roskopf, who chose not to run for re-election.

For the Area III seat, Preetha Kurudiyara won in a close race, defeating Republican-backed Gregg Eberhardt by 9,847 votes (50.1%) to 9,799 votes (49.8%). There were 24 write-in votes, according to unofficial results on Waukesha County's website. Both ran to replace incumbent Jian Sun, who chose not to run again.

Incumbent Scott Wheeler ran unopposed for the Area I seat.

Mequon-Thiensville School Board

Winners: Incumbent Wendy Francour and challenger Kate Barikmo were the top two vote-getters for two seats on the board in a race between four candidates. Francour was first with 6,307 votes (30.77%) and Barikmo was second with 5,069 votes (24.73%). Finishing third was challenger Megan Heinzelman with 5,030 votes (24.54%) and finishing fourth was challenger Sergey Babakhanov with 3,961 votes (19.32%).

Francour is one of two school board members who survived the 2021 recall attempt and the only one who ran for re-election. Francour and the three challengers competed for two districtwide seats in this election. The county Republican Party backed two candidates, Babakhanov and Heinzelman. The county Democratic Party backed Barikmo.

Waukesha School Board

Winners: Three challengers have won seats on the board — two of them Republican-backed and the third Democratic Party backed — which also means that Republican-backed incumbent Corey Montiho lost his seat. The candidates were competing for three seats on the board.

Republican-backed challenger Bette Koenig was first with 16,000 votes (27.2%); challenger and Democratic Party-backed former school board member Diane Voit was second with 14,410 votes (24.5%), and Republican-backed challenger David Wadd was third with 14,119 votes (24%). Montiho was last with 13,711 votes (23.3%). There were also 552 write-in votes. Incumbents Karin Robertson and Joseph Como did not seek re-election.

Wauwatosa School Board

Winners: Each of the three teachers' union-endorsed candidates won their respective races Tuesday night over a slate of three candidates known as the "Three Tosa Dads" who lean more conservative, are endorsed by Moms for Liberty but have not reported funding or endorsements from the Republican party.

In the Seat 5 race, Liz Heimerl-Rolland defeated Chris Zirbes with 12,073 votes (63.5%) to Zirbes' 6,904 (36.31%). They competed to replace incumbent Michael Phillips, who chose not to run for re-election. In the Seat 6 race, Lynn Woehrle defeated Daniel Gugala with 11,609 votes (61.31%) to Gugala's 7,293 votes (38.51%). They competed to replace incumbent Sharon Muehlfeld, who chose not to run again.

In the Seat 7 race, incumbent Jessica Willis defeated Mike Zollicoffer Jr. with 12,171 votes (64.26%) to Zollicoffer Jr.'s 6,725 votes (35.51%).

Phillip Morris ran uncontested for Seat 4. He will replace incumbent Leigh Ann Fraley, who chose not to run again.

Other races

In the Port Washington-Saukville School Board race, Ozaukee County Democratic Party-backed candidate Kierstin Cira won the City of Port Washington seat on the board.

In the Grafton School Board race, three of the four Ozaukee County Republican Party-backed candidates — Steve Nauta, Carrie Walls and Robert Mallon — won seats on the board. Three seats were up for election on the board this year. The fourth Republican-backed candidate, Joe Bichler, was last in voting.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Democrats win school races in Mequon, Cedarburg; GOP takes Elmbrook