Wisconsin Attorney General election, 2014

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Wisconsin Attorney General Election

Primary Date: August 12, 2014

General Election Date: November 4, 2014

Race rating: Toss-up

November 4 Election Winner: Brad Schimel

Incumbent prior to election: J.B. Van Hollen

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The Wisconsin Attorney General election took place on November 4, 2014. Incumbent J.B. Van Hollen (R) was first elected in 2006 and, while eligible for re-election, did not file to run for a third term in 2014.

The race to replace Van Hollen started with a three-way Democratic primary in August, which yielded Susan Happ as the party's nominee. She faced Republican nominee Brad Schimel and Libertarian Party candidate Thomas Nelson. Schimel won a four-year term in the general election. Happ and Schimel discussed their priorities for the attorney general's office during an October 12 debate summarized in the debates section. This page also features election results for the previous three races for attorney general in the past elections section.

A primary election is an election in which registered voters select a candidate that they believe should be a political party's candidate for elected office to run in the general election. They are also used to choose convention delegates and party leaders. Primaries are state-level and local-level elections that take place prior to a general election. Wisconsin utilizes an open primary system; registered voters do not have to be members of a party to vote in that party's primary.

For information about which offices are nominated via primary election, see this article.

Candidates

General election

Susan Happ
Brad Schimel
Thomas Nelson

Did not file for election

J.B. Van Hollen - Incumbent

Lost in primary

Jon Richards
Ismael Ozanne

Declined

Chris Taylor

Results

General election

Attorney General of Wisconsin, 2014
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Brad Schimel	51.5%	1,211,388
	Democratic	Susan Happ	45.4%	1,066,866
	Libertarian	Thomas Nelson	3%	70,951
	Nonpartisan	Scattering	0%	1,120
Total Votes				2,350,325
Election results via Wisconsin Government Accountability Board

Primary election

Democratic election

Wisconsin Attorney General Democratic Primary, 2014
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Susan Happ	52.1%	144,727
Jon Richards	32.5%	90,215
Ismael Ozanne	15.4%	42,627
Total Votes		277,569
Election results via Wisconsin Government Accountability Board.

Republican primary

Brad Schimel won the Republican nomination without opposition.

Race background

Incumbent J.B. Van Hollen (R) did not run for a third term in 2014, leaving an open seat. Waukesha County District Attorney Brad Schimel was unopposed in the Republican primary. Schimel's Democratic opponent, Jefferson County District Attorney Susan Happ, defeated two challengers to win the nomination. A third candidate, Libertarian Thomas Nelson, also appeared on the November 4 general election ballot.

Polling in mid-September showed that the two major-party candidates were even, with Schimel at 39 percent and Happ at 38 percent. The candidates differed on issues such as how they would respond to the lawsuit challenging the 2006 voter-approved constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. Happ said that she would not defend the ban while Schimel said that he would defend any part of the Wisconsin Constitution.

Both campaigns accused their opponent of being soft on crime. Democrats accused Schimel of failing to secure longer sentences for sex offenders while Republicans claimed that Happ deferred prosecution of an alleged sex offender who had purchased a house from Happ until after he paid off his debt.

Campaign themes

The League of Women Voters of Dane County, Inc. sent questionnaires to all three candidates for Wisconsin Attorney General. Susan Happ and Thomas Nelson provided responses, while there was no reply from Brad Schimel. Here are the responses provided by Happ and Nelson prior to the general election:

Susan Happ

“	1. Please describe your priorities for your term in office and your specific qualifications to effectively address those issues. 1) Combating the heroin epidemic. I have aggressively prosecuted heroin dealers who put others at risk. On the Jefferson County Heroin Task Force, I educate parents, teachers & citizens about the dangers & availability of opiates. 2) Protecting children. We need more supportive services and funding for local law enforcement from DOJ to investigate cases of suspected child pornography & other internet crimes against children. 3) Increased funding for our State Crime Lab & Hygiene Lab. Prosecutors are waiting months for drug test results for drivers suspected of driving under the influence. 2. Please describe any specific administrative efficiencies that you believe the office should implement to improve case processing. We have seen recently that tips regarding child pornography and internet crimes against children have languished. These tips must be promptly processed and referred to local law enforcement for investigation and prosecution. 3. The Attorney General's office receives referrals for environmental protection prosecution from the Department of Natural Resources. What will you emphasize in handling these referrals? We must do everything that we can to ensure that our natural resources are preserved for generations to come. As AG, I would make sure that the Environmental Protection Unit works closely with the DNR to identify and aggressively prosecute any organization that puts the quality of our air and drinking water at risk.	”
—League of Women Voters of Dane County, Inc., (2014)

Thomas Nelson

“	1. Please describe your priorities for your term in office and your specific qualifications to effectively address those issues. There is a failure in government to enforce the laws against government insiders. This reaches the extreme case when even homicides are covered up and ignored such as the shooting death of Paul Heenan. I would investigate and, where appropriate, prosecute crimes committed by government insiders in the same way as crimes committed by other citizens. 2. Please describe any specific administrative efficiencies that you believe the office should implement to improve case processing. Attention should be paid to all criminal cases regardless of who the suspect is. 3. The Attorney General's office receives referrals for environmental protection prosecution from the Department of Natural Resources. What will you emphasize in handling these referrals? These should be investigated and prosecuted in the same manner as other suspected crimes. Politics should not lean the enforcement of the law toward certain crimes while being lax on others. Enforcement should be even and uniform.	”
—League of Women Voters of Dane County, Inc., (2014)

Debates

October 12 debate

Schimel and Happ discussed how they would approach the duties of the attorney general's office during a debate sponsored by Marquette University. The candidates were asked how they would defend laws like voter ID requirements and a same-sex marriage ban. Schimel argued that he would defend state law because the attorney general does not pick which laws to enforce based on personal politics. Happ responded by saying that the attorney general is not a "robot," and should not blindly follow state laws that are unconstitutional or run afoul of other principles.

Schimel and Happ found consensus in their skepticism that larger penalties for first drunk-driving offenses would curb such offenses. The candidates also agreed that the attorney general's office should be more proactive with treatment programs that could reduce the population of state prisons. Schimel did not have a definitive answer to whether he would defend a state law barring coordination between candidates and outside groups. The issue emerged as prosecutors investigated whether Gov. Scott Walker's (R) campaign coordinated with conservative groups during an effort to recall him in 2012. Happ responded to accusations by Schimel supporters that she was lenient in a child-molestation case in 2012 because the accused purchased her house. The Democratic candidate noted that she recused herself from the case.

Polls

Wisconsin Attorney General, General election
Poll	Brad Schimel (R)	Susan Happ (D)	Other/Undecided	Margin of error	Sample size
Marquette University Law School October 23-26, 2014	43%	39%	14%	+/-2.7	1,409
WPR/St. Norbert College October 19-21, 2014	41%	40%	19%	+/-4	603
Marquette University Law School October 9-12, 2014	42%	42%	16%	+/-3.2	1,004
Marquette University Law School September 11-12, 2014	39%	38%	20%	+/-3.5	800
AVERAGES	41.25%	39.75%	17.25%	+/-3.35	954
Note: The polls above may not reflect all polls that have been conducted in this race. Those displayed are a random sampling chosen by Ballotpedia staff. If you would like to nominate another poll for inclusion in the table, send an email to editor@ballotpedia.org.

Campaign media

Susan Happ

Susan Happ ad: Harley Redux

Susan Happ ad: Happ for Attorney General

Brad Schimel

Brad Schimel ad: Law Enforcement's Choice

Outside organizations

Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce

WMC ad: Prosecutor Brad Schimel Fights Heroin

Wisconsin Republican Party

Wisconsin GOP ad: Susan Happ: Conflict of Interest

Campaign finance

Comprehensive donor information for this election has been collected by Follow the Money. Based on available campaign finance records, the candidates raised a total of $2,862,444 during the election. This information was last updated on January 20, 2015.

Campaign Contribution Totals
Candidate	Office	Result	Contributions
Brad Schimel	Wisconsin Attorney General		$1,384,444
Susan Happ	Wisconsin Attorney General		$1,009,804
Jon Richards	Wisconsin Attorney General		$325,411
Ismael Ozanne	Wisconsin Attorney General		$142,785
Thomas Nelson	Wisconsin Attorney General		$0
Grand Total Raised			$2,862,444

Past elections

2010

Attorney General of Wisconsin, 2010
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	J.B. Van Hollen Incumbent	57.8%	1,220,791
	Democratic	Scott Hassett	42.1%	890,080
	-	Scattering	0.1%	1,614
Total Votes				2,112,485
Election results via Wisconsin Government Accountability Board

2006

On November 7, 2006, J.B. Van Hollen won election to the office of Attorney General of Wisconsin. He defeated Kathleen Falk (D) in the general election.

Attorney General of Wisconsin, 2006
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	J.B. Van Hollen	50.2%	1,065,453
	Democratic	Kathleen Falk	49.7%	1,056,594
	-	Scattering	0.1%	2,420
Total Votes				2,124,467
Election results via Wisconsin Government Accountability Board.

2002

On November 5, 2002, Peg Lautenschlager won re-election to the office of Attorney General of Wisconsin. She defeated Vince Biskupic (R) in the general election.

Attorney General of Wisconsin, 2002
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Peg Lautenschlager Incumbent	51.6%	882,945
	Republican	Vince Biskupic	48.3%	826,862
	-	Scattering	0.1%	1,488
Total Votes				1,711,295
Election results via Wisconsin Government Accountability Board.

Key deadlines

Deadline	Event
June 2, 2014	Filing deadline
August 12, 2014	Primary election
November 4, 2014	General election
December 1, 2014	Certification of results
January 5, 2015	State executives inaugurated

Recent news

This section links to a Google news search for the term "Wisconsin + Attorney + General + elections"

Wisconsin Attorney General Election News Feed

See also

• Wisconsin Attorney General
• Wisconsin state executive official elections, 2014
• State executive official elections, 2014
• State executive debates, 2014
• Preview of 2014's most competitive down ballot state executive races

External links

Suggest a link

• Office of the Attorney General of Wisconsin