Of 29 La Crosse County board members, only five face challengers in spring election

There will be a couple primary races to bring voters out in La Crosse County in February.

A three-way state Supreme Court contest features two county judges and a Madison attorney, all hoping to succeed the retiring Justice Michael Gableman.

Also, two Democrats are running for La Crosse County treasurer. Amy Twitchell and Chad Hawkins both hope to be the Democratic nominee in April against Republican Pamela Hollnagel.

The winner of the special spring election will serve as treasurer until the end of 2020.

There could be anywhere from one to six new La Crosse County board members after the April election.

More than half of the people now on the La Crosse City Council were newly elected just last year.

Don’t expect to see a similar turnover on the La Crosse County Board, though. Wednesday was the filing deadline for the spring races.

Of the 29 supervisors, 23 are running unopposed in the April county election. And, just one board member, Kathie Tyser, chose not to run again.

Karen Keil-Arellano is the only candidate to seek Tyser’s seat in the Medary area.

Only five board members have challengers, and there aren’t enough candidates for a February primary in any county district. Monica Kruse, Ray Ebert, and Laurence Berg are among the handful of board members facing challengers. La Crosse city council member Gary Padesky failed to qualify against county incumbent Sharon Hampson.

A Democratic primary is scheduled for county treasurer between long-time county employee Amy Twitchell and Campbell town clerk Chad Hawkins.