Who’s Running in Your Neighborhood

No primaries are needed on Feb. 20 to whittle down the number of candidates running for local offices, but April 2 ballots will still have some contests. In other cases, no one officially filed nomination papers by the Jan. 2 deadline to run for office – including two seats on the Door County Board of Supervisors. 

Elections for local municipal offices will only be held this year for the County of Door; the City of Sturgeon Bay; the towns of Baileys Harbor, Egg Harbor, Gardner, Gibraltar, Liberty Grove, Nasewaupee, Sevastopol and Washington; and the villages of Egg Harbor, Ephraim, Forestville and Sister Bay.

There’s still time for write-in candidates to file to run (five days prior to the April 2 election). We’ll have more on that and the existing races and candidates in upcoming issues. 

COUNTY OF DOOR

All 21 seats are up for re-election. Three candidates aren’t running – Dan Austad, Alexis Heim Peter and David Lienau. Two have filed for Austad’s District 9 seat: Jonathan Kruse and Ryan Shaw – and one for Heim Peter’s District 10 seat: Philip R. Rockwell. No one has filed for Lienau’s District 19 seat, which covers parts of Baileys Harbor, Liberty Grove, Ephraim and Sister Bay.

All the rest of the incumbents are running, and only two of those have been challenged: Jacob VandenPlas is running against incumbent Roy Englebert for the District 3 seat (wards within the towns of Forestville, Clay Banks and Nasewaupee); and Wayne Denil has challenged incumbent Claire Morking for her District 7 seat (wards within the City of Sturgeon Bay). 

CITY OF STURGEON BAY

Three alderperson seats are up for re-election and there are races for two of those: Matthew Huston is challenging Dennis Statz for his District 2 seat, and Tom Benzshawel is running against incumbent Seth Wiederanders in District 6. District 4 incumbent Spencer Gustafson is running unchallenged for his seat.

TOWNS

Baileys Harbor – Three candidates have filed for two supervisor seats: Paul Kordon, and incumbents Susan Tishler and Terry McArdle.

Egg Harbor, town – Two candidates are running for two supervisor seats: Mark Graupman and Myles Dannhausen Sr., both incumbents.

Gardner – Two supervisor seats are up for re-election, and one of those has a race: Ted Anderson has challenged incumbent Kevin Fleischman for the Supervisor 3 seat; incumbent Glenn Dart is running unchallenged for his Supervisor 4 seat. 

Gibraltar – Two candidates are running for two supervisor seats: incumbents Jayson “Ward” Merkel and John Selenica.

Liberty Grove – Two candidates are running for two supervisor seats: Dan Watts and Billy Appel, both incumbents.

Nasewaupee – Two candidates have filed for two supervisor seats: Mark Hilsabeck and Tim Smith, both incumbents.

Sevastopol – Four candidates are running for two supervisor seats: Mark Haberli and Trent Olsen, and incumbents Derek Denil and Jeanne Vogel.

Washington – Three candidates are running for two supervisor seats: Peter Sownie and incumbents Loren Roznai and Lawrence Kahlscheuer. 

VILLAGES

•Egg Harbor – Two candidates are running for two trustee seats: Joe Megan, and incumbent Lisa Van Laanen. Incumbent Ken Mathys is not running for re-election.

•Ephraim – Two candidates are running for two trustee seats: Matthew Meacham and Tim Nelson, both incumbents.

•Forestville – Two candidates are running for two trustee seats: Raymond Litteral Jr. and incumbent Lora Jorgensen. Incumbent Shawn Henderson is not running for re-election. 

•Sister Bay – Four people are running for three trustee seats: Kurt Harff, Louise Howson, Eric Smith and incumbent Denise Bhirdo. Incumbents Don Cox and Sarah White are not running for re-election. 

SCHOOL BOARD RACES 

•Sturgeon Bay: Five candidates for four seats – Jeffrey Matson, Cathy Meyer and incumbents Angela Kruse, Wayne Spritka and Damion Howard. 

•Southern Door County School: Three candidates for two seats – Adam Schopf, Seth Wilson and incumbent Janel Veeser.

•Gibraltar: For three seats – Ryan Mueller and incumbents Drew Richmond and Erick Schrier. 

•Sevastopol: For three seats, incumbents Lisa Bieri, Sue Todey, Keith Volkmann are running.

Washington: For three seats, incumbents Michael Thielke, Michael Gillespie, Erika Sawosko.

–Craig Sterrett contributed to this report.