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The1947 Wisconsin Supreme Court election was held on Tuesday, April 1, 1947, to elect a justice to theWisconsin Supreme Court for a ten-year term.Henry P. Hughes defeated incumbent justiceJames Ward Rector (who had been appointed after the death on the bench ofJoseph 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 ofJoseph 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]
Rector was challenged byHenry 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 toEdward T. Fairchild).[5] Hughes was a well-known trial judge. He was regarded to have been the better campaigner of the two candidates.[6] AGreen 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 stateRepublicans: Rector was endorsed by GovernorWalter Samuel Goodland[7] (who died a month before the election), and Hughes was endorsed by recently elected U.S. senatorJoseph McCarthy.[8]
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 ofEmmert L. Wingert eleven years laterin 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, and2020.[9]
Hughes defeated Rector in all but four of the state's counties. Rector only carriedColumbia,Sauk, and his home county ofDane (winning Columbia and Sauk only by slim margins). Hughes carried his home county ofWinnebago by a five-to-one margin. Hughes also received substantial leads in nearbyManitowoc,Milwaukee,Outagamie, andSheboygan counties. Hughes also received strong results inKenosha,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. senatorAlexander Wiley when he would be up for re-electionin 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 | |||
