Damakant Jayshi

A final list of candidates is now available for seats on the Marathon County Board of Supervisors, Wausau City Council and Wausau School Board in advance of the spring election this April.

The Marathon County Executive Committee will not fill a vacancy in Dist. 12, citing both limited time and redistricting in their decision on Thursday. That district, as per recent redistricting, will now be Dist. 13 and was previously represented by Anrold Schlei, who died in October.

Chair of the Executive Committee and Board of Supervisors Kurt Gibbs asked the committee to make a decision and said he would nominate a candidate if the district drew just one contender in the spring election. But two people, James Juedes and Mike Ritter, are seeking the seat. The board could have chosen to hold a special election, but Gibbs said there wouldn’t be enough time to do so.

“I leave it to this committee to make a decision as to whether we leave that seat open and allow the voters to select that representative for that district or do we go through the process right now,” Gibbs said.

The seat will now remain open until the conclusion of the April election.

Meanwhile, with the filing of additional candidacy papers for Dist. 2 and 24, the race is set for the 38-member Marathon County Board of Supervisors. 

The filing deadline for two seats on the Marathon County Board of Supervisors for the Spring 2022 election was extended until Friday, Jan. 7 since the incumbents, Jenifer Bizzotto (Dist. 2) and Brent Jacobson (Dist. 24, as per the redistricting) filed neither the notice of noncandidacy nor a declaration of candidacy by their respective deadlines, Dec. 24 and Jan. 4.

With the removal of one candidate’s name – for Dist. 22 – due to incomplete paperwork, now 19 of the 38 seats will be contested.

Primaries, scheduled for Feb. 15, will be required in two Wausau City Council Districts. In Dist. 1, Pat Peckham will not seek re-election, while three new candidates have emerged. In Dist. 4, Tom Neal will also step away. In that district, four candidates are running for the seat. Six of 11 seats are contested.

In the Wausau School Board race, five candidates are vying for three seats. A primary won’t be necessary.

Wausau Pilot & Review will publish comprehensive interviews with candidates in contested races closer to the election. Information on races in surrounding communities will be published in a separate story next week.

Here are the complete lists for candidates. Unless there is a write-in campaign, those without challengers for the county and city seats will be elected unopposed.

Wausau City Council:

Dist. 1 (open seat, requires primary)

  • Carol Lukens
  • John Kroll
  • William Bublitz

Dist. 2

Michael J. Martens (incumbent)

Dist. 3

  • Tom Kilian (incumbent)
  • Jo Ann Egelkrout

Dist. 4 (open seat, requires primary)

  • Doug Diny
  • Jesse Kearns
  • Vada A. Perkins
  • Kathryne Tracey

Dist. 5

  • Jim Wadinski (incumbent)
  • Gary Gisselman (also running for County Board of Supervisors Dist. 5)

Dist. 6

Rebecca McElhaney (incumbent)

Dist. 7

Lisa Rasmussen (incumbent)

Dist. 8

  • Sarah Watson (incumbent)
  • Thomas ‘Tony’ Brown

Dist. 9

Dawn Herbst (incumbent)

Dist. 10

Lou Larson (incumbent)

Dist. 11

  • Debra Ryan (incumbent)
  • Chad Henke

The order of names in this story appears as per a spreadsheet provided by City Deputy Clerk Mary Goede.

Wausau School Board of Education

The order of names appears as per the list on the WSD Board of Education webpage. Deputy Clerk Cassie Peck said lots were drawn to determine the order of names on the ballots. The top three vote-getters will sit on the WSD Board.

  • James P. Bouché (incumbent)
  • Kayley McColley
  • Jon Creisher (incumbent)
  • Joanna Reyes
  • Jane Rusch (incumbent)

Marathon County Board of Supervisors

The list is from the County Clerk’s web page, which reflects new redistricting. It includes candidates for Dist. 2 and 24 for which the deadline had been extended until Jan. 7.

Dist. 1

  • Michelle Van Krey (incumbent)
  • Christopher Wood

Dist. 2

  • Destiny Goretski
  • Ann Lemmer

(Incumbent Jenifer Bizzotto filed neither noncandidacy nor declaration of candidacy by respective deadlines of Dec. 24 and Jan. 4.)

Dist. 3

  • Kody Hart

Dist. 4

  • John Robinson (incumbent)

Dist. 5

  • Gary Gisselman (has also filed for City Council Dist. 5)
  • Cody Nikolai

Dist. 6

  • Jeff Johnson (incumbent)
  • Stacey Morache

Dist. 7

  • Becky Buch (incumbent)
  • Alex Eichten

Dist. 8

  • Kim Ungerer
  • Veronica Hope

Dist. 9

  • Johnny Fortenberry
  • David Oberbeck (incumbent)

Dist. 10

  • Donna Krause (incumbent)

Dist. 11

  • Alyson Leahy (incumbent)
  • Randy DeBroux

Dist. 12

  • Matt Bootz (incumbent; currently represents Dist. 13)

Dist. 13

  • James R. Juedes
  • Mike Ritter

Dist. 14

  • Rick Seefeldt (incumbent)

Dist. 15

  • Randy Fifrick (incumbent)
  • Joel Straub

Dist. 16

  • Tony Sherfinski
  • Bill Conway (incumbent)

Dist. 17

  • Jennifer Aarrestad (incumbent)
  • Cheryl Martino

Dist. 18

  • Craig McEwen (incumbent)

Dist. 19

  • Yee Leng Xiong (incumbent)

Dist. 20

  • Gayle Marshall

Dist. 21

  • Thomas N. Rosenberg (incumbent)
  • Dave Dailey

Dist. 22

  • Jasper Hartinger

(One candidate’s name has been removed from this district. Per County Clerk’s election page, names of those candidates who have filed declaration of candidacy but did not return nomination papers would be removed.)

Dist. 23

  • Chris Voll (incumbent)
  • David Baker

Dist. 24

  • Peter Hansen

(Incumbent Brent Jacobson filed neither noncandidacy nor declaration of candidacy by respective deadlines of Dec. 24 and Jan. 4.)

Dist. 25

  • Sandi Cihlar (incumbent)
  • Timothy M. Sondelski

Dist. 26

  • Jean Maszk (incumbent; currently represents Dist. 24)

Dist. 27

  • Thomas Seubert (incumbent)

Dist. 28

  • Dennis Gonnering (incumbent)

Dist. 29

  • Chris Dickinson (incumbent)

Dist. 30

  • Richard Gumz (incumbent)
  • Andrew Venzke

Dist. 31

  • Allen Drabek (incumbent)

Dist. 32

  • Kurt Gibbs (incumbent)

Dist. 33

  • Tim Buttke (incumbent)
  • Ron Covelli

Dist. 34

  • Gary Beastrom (incumbent)
  • Jason Wilhelm

Dist. 35

  • Jacob E. Langenhahn (incumbent)

Dist. 36

  • Bruce Lamont (incumbent)

Dist. 37

  • Allen Opall (incumbent)

Dist. 38

  • Jonathan Fisher (incumbent)
  • Bobby Niemeyer

Incumbent supervisors William Harris (Dist. 3), Ka Lo (dist. 5), Kelley Gabor (Dist. 8), Sara Guild (Dist. 20) and Alan Christensen (Dis. 22) are not seeking reelection.

For City Council polling places and maps, click here. For information on the polling place for Marathon County seats, including maps, click here. For more details, click here.