Josh Kaul defeats Eric Toney to win second term as Wisconsin attorney general in 2022 midterm election

Laura Schulte
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

MADISON – Incumbent Josh Kaul will remain Wisconsin's attorney general after holding off a challenge from Republican Eric Toney for another four-year term.

As the state's top enforcement officer Kaul will also be responsible for overseeing high-profile challenges to federal and state laws and implementing the way the state handles the 1849 law that bans most abortions.

Toney conceded to Kaul in the early hours of Wednesday morning, he said, because he "just didn't see a pathway to victory, given what appears to be the limited number of votes out there."

He congratulated Kaul on the expected second term, pending final results sometime later Wednesday. With 99% of the unofficial results in on Wednesday afternoon, the Associated Press called the race in favor of Kaul, who had a winning margin of more than 34,000.

"We ran a hard-fought campaign and with the results close to final now it's clear that we have won this race and that the folks in Wisconsin have voted to continue building on the progress that we have been making over the last four years and to keep the state of Wisconsin moving forward," Kaul said during a Wednesday press conference on the steps of the state Capitol.

Kaul credited the abortion issue for sending voters to the polls this year.

"I think there are a lot of people who were motivated, who either may not have turned out but who did or registered to vote for the first time," Kaul said.

"We're going to keep fighting to restore access to safe and legal abortion in Wisconsin. I think that was a major factor in a number of elections across the country."

With a new term secured, Kaul said his top priority would remain public safety, in addition to restoring access to abortion.

"We have an opportunity right now to invest in our communities. As I talked about, my safer Wisconsin plan would put $115 million towards safer communities," he said. "It's going to help us fight violent crime. It's going to help us fight the opioid epidemic and it will make our communities safer."

The race between Kaul and Toney was largely focused on disagreements about how to enforce the state's abortion ban and how to handle high rates of crime, especially in Milwaukee. Toney built his campaign on being a tough-on-crime prosecutor, while Kaul focused on undoing the abortion law.

Toney was outspoken in his support for banning abortion in nearly all cases and said when a district attorney doesn't enforce the state's ban, a different DA should be able to come into the county to do it. Kaul said resources should not be used to go after doctors, nurses, spouses or parents for violating the ban when the priority should be protecting public safety.

The two butted heads, with Kaul claiming Toney didn't understand the role of the office, and misrepresenting facts. Toney raised again the concern that before Kaul was elected attorney general in 2018, he had never prosecuted a case in Wisconsin. Kaul worked as a federal prosecutor in Baltimore from 2010 to 2014, before coming back to Wisconsin.

But one thing both candidates did agree on: they'd both accept the results of the Nov. 8 election.

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Kaul, 41, received a bachelor's degree from Yale University and earned his law degree from Stanford University. Kaul was in private practice from 2007 until 2010 when he joined the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Maryland. In 2014, he moved back to Wisconsin and joined a Madison firm. He is the son of former attorney general Peg Lautenschlager.

Toney, 38,  was first elected as Fond du Lac County's district attorney in 2012 and is serving his third term. During his time as district attorney, the office added specialized prosecutors to handle juvenile, domestic violence and sexual assault cases that previously bounced through an assortment of attorneys in the court system.

He narrowly advanced out of the Republican primary, defeating former state lawmaker Adam Jarchow by fewer than 4,000 votes in a race in which a third candidate, Karen Mueller, pulled in 25% of the vote.

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