(This story was updated to add new information.)
A number of new faces will be on the next Door County Board of Supervisors, incumbents in other local government races fared well and a school spending referendum was handily defeated in the April 7 spring election in Door County.
Here are the results from contested races, which are unofficial until they are canvassed.
Door County Board (two-year terms)
Six of 21 County Board seats had contested races and five of them were won by newcomers to the board, with three of the four incumbent supervisors seeking reelection defeated.
Newly elected supervisors who beat incumbents were Alexis Heim Peter over Phillip R. Rockwell in District 10, Theresa Cain-Bieri over David M. Enigl in District 16 and Dave Smith over Bob Bultman in District 17.
Other new board members are in District 3, where Jason Tlachac defeated Jan Guilette to take the seat of the late longtime Supervisor Roy Englebert, and District 21, where Nancy Barnowsky Goss edged Joe Rogers by three votes to replace outgoing Supervisor Joel Gunnlaugsson.
Retaining his seat in a contested race is District 9 Supervisor Ryan Shaw, who defeated Amy Austad Labott.
Also, a sixth new face will be in the board representing District 11, where Helen Bacon was unopposed in a race to replace retiring Sup. Morgan Rusnak.
No registered candidate was on the ballot for the vacant board seat in District 19, which also had no candidate in the 2024 election. Sixty write-in votes were cast for the seat, with results not available as of 10 p.m. election night.
District 3: Jason Tlachac 326, Jan Guilette 254.
District 9: Ryan Shaw (I) 249, Amy Austad Labott 201.
District 10: Alexis Heim Peter 257, Phillip R. Rockwell (I) 166.
District 16: Theresa Cain-Bieri 452, David M. Enigl (I) 149.
District 17: Dave Smith 326, Bob Bultman (I) 311.
District 21: Nancy Barnowsky Goss 298, Joe Rogers 295.
School boards (three-year terms)
Incumbents Allison Haus and Damion Howard retained their seats on the Sturgeon Bay School Board and will be joined by retired Sturgeon Bay High School math teacher Cliff Wind as the top three vote-getters in the four-way race over Jeffrey Matson.
Southern Door School Board president Kim Starr retained his seat and was the only registered candidate with three seats up for election. More than 2,500 write-in votes were cast, with Joseph Finger, Kayla Schopf, Luke Spude and Kristin Tassoul registered as write-in candidates. Write-in results were not available as of 10 p.m. election night.
Sturgeon Bay (top three): Allison Haus (I) 1,660, Cliff Wind 1,550, Damion Howard (I) 1,327, Jeffrey Matson 1,249.
Southern Door school referendum
Southern Door County School District voters shot down a referendum question asking to allow the district to exceed its state-set revenue limits by $3.15 million a year for the 2026-27, 2027-28 and 2028-29 school years. The vote was 2,031 voting “no” to 1,603 “yes,” a 56% to 44% margin.
Had the referendum passed, the additional revenue would have fund operational expenses specifically in the areas of teacher and staff compensation, safety and security measures, maintenance of school facilities and daily operations, and continuing educational programs and services.
Southern Door currently is working under an operational referendum passed in November 2022 that allows the district to exceed its revenue limit by $975,000 per year for three years to maintain programs and services. It expires this June at the end of the 2025-26 school year.
An information page on the district website said if the referendum didn’t pass, the district will recommend $1.67 million worth of cuts for the 2026-27 year in employees, compensation (including insurance plan changes), programs, and classroom and student resources.
City of Sturgeon Bay (two-year terms)
The incumbent alderpersons in the two contested races for Sturgeon Bay City Council retained their seats with Ald. Spencer Gustafson beating Joshua Julian in District 4, and Ald. Seth Wiederanders edging Susan Hilsabeck in District 6.
District 4: Spencer Gustafson (I) 335, Joshua Julian 92.
District 6: Seth Wiederanders (I) 153, Susan Hilsabeck 144.
Town boards (two-year terms)
Incumbents in the four contested town board races in Door County retained their seats, although two of those boards will have new faces as well.
In the Town of Sevastopol, Supervisor Jeanne Vogel and Stacie Leist Denil held off Keith (Buck) Felhofer and Kimberly Denil for two available seats. Liberty Grove saw Sylvann Welcome and Supervisor Dan Watts win the two available board seats over Rick Kingsbury and William David Sherman. Town of Washington voters reelected Supervisors Brian Mann and Rich Ellefson for its two available board seats over Lee Baxter. In Gardner, Supervisor 4 Glenn Dart retained his seat against Bryan Ford.
Sevastopol (top two): Jeanne Vogel (I) 555, Stacie Leist Denil 541, Keith (Buck) Felhofer 488, Kimberly Denil 259.
Liberty Grove (top two): Sylvann Welcome 417, Dan Watts (I) 381, Rick Kingsbury 308, William David Sherman 253.
Washington (top two): Rich Ellefson (I) 278, Brian Mann (I), 260, Lee Baxter 66.
Gardner Supervisor 4: Glenn Dart (I) 318, Bryan Ford 254.
Wisconsin Supreme Court (10-year term)
Both Door County and the state voted for Judge Chris Taylor to become the next justice on the Wisconsin Supreme Court by a handy margin.
Taylor, a Madison-based 4th District Court of Appeals judge since 2023, held a roughly 60% to 40% edge over Maria Lazar, a 2nd District Court of Appeals in Waukesha since 2022, with 95% of the statewide vote counted. Lazar conceded the race.
Taylor will replace Justice Rebecca Bradley, who did not seek reelection. With Taylor considered to be ideologically liberal and Bradley considered on the conservative side, as is Lazar, Taylor’s win increases the court’s liberal-leaning margin to 5-2.
In Door County, Taylor won 7,077 votes, 60.4% of those cast, to 4,643 for Lazar.
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Door County, here’s how you voted in the April 2026 election
Reporting by Christopher Clough, Green Bay Press-Gazette / Green Bay Press-Gazette
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