Port incumbents carry the day in city, town

Incumbents in the city and town of Port Washington were re-elected to their seats in races largely defined by a proposed data center campus that is expected to be built on land currently in the town that would be annexed to the city.

In the City of Port, Ald. Mike Gasper garnered 397 votes, or 61%, to newcomer Billy Schwalbe’s 240 votes, or 37%, to handily win re-election to his seat representing the city’s 3rd District, according to unofficial results from the Ozaukee County Clerk’s Office.

Turnout in the city was 68.6%.

Gasper said he believes his win was a vote of confidence in the steps the Common Council is taking.

“I think most people are pretty happy with the direction the city is going,” he said. “That doesn’t mean people don’t have concerns or don’t have issues. But, we have a lot of stuff going on.”

The proposed data center campus, he said, is “what we all hope is a financial gift to the city.” That’s because its proposed valuation and the resulting tax revenue is expected to be significant while the demand on city services would be relatively minimal.

The tax revenue, Gasper added, would allow the city to handle an estimated $15 million in deferred maintenance projects.

In the Town of Port, incumbent supervisors Gary Schlenvogt and Greg Welton defeated challenger Melissa Schlenvogt Alexander to retain their seats.

Schlenvogt received 412 votes, or 36.6% of the vote, and Welton got 368 votes, or 32.7%, while Alexander garnered 346 votes, or 30.7%.

Turnout in the town was 70.8%.

Schlenvogt and Welton both said the town has dealt with the potential loss of land for the data center the best way it could by negotiating concessions with the city, noting there is little towns can do to fight annexations.

“We had no control over that,” Schlenvogt said. “Annexation was going to happen. I think the negotiations we had with the city were strong and good for the town.”

Welton added, “They (the city) could have done what they wanted without us. We tried to get the best deal for the town with what we had.”

Town Chairman Mike Didier ran unopposed for re-election.

Incumbent aldermen re-elected Tuesday were Deb Postl, who represents the city’s 1st District; and Jonathan Pleitner, 5th District. Newcomer Mary Lou Mueller was elected to the 7th District seat currently held by Ald. John Sigwart, who did not seek re-election.

Overall, Ozaukee County voters turned out at the polls Tuesday, with 68.8% of registered voters casting ballots.

In the most contentious race on the ballot, they cast their support for Brad Schimel over winner Susan Crawford for a seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Schimel, a conservative supported by President Donald Trump and his advisor, billionaire Elon Musk, received 24,352 local votes, or 51.6%, while Crawford, who was seen as a more liberal candidate and supported by the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, garnered 22,813 votes, or 48.4%.

County voters also put their support behind challenger Brittany Kinser in the race for state superintendent of schools, a race won by incumbent Jill Underly.

They also supported a constitutional amendment requiring photographic identification for voting, 30,418, or 66.5%, to 15,332, or 33.5%.