Kloppenburg Retakes Lead In Wisconsin (For Now)

JoAnne Kloppenburg, candidate for the Wisconsin Supreme Court
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Earlier Thursday afternoon, it was reported that incumbent Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice David Prosser had taken a super-narrow lead in the state’s hotly contested Supreme Court race, after error corrections in two counties put him ahead of liberal-backed challenger JoAnne Kloppenburg. But now some more changes to the spreadsheets put Kloppenburg back in front – and don’t be surprised if things change back.

On Wednesday, Kloppenburg declared victory. With 100% of precincts reported in the Associated Press, Kloppenburg had a lead of 204 votes against the once-safe conservative incumbent — fueled in great measure by liberal mobilization against Republican Gov. Scott Walker’s anti-public employee union legislation.

Then Prosser gained a net 244 votes in Winnebago County, and 200 more from a partial re-canvass in the GOP stronghold of Waukesha County, for a lead of 240 votes.a

But as mentioned above, yet more counties are showing gains for Kloppenburg. And even here, we have only a very partial picture, that is certain to change.

TPM has confirmed with the respective clerk’s offices that Kloppenburg has netted +30 in Iowa County, +91 in Portage County, and +64 in Shawano County — and that Prosser had 113 votes subtracted in Winnebago County. In addition, WisPolitics reports that Kloppenburg has netted +12 in Door County, and Prosser has lost 31 votes in Rusk County. And the Vernon County Broadcaster reports that Kloppenburg has netted +24 there.

Add all this together, and Kloppenburg now leads by 125 votes — pending, of course, any other vote changes that are yet to come in.

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