Dan Kapanke
Dan Kapanke (Republican Party) was a member of the Wisconsin State Senate, representing District 32.
Kapanke (Republican Party) ran for election to the Wisconsin State Senate to represent District 32. He lost in the general election on November 3, 2020.
Kapanke represented District 32 from his election in 2004, until his recall on August 9, 2011. Democrat Jennifer Shilling defeated Kapanke in the recall election and served out the remainder of Kapanke's term, which expired on January 3, 2013.
Biography
Kapanke's professional experiences include substitute teacher; owner of the La Crosse Loggers Baseball Team; manager; regional sales manager; home builder; United States Marine Corps Reserve; and Wisconsin National Guard.
Kapanke earned a B.S. and MEPD from University of Wisconsion, La Crosse. He and his wife, Ruth, have four children.
Committee assignments
2011-2012
In the 2011-2012 legislative session, Kapanke served on these committees:
- Agriculture, Forestry, and Higher Education, Chair
- Energy, Biotechnology, and Consumer Protection, Vice Chair
- Financial Institutions and Rural Issues
- Joint Survey Committee on Retirement Systems, Co-Chair
- Workforce Development, Small Business, and Tourism, Vice Chair
2009-2010
In the 2009-2010 legislative session, Kapanke served on these committees:
- Agriculture and Higher Education Committee, Wisconsin Senate
- Public Health, Senior Issues, Long-Term Care, and Job Creation Committee, Wisconsin Senate
- Rural Issues, Biofuels, and Information Technology Committee, Wisconsin Senate
- Special Committee on Justice Reinvestment Initiative Oversight
Elections
2020
See also: Wisconsin State Senate elections, 2020
General election
General election for Wisconsin State Senate District 32
Brad Pfaff defeated Dan Kapanke in the general election for Wisconsin State Senate District 32 on November 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Brad Pfaff (D) | 50.3 | 48,877 |
 | Dan Kapanke (R) | 49.7 | 48,295 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.1 | 67 | ||
| Total votes: 97,239 | |||
 = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Wisconsin State Senate District 32
Brad Pfaff defeated Jayne Swiggum and Paul Weber in the Democratic primary for Wisconsin State Senate District 32 on August 11, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Brad Pfaff | 62.7 | 12,631 |
 | Jayne Swiggum | 32.6 | 6,558 | |
| Paul Weber | 4.6 | 934 | ||
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.1 | 11 | ||
| Total votes: 20,134 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
Republican primary election
Republican primary for Wisconsin State Senate District 32
Dan Kapanke advanced from the Republican primary for Wisconsin State Senate District 32 on August 11, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Dan Kapanke | 99.8 | 13,204 |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.2 | 27 | ||
| Total votes: 13,231 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Campaign finance
2016
- See also: Wisconsin State Senate elections, 2016
Elections for the Wisconsin State Senate took place in 2016. The primary election took place on August 9, 2016, and the general election was held on November 8, 2016. The candidate filing deadline was June 1, 2016.
Incumbent Jennifer Shilling defeated Dan Kapanke and Chip DeNure in the Wisconsin State Senate District 32 general election.[1][2]
| Wisconsin State Senate, District 32 General Election, 2016 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Democratic |  Jennifer Shilling Incumbent |
48.86% | 43,570 | |
| Republican | Dan Kapanke | 48.80% | 43,514 | |
| Integrity Party | Chip DeNure | 2.35% | 2,093 | |
| Total Votes | 89,177 | |||
| Source: Wisconsin Elections Commission | ||||
Incumbent Jennifer Shilling defeated Jared Landry in the Wisconsin State Senate District 32 Democratic primary.[3][4]
| Wisconsin State Senate, District 32 Democratic Primary, 2016 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | |
| Democratic | Jared Landry | |
| Democratic | Jennifer Shilling Incumbent | |
Dan Kapanke defeated John Sarnowski in the Wisconsin State Senate District 32 Republican primary.[3][4]
| Wisconsin State Senate, District 32 Republican Primary, 2016 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Republican | Dan Kapanke |
90.54% | 5,754 | |
| Republican | John Sarnowski | 9.46% | 601 | |
| Total Votes | 6,355 | |||
This candidate ran in one of Ballotpedia's races to watch in 2016. Read more »
2011 recall
Kapanke lost to Jennifer Shilling in a recall election held August 9.
Needing 15,588 to force a recall, petitioners submitted an estimated 30,000 signatures[5] to the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board on April 1, 2011.[6][7] The signatures submitted to recall Kapanke were the first set of signatures submitted in the overall recall battle.[8] On May 23, the GAB rejected most challenges to the petition, clearing the way for a recall election.[9]
Opponents
Democratic Assemblywoman Jennifer Shilling ran against Kapanke. Kapanke's attorneys filed papers in Dane County Court on May 31, seeking to stop the recall election.[10] The GAB officially certified the recall election on June 3. This set the stage for a July 12 election, but since multiple candidates filed, a primary was held July 12 with the recall election on August 9.[11]
At a meeting of the La Crosse County Republicans on May 25, a secret recording captured leaders considering running a spoiler candidate against Shilling in order to necessitate a primary and push back the recall election.[12] La Crosse County Republican Party Chair Bill Feehan said he met with an attorney and would file suit against the person who made the recording.[13]
On June 7, James Smith, a recent member of the La Crosse County Republican executive committee, announced he was running as a protest candidate in order to necessitate a Democratic primary between himself and Shilling in the 32nd District. He explained his candidacy - “I want to bring light on the issue that 22,000 signatures can pretty much overturn an election where even the loser got 40,000 votes.”[14]
| July 12 Democratic primary[15] | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidates | Votes | Percent | ||
Jennifer Shilling 
|
25,340 | 70.19% | ||
| James Smith | 10,664 | 29.54% | ||
| Scattering | 98 | 0.27% | ||
Kapanke lost to Shilling in the recall.
| August 9 Recall - District 32[16] | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidates | Votes | Percent | ||
| Jennifer Shilling (D)
|
33,193 | 55.38% | ||
| Dan Kapanke (R) | 26,724 | 44.58% | ||
| Scattering | 25 | .04% | ||
2008
On November 4, 2008, Dan Kapanke won re-election to the Wisconsin State Senate, District 32.[17]
Dan Kapanke raised $278,184 for his campaign, while Tara Johnson raised $265,933.[18]
| Wisconsin State Senate, District 32 (2008) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidates | Votes | |||
| Dan Kapanke (R)
|
45,454 | |||
| Tara Johnson (D) | 42,647 | |||
Campaign themes
2020
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Dan Kapanke did not complete Ballotpedia's 2020 Candidate Connection survey.
2016
Kapanke's campaign website highlighted the following issues:[19]
| “ |
|
” |
Campaign finance summary
Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Dan Kapanke Wisconsin Senate. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
2020 Elections
- Wisconsin State Senate
- Wisconsin State Senate District 32
- Wisconsin State Senate elections, 2016
- Wisconsin State Legislature
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Wisconsin Government Accountability Board, "Candidates on Ballot by Election - 2016 General Election - 11/8/2016," accessed November 4, 2016
- ↑ Wisconsin Elections Commission, "2016 Fall General Election Results," accessed December 2, 2016
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Wisconsin Government Accountability Board, "Candidate Tracking by Office," accessed June 20, 2016
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Wisconsin Elections and Ethics Commissions, "2016 Partisan Primary," accessed September 16, 2016
- ↑ Wisconsin Government Accountability Board, "Committee to Recall Kapanke," accessed June 9, 2011
- ↑ Washington Post, "Wisconsin recall drive already making history," April 4, 2011
- ↑ Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, "Kapanke recall campaign to deliver signatures Friday," April 1, 2011
- ↑ Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, "First recall campaign MAY have enough signatures," March 29, 2011
- ↑ FOX 11, "GAB clears way for 3 GOP recall elections," May 23, 2011
- ↑ Wisconsin State Journal, "Recall-targeted GOP senators challenge validity of petitions," June 1, 2011
- ↑ Wisconsin Government Accountability Board, "Recall of Senator Dan Kapanke Certificate of Sufficiency and Order," June 3, 2011
- ↑ La Crosse Tribune, "Secret tape: GOP considered spoiler candidate to challenge Shilling," June 1, 2011
- ↑ La Crosse Tribune, "County GOP to sue over secret tape," June 4, 2011
- ↑ La Crosse Tribune, “Former GOP officer to challenge Shilling as Democrat,” June 7, 2011
- ↑ Wisconsin Government Accountability Board, "July 12 Primary Results District 32," accessed August 11, 2011
- ↑ Wisconsin Government Accountability Board, "District 32 Recall Election Results," accessed August 19, 2011
- ↑ Wisconsin State Election Results, 2008
- ↑ Follow the Money, "2008 campaign contributions," accessed December 29, 2014
- ↑ Dan Kapanke for Senate, "Home," accessed September 21, 2016
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Brian Rude |
Wisconsin State Senate District 32 2004–August 9, 2011 |
Succeeded by Jennifer Shilling |
