Price County Sheriff Primary Results: Hawn Defeats Madsen 85

Last updated: August 2026

By Price County Fun Editorial Team | Price County, Wisconsin

TL;DR: Chief Deputy Robert Hawn won the August 11 Republican primary for Price County Sheriff with 2,489 votes — 85.5% of the total — compared to Waldemar Madsen III’s 423 (14.5%). Hawn won all 23 reporting districts. Because no Democrat or independent made the ballot, Hawn advances to the November 3 general election unopposed for sheriff.

The results

Unofficial results for the sheriff race, published by the county clerk’s office after all 23 districts reported, show a landslide. The margin is hard to read any other way. The county’s official results document, posted on Price County’s website, breaks the vote down by district:

Candidate	Party	Votes	Share
Robert Hawn	Republican	2,489	85.5%
Waldemar Madsen III	Republican	423	14.5%

Hawn carried all 23 districts in the county; Madsen’s best single-district total was 59 votes. Turnout was 4,584 voters out of 9,284 registered, a 49% participation rate. The Democratic line for sheriff shows zero votes in every district, meaning no Democratic candidate made the ballot and there is no Democratic nominee to oppose Hawn in November.

Who Hawn is, and what the win means

Hawn is the sheriff’s office chief deputy. He has served as second-in-command under Sheriff Brian Schmidt, who is not seeking re-election and will not run again this cycle. If Hawn’s primary win holds up through certification — the results remain unofficial until the county canvasses and certifies them , he becomes the county’s sheriff-elect without facing an opponent on the November 3 ballot for sheriff.

The margin was wide enough to settle the race, but the sheriff’s budget loomed over the campaign. Our analysis found the sheriff’s department consumes 42 cents of every Price County general fund dollar, and the office’s IT support contract grew from $36,000 to $76,000 over two years , figures the county board has repeatedly flagged but has not fully addressed.

How the race unfolded

The primary was the first contested sheriff’s race in Price County in recent memory, and it ran on two front-page fights from the spring.

The first came on June 16, when Madsen used his public comment at a county board meeting to accuse Hawn of appearing at board meetings in uniform on county time , a violation of what he called the “little Hatch Act of Wisconsin.” As we reported, Wisconsin has no Hatch Act, and state ethics law does not restrict uniformed appearances at public meetings. Madsen also accused County Clerk Meredith Hueckman of election bias over a Hawn campaign sign in her yard. The county board chair said he reviewed the process and found it within normal practice.

The second was the July 27 candidate forum in Harbor View, which Hawn did not attend. Madsen spent an hour and 41 minutes answering unscripted questions on Flock cameras, body cameras, and drug enforcement. Hawn’s campaign has not publicly said why he sat the forum out, and his positions on most of the issues Madsen answered on camera remain unknown.

The margin was wide enough that the county’s sheriff race effectively ended Tuesday night. As of publication, neither candidate had made a public statement acknowledging the result.

The rest of the county ballot

The sheriff’s race was the marquee contest, but all 23 districts also reported in two other county officer races:

Coroner: Amy Casey (R) 2,317, Marvin D. Nevelier (R) 487
Clerk of the circuit court: Amy Walker (R) 2,496 , the only candidate on the county’s clerk line

Both winners advance to the November 3 general election.

What happens next

The Wisconsin Elections Commission does not certify county results; certification happens at the county level. Unofficial results stand until the county board canvasses and certifies the election. With no opposition on the November 3 ballot for sheriff, Hawn , a name most Price County residents have seen in a uniform for years , would take over the county’s largest discretionary department from Brian Schmidt, whose tenure spans the office’s budget boom.

The open question for the incoming sheriff is the budget. The department takes 42 cents of every general fund dollar, and the county board is still pressing on the IT contract’s tripling. What matters here is not who won , that was never in serious doubt , but whether the next sheriff inherits a budget that keeps climbing or starts to level off. The next two years will tell.

Sources

Official results: “Price County Partisan Primary, August 11, 2026 — Unofficial Results,” Price County, Wisconsin, official results document (all 23 districts), posted at co.price.wi.us/DocumentCenter/View/18797. Downloaded and archived August 16, 2026. Results are unofficial until certified by the county.

Related coverage:

Local press: Price County Review, “Hawn wins sheriff’s race” (August 11, 2026); WXPR, “August Primary 2026 Results” (August 11, 2026); Ballotpedia, Price County Sheriff candidate pages.