Rep. Dora Drake wins special election primary for open 4th Senate seat

Senate Chambers in the Wisconsin State Capitol. (Baylor Spears | Wisconsin Examiner)

Rep. Dora Drake (D-Milwaukee) defeated Rep. LaKeshia Myers (D-Milwaukee) in the primary for the special election to fill the 4th District state Senate seat on Tuesday. 

The seat was open after former Sen. Lena Taylor, who had represented the solidly blue seat since 2004, resigned to serve on the Milwaukee County Circuit Court. The district includes parts of north Milwaukee as well as parts of Brown Deer, Wauwatosa, Glendale and Shorewood.

According to unofficial results, Drake won 68% of the vote, while Myers won 31%. The race had a low turnout of slightly over 3,150 voters with 97% of precincts reporting.

Drake, who has served in the Assembly since 2020, won’t face an opponent in the general election to serve out the last five months of Taylor’s term on July 30. A separate primary will be held in August for the next, full four-year term.  No Republicans filed to run in the race. Prior to serving in the Assembly, she worked as a social worker.

Both candidates have also filed to run for a full four-year term. The primary election for that race will be held Aug. 13, and the general election is set for Nov. 5. No Republicans filed to run in the district then, either. 

Myers made clear that the loss on Tuesday night is not the end of her campaign, and that she will continue campaigning for the full four-year term in the Senate. She was first elected to the Assembly in 2018. Prior to that, she worked as a teacher in Milwaukee Public Schools. While serving in the Assembly, Myers also worked as a dean of students at a middle school in Wauwatosa, but she recently resigned after an investigation into complaints from families. 

“While today’s election was important to fill the remaining four months of Senator Taylor’s term, August 13th is and has always been my campaign’s primary focus,” Myers said in a statement. “We will continue to advocate for and engage with voters as we move toward the August 13th primary.”

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