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Serving Trempealeau County
Election Results
Jessica Schue takes the clerk of court primary by 18 points and advances to face Democrat Foss in November. Results are unofficial until the county board of canvassers certifies them.
Sheriff’s race
The county code declares the office of undersheriff abolished; state law tells sheriffs in every county but Milwaukee to appoint one. Of its last two sheriffs, one filed an undersheriff appointment with the clerk of circuit court and one did not, and each named a different officer. A new state law, effective 2027, will forbid eliminating the office.
Courts · Analysis
A jury convicted Gieck of reckless homicide in Kyle Dahl’s death. The Pioneer estimates 30 to 40 years — a forecast, not a recommendation. Sentencing is Wednesday.
Sheriff’s race
The Aug. 11 primary will effectively decide the office. Here is where Kent Johnson, Erica Koxlien and Wayne Dahl stand on the license-plate cameras.
Profile
He ran congressional campaigns and helped build a presidential caucus operation in Iowa. Now he files records requests against his own county.
Sheriff’s race
The vote binds nobody. With no Democrat or independent filed, the Aug. 11 primary is likely to decide the office.
Public records
Emails and contracts produced under Wisconsin’s public records law show the county’s license-plate readers were bought without a vote by any elected body.
Local history
Two governments, one place, and the century of small decisions that got it there.
The censure
The county’s own recordings — including security footage released under the open records law — undercut three of the four charges.
La Crosse County
A career La Crosse prosecutor is now weighing whether the state can prove an election-bribery charge against Elon Musk.
The Flock camera fight
How Trempealeau County came to have license-plate cameras, who has used them, and who decides whether it keeps them.
Sheriff’s race
Sheriff’s race
The Flock fight
Clerk of court
Courts
The state’s new study puts Judge Rian Radtke’s caseload first in Wisconsin — a second branch needs the Legislature.
Clerk of court
4,510 new cases in 2024 and Wisconsin’s heaviest judicial workload — what the clerk of court actually controls.
Seven corrections and three updates since July 31, across eight stories. One ran on five at once: the Flock contract runs to April 8, 2027, not Dec. 31.
What is on your ballot, race by race, and how to vote →
On the ballot Three contests. For sheriff, three Republicans qualified: Sheriff Erica Koxlien, Chief Deputy Wayne Dahl and Blair Police Chief Kent Johnson — no Democrat filed, so the primary decides the office. For clerk of circuit court, Jessica Schue and Leni Nilsestuen meet in the Republican primary for an open seat. And in the Galesville-Ettrick-Trempealeau district, voters decide the school facilities referendum.
If you vote The primary is Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2026. Polls open 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Wisconsin allows registration at the polls with proof of residence. Check your registration, ballot and polling place at myvote.wi.gov.
County briefs
Short items return with the next edition.
Reserved for a watchdog story in the next edition.
Watchdog briefs
Short items return with the next edition.