2022 Kenosha County Executive election
April 5, 2022
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The 2022 Kenosha County Executive election took place on April 5, 2022 to elect the County Executive of Kenosha County, Wisconsin, US. Incumbent County Executive James Kreuser declined to seek re-election to a fifth term. In the first contested election since 2002, three candidates ran to succeed Kreuser: County Circuit Court Clerk Rebecca Matoska-Mentink, State Representative Samantha Kerkman, and County Board Supervisor Jerry Gulley.
In the primary election, Matoska-Mentink played first, winning 44 percent of the vote, while Kerkman defeated Gulley for second place, receiving 38 percent of the vote to his 17 percent. Though the race was formally nonpartisan, Matoska-Mentink, a Democrat, was endorsed by Kreuser and supported by the Kenosha County Democratic Party, while Kerkman, a Republican, was supported by local Republicans.
Kerkman narrowly won the election, winning 51 percent of the vote to Matoska-Mentink's 49 percent, becoming the first female County Executive in county history and the first Republican to be elected to the office.