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Tiffany takes GOP primary for Duffy seat

Columbia Basin Herald | UPDATED 4 years, 11 months AGO
| February 19, 2020 12:05 AM

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Latest on Tuesday's primary election in Wisconsin (all times local):

9:35 p.m.

State Sen. Tom Tiffany has won a Republican primary in the race to replace U.S. Rep. Sean Duffy in northern Wisconsin's 7th Congressional District.

Tiffany defeated retired Army Capt. Jason Church in Tuesday's primary. He advances to a May 12 special election to represent the heavily conservative district for the remainder of this year.

Tiffany will face Democrat Tricia Zunker, president of the Wausau school board, in the special election. She easily won Tuesday's primary over challenger Lawrence Dale.

Both Tiffany and Church campaigned as ardent supporters of President Donald Trump. He carried the district by 20 points in 2016.

Tiffany argued that his deep ties in the district and his experience in the Legislature the past decade voting for a variety of conservative priorities made him the better choice. Church lost both of his legs to a bomb while serving in Afghanistan and was seeking office for the first time.

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9:14 p.m.

Wausau School Board President Tricia Zunker has won the Democratic primary in the race to replace U.S. Rep. Sean Duffy in northern Wisconsin's 7th Congressional District.

Zunker is a justice on the Ho-Chunk Nation Supreme Court. She is trying to become the first Native American elected to Congress from Wisconsin. Zunker defeated Lawrence Dale, who showed few signs of active campaigning.

Zunker advances to face the winner of the Republican primary in the May 12 special election. The winner will represent the heavily conservative district for the remainder of this year. They will have to run again in November to serve a full two-year term.

President Donald Trump carried the district by 20 points in 2016.

Duffy, an ardent Trump supporter, resigned in September to spend more time with his family.

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8:50 p.m.

Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Dan Kelly and Dane County Circuit Judge Jill Karofsky have advanced to an April race for a 10-year term on the high court.

Both Kelly and Karofsky ran well ahead of Marquette law professor Ed Fallone in Tuesday's primary. The top two vote-getters were to face off April 7.

Then-Republican Gov. Scott Walker appointed Kelly to the bench in 2016 to replace the retiring David Prosser. The race is officially nonpartisan, but conservatives rallied behind Kelly and liberals backed both Karofsky and Fallone.

Kelly raised nearly $1 million in campaign contributions, easily eclipsing Karofsky's and Fallone’s fundraising. He campaigned on the promise of interpreting the Wisconsin and U.S. constitutions strictly as they’re written.

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8 p.m.

Polls have closed across Wisconsin and election officials are starting to count the votes in primary contests for the state Supreme Court and northern Wisconsin's 7th Congressional District.

Conservative Justice Dan Kelly and liberal challengers Jill Karofsky and Ed Fallone are vying for two slots on the general election ballot for the high court.

Republicans Jason Church and Tom Tiffany are battling for the right to appear on a special election ballot to fill former U.S. Rep. Sean Duffy's seat representing the 7th District. Duffy resigned in September to spend more time with his family. Tricia Zunker and Lawrence Dale are vying for the Democratic nomination.

Tuesday's primary winners will have little time to savor their victories. The Supreme Court general election is April 7 — the same date as Wisconsin’s presidential primary — while the 7th District's special election is May 12. The Supreme Court winner will get a 10-year term but the 7th District winner must run again for the seat in November.

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2:55 p.m.

A website voters in Wisconsin can use to find out where to vote appears back in business after not working earlier during Tuesday's primary election.

The Wisconsin Elections Commission on Tuesday morning directed voters to use a backup website, www.gettothepolls.com, while they tried to fix the MyVote Wisconsin site.

The site appeared to be working by 3 p.m. Tuesday afternoon.

The commission said that it provides official polling place data to the backup website, which is run by the Voting Information Project. That's a partnership between states and Democracy Works. The commission said having that as a backup is part of its contingency plan for a failure in the MyVote website.

Tuesday's primary included a three-way statewide race for Wisconsin Supreme Court and contests on both the Republican and Democratic side for an open 7th Congressional District seat in northern Wisconsin. There are also numerous local elections.

The two top vote-getters in the Supreme Court race will square off in the April 7 general election. Winners in the congressional race to replace retired Republican U.S. Rep. Sean Duffy will face one another in a May 12 special election.

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11:10 a..m.

A website voters in Wisconsin can use to find out where to vote crashed during Tuesday's primary election.

The Wisconsin Elections Commission directed voters to use a backup website, www.gettothepolls.com, while they tried to fix the MyVote Wisconsin site.

The commission said that it provides official polling place data to the backup website, which is run by the Voting Information Project. That is a partnership between states and Democracy Works. The commission said having that as a backup is part of its contingency plan for a failure in the MyVote website.

Tuesday's primary included a three-way statewide race for Wisconsin Supreme Court and contests on both the Republican and Democratic side for an open 7th Congressional District seat in northern Wisconsin. There are also numerous local elections. The two top vote-getters in the Supreme Court race will square off in the April 7 general election. Winners in the congressional race to replace retired Republican U.S. Rep. Sean Duffy will face one another in a May 12 special election.

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