Patrick Miles (left) and Jeff Weigand.
Miles, left, and Weigand were two of only a handful of incumbent Dane County supervisors who faced challengers this spring.
The chair of the Dane County Board as well as its lone conservative beat back strong challenges Tuesday night to hold on to their seats.
Board chair Patrick Miles defeated Ed Wreh 55% to 45% in the most expensive race of the cycle, and Jeff Weigand defeated Andrea Andrews 53% to 47% in a race where county Democrats sent out volunteers to canvass against Weigand. That was as close as it got to a close call for board incumbents.
“As much as we as candidates often dread having a contested race, it is a healthy thing in the end,” Miles tells Isthmus. “It’s good for voters, for us as candidates.”
Whoever is elected board chair at the April 16 organizational meeting of the county board will temporarily take over the duties of county executive for Joe Parisi when he retires May 3. That chair will soon after appoint an interim executive, which the county board must approve. In November, a special election will be held for county executive.
Miles says that if he is reelected chair, he would not appoint an interim executive who is a candidate for the November race “and most likely I would not appoint someone who has endorsed one of those candidates either.” He says he would also not appoint a current supervisor to the post, who would have to vacate their seat if appointed.
Miles said he would want to choose someone with experience in the county budgeting process. He tells Isthmus the full board is likely to vote on an interim executive at its May 23 meeting.
Four candidates have so far declared for the county executive race in November: state Sen. Melissa Agard, who Parisi has endorsed; Supv. Dana Pellebon, who did not run for reelection; Madison Ald. Regina Vidaver; and Wes Sparkman, the director of the Dane County Grigsby Office for Equity & Inclusion.
The race between Miles and Wreh, who was endorsed by former Dane County Sheriff Dave Mahoney and several current and departing board supervisors, was one of only 10 contested races for 37 Dane County board seats. The lack of competitive local contests in much of the county, presidential primaries where both parties’ nominations had already been clinched, and a spring snowstorm contributed to a lower turnout — about 35% of registered voters.
In three districts, two would-be newcomers to the board faced off with no incumbent in the race. David Peterson defeated Loreen Gage by just six votes for Cottage Grove’s open board seat. The two had been separated by only one vote in the primary. Peterson would replace Melissa Ratcliff.
Tommy Rylander defeated Sean Burke with 60% of the vote for the open board seat representing an area of Madison surrounding the Dane County Regional Airport. Rylander will replace Larry Palm.
David Boetcher won 62% of the vote and defeated Mark Foster for Waunakee’s open board seat, which was held by Tim Kiefer.
Incumbents facing challengers went undefeated in county board races. In addition to Miles and Weigand, Michele Doolan defeated Bill Brosius with 58% of the vote, improving her margin of victory from their 2022 matchup.
Incumbent Matt Veldran defeated challenger Richard Brown 61% to 39%; incumbent Steven Peters beat John Wollaeger 68% to 31%; incumbent Jay Brower defeated Travis Austin 63% to 36%; and incumbent Maureen McCarville beat Rebecca Witherspoon 56% to 44%.
Incumbent winners of uncontested races included: Elizabeth Doyle, Heidi Wegleitner, Analiese Eicher, Yogesh Chawla, Cecely Castillo, Jeffrey Glazer, Aaron Collins, Richelle Andrae, Anthony Gray, April Kigeya, Rick Rose, Michele Ritt, Brenda Yang, Chuck Erickson, Sarah Smith, Kierstin Huelsemann, Patrick Downing, Jerry Bollig, Chad Kemp and Michael Engelberger.
Newcomers who won their race without an opponent were: Henry Fries, Dan Blazewicz, Jeffrey Kroning, Lisa Jackson, Don Postler, Randy Udell and Kerry Marren.
“The new members coming on, it’s a good crew,” says Miles. “You have a good mix of perspectives.”
