1947 Wisconsin Supreme Court election
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The 1947 Wisconsin Supreme Court election was held on Tuesday, April 1, 1947, to elect a justice to the Wisconsin Supreme Court for a ten-year term. Henry P. Hughes defeated incumbent justice James Ward Rector (who had been appointed after the death on the bench of Joseph Martin). This was the first instance in nearly three decades in which an incumbent justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court lost an election for their seat on the court.
After the death of Joseph Martin, James Ward Rector was appointed justice in 1946. Prior to this appointment, Rector who had been working in an administrative role in the state government as deputy state attorney general[1][2]
Campaign
Rector was challenged by Henry P. Hughes,[3] a circuit court judge[4] who had unsuccessfully run the previous year for a different seat on the state's supreme court (having launched a strong challenge to Edward T. Fairchild).[5] Hughes was a well-known trial judge. He was regarded to have been the better campaigner of the two candidates.[6] A Green Bay Press-Gazette writer would recount eleven years later, "[Hughes] had a good campaign organization. He stumped actively and effectively."[3] Hughes and his allies argued that Rector had had insufficient trial court experience to warrant holding a seat on the state's high court.[2]
Hughes and Rector both received endorsements from prominent state Republicans: Rector was endorsed by Governor Walter Samuel Goodland[7] (who died a month before the election), and Hughes was endorsed by recently elected U.S. senator Joseph McCarthy.[8]
Result
Hughes won 61% of the vote.[5] Historically, Wisconsin voters had voted to return incumbent supreme court justices who lacked any controversial record. Rector's defeat (as well as the defeat of Emmert L. Wingert eleven years later in 1958) were seen as eroding this "tradition".[3][2] Since then, three further Wisconsin Supreme Court elections have resulted in the unseating of incumbent justices: 1967, 2008, and 2020.[9]
Hughes defeated Rector in all but four of the state's counties. Rector only carried Columbia, Sauk, and his home county of Dane (winning Columbia and Sauk only by slim margins). Hughes carried his home county of Winnebago by a five-to-one margin. Hughes also received substantial leads in nearby Manitowoc, Milwaukee, Outagamie, and Sheboygan counties. Hughes also received strong results in Kenosha, Marathon, Racine –performing particularly strong in the rural areas of those counties.[10]
Hughes' win was seen as so impressive, that there was near-immediate speculation that he might be a strong candidate to challenge incumbent U.S. senator Alexander Wiley when he would be up for re-election in 1950.[8]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| General Election, April 1, 1947 | |||||
| Nonpartisan | Henry P. Hughes | 381,217 | 51.23 | ||
| Nonpartisan | James Ward Rector (incumbent) | 245,871 | 39.21 | ||
| Plurality | 135,346 | 21.58 | |||
| Total votes | 627,088 | 100 | |||
References
- ↑ "Justice James Ward Rector, Wisconsin Supreme Court". Archived from the original on June 9, 2010. Retrieved April 3, 2011.
- 1 2 3 "Hughes Knocks Rector of Court Bench". Portage Daily Register. United Press. April 2, 1947. Retrieved March 30, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
- 1 2 3 Wyngaard, John (April 2, 1958). "Wingert Defeat Stirs Thoughts on Tradition". Green Bay Press-Gazette. Retrieved March 30, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
- ↑ "Judge Hughes Gets Beglinger's Post". The Capital Times. December 3, 1937. p. 5. Retrieved August 11, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- 1 2 3 Ohm, Howard F.; Kuehn, Hazel L., eds. (1948). "Parties and Elections". The Wisconsin Blue Book 1948 (Report). Wisconsin Legislative Reference Library. pp. 689, 690. Retrieved August 11, 2023.
- ↑ Wyngaard, John (April 4, 1947). "The New Supreme Justice". Appleton Post-Crescent. Retrieved March 30, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
- ↑ "Retain Justice James Ward Rector on Supreme Court Rector for Justice Club (advertisement)". The Waukesha County Freeman. March 31, 1947. p. 8. Retrieved March 30, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
- 1 2 McMillen, Miles (April 20, 1947). "The Wisconsin Political Scene". Retrieved March 30, 2025 – via Newspapers.com.
- ↑ Marley, Patrick (April 13, 2020). "Liberal judge Jill Karofsky Defeats Conservative Justice Daniel Kelly in Closely Watched Wisconsin Supreme Court Race". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Retrieved April 4, 2025.
- ↑ "Hughes Beats Judge Rector". Marshfield News-Herald. April 2, 1947. p. 1. Retrieved August 11, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
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