Judge Ben Jones for Circuit Court
Madison Circuit Court Judge Ben Jones.
Madison Circuit Court Judge Ben Jones was appointed by Evers in May 2025 to fill the vacancy that would be left by Judge Susan Crawford, who won election to the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Jones is being challenged in the April election.
It’s a little-noticed responsibility of Wisconsin governors: Fill vacancies that occur in five important offices in county government — circuit court judge, district attorney, sheriff, register of deeds and coroner.
In his seven years in office, Democratic Gov. Tony Evers made 140 of those appointments, according to press releases from the governor’s office and records kept by the Wisconsin Justice Initiative, which tracks judicial appointments made by governors.
The 140 Evers appointments broke down this way: 63 circuit court judges, 35 district attorneys, 20 registers of deeds, 15 sheriffs and seven county coroners. The appointees hold those jobs through the end of the terms of those they succeeded.
One reason for the 63 appointments was the addition of 12 new circuit court judgeships in 2020.
Evers also appointed six court of appeals judges, including Maxine White, who just announced her retirement. Evers first appointed her as Milwaukee County Circuit Court judge in 2020.
In a Capital Times story last year noting that he had appointed a majority of Dane County’s 17 judges, Evers acknowledged he makes sure women and minorities are represented. "Since Day One, an important priority for me as governor has been appointing a judiciary that reflects the communities they serve and working toward building a state where every person is treated with fairness, dignity and respect under the law,” Evers said in a statement to the Capital Times.
One example of that is Evers’ 13 appointments to Milwaukee County’s Circuit. Justice Initiative profiles show a majority of them were women or a minority, or both.
The Dane County judge most recently appointed by Evers, former state Department of Public Instruction general counsel Ben Jones, is being challenged in the April election by Huma Ahsan. Circuit court judges usually run unopposed.
Wisconsin has 257 circuit court judges, including 47 in Milwaukee County.
Evers did not appoint Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan, who was found guilty in December of a felony for helping someone scheduled to appear before her escape from federal Immigration and Custom Enforcement agents.
Dugan, whose lawyers say she will appeal the conviction, became a judge in 2016 — two years before Evers was elected. She announced her resignation on Jan. 3.
The process that fills judicial vacancies starts with aides to the governor issuing press releases that invite applications for a specific opening; the last one asked for applications to be a circuit court judge in Waupaca County on Dec. 18.
Although applicants for the Waupaca County judicial vacancy were given a Jan. 5 deadline to apply, the governor’s office often issues press releases extending those deadlines.
Interested candidates for the circuit court or court of appeals are required to complete a 16-page questionnaire, which is then reviewed by the Judicial Selection Advisory Committee. The governor’s chief legal counsel, Mel Barnes, and attorney Benjamin Wagner co-chair the committee, which reviews applications and interviews candidates.
The committee then recommends candidates to the governor, who makes the final decision.
Judicial candidates are asked to specify their education; work experience since they turned 18; areas of specialization; samples of published works; whether they have ever been dismissed by an employer and, if so, why; the subjects of past public appearances; and whether they have ever been professionally disciplined or the subject of a misconduct complaint.
They are also asked:
“Do you currently belong to, or have you ever belonged to, any organization that discriminates on the basis of gender identity, race, religion, sex, or sexual orientation…? If so, identify the organization, the dates in which you belonged to the organization, and what, if anything you did to change such requirements or policies.”
“List any position you’ve held in a judicial, nonpartisan, or partisan, political campaign (e.g. treasurer, campaign manager, volunteer).”
Candidates applying for vacant county jobs as coroner, register of deeds and sheriff must complete a separate questionnaire. Evers has appointed Milwaukee County Sheriff Denita Ball and Dane County Sheriff Kalvin Barrett, who are both Black.
Candidates for district attorney must complete a separate questionnaire, which asks about their past experience in courtrooms and with criminal law, their finances, whether they have endorsed or managed candidates, whether they have run for office, and where they have worked for the last 15 years. They are also asked to submit three references, including two from attorneys or judges.
Dale Knapp, director of research and analytics for the Wisconsin Counties Association, says an 1882 referendum authorized the governor to fill vacancies for the offices of district attorney, sheriff, coroner and register of deeds.
“Prior to the amendment, vacancies were filled in a special election,” Knapp adds. “This led to irregular and sometimes frequent elections if you had more than one official leave office at different times. The [amendment] eliminated this.”
Steven Walters started covering the Capitol in 1988. Contact him at stevenscotwalters@gmail.com.
