Kimberly Plache

Kimberly Plache (born January 4, 1961) is an American Democratic politician and former member of the Wisconsin State Senate.

Early life and education

Born in Racine, Wisconsin, Plache graduated from William Horlick High School in 1979. In 1984, she received her bachelor's degree in psychology from University of Wisconsin–Parkside.

Career

Shortly after her college graduation, Plache was hired as a legislative aide by her representative in the Wisconsin State Assembly, Jeffrey A. Neubauer. When Neubauer chose not to run for re-election in 1988, Plache ran and was elected to succeed him in the Assembly.

She was re-elected in 1990, 1992, and 1994.

In October 1995, Racine County's representative in the Wisconsin Senate, George Petak, ran into controversy when he changed his vote on a funding bill for the Miller Park stadium. Miller Park was being planned to replace the forty-year-old Milwaukee County Stadium and was being pushed by Republican Governor Tommy Thompson and Milwaukee Brewers owner and future-Commissioner of Baseball, Bud Selig. Petak had promised his constituents that he would vote against the bill, but changed his mind based on the belief that the Brewers would leave Wisconsin if a new stadium wasn't built.

Petak's deciding vote supported a 0.1 percent sales tax increase for the five counties in the proposed stadium's vicinity, including Racine. Petak faced immediate outrage in his home district, and local Democrats were energized to collect signatures for a recall petition. The petition was certified on March 26, 1996, and a recall election was ordered for June.

Plache decided to run in the recall and faced no competition in the Democratic primary. In June, she defeated Petak, making him the first Wisconsin state legislator to be removed from office in a recall election.

Plache was re-elected to a full term in the senate in 1998, defeating Racine Unified School Board Member David Hazen. Plache sought re-election again in 2002, but was narrowly defeated by Republican Cathy Stepp.

In 2009, the Mayor of Racine was forced to resign after being indicted. Plache ran in the special election to replace him, but did not pass the primary. In the same year, however, she was elected to the Racine Unified School Board. She served on the school board until 2016.

She is currently a senior community relations officer for the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority.

Personal life

Plache married Paul Hable in October 1999. They live in Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin, and they have one daughter.

Electoral history

Wisconsin Assembly (1988-1994)

Wisconsin Assembly, 62nd District Election, 1988

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
Primary Election
		Kimberly Plache	Template:Replace	43.18%
		Saundra Herre	Template:Replace	29.31%
		Thomas A. Kexel	1,799	27.29%
		Kay C. Rouse	Template:Replace	0.02%
Total votes			'4,645'	'100.0%'
General Election
		Kimberly Plache	Template:Replace	62.76%
		Saundra Herre	6,703	35.66%
		Kay C. Rouse	297	1.58%
Total votes			'18,796'	'100.0%'	+28.27%
	hold

Wisconsin Assembly, 62nd District Election, 1990

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
Primary Election
		Kimberly Plache (incumbent)	Template:Replace	65.87%
		Kay C. Rouse	Template:Replace	34.13%
Total votes			'2.004'	'100.0%'	-18.60%
General Election
		Kimberly Plache (incumbent)	Template:Replace	62.75%
		Kay C. Rouse	4,443	37.25%
Total votes			'11,927'	'100.0%'	-18.60%
	hold

Wisconsin Assembly, 62nd District Election, 1992

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
Primary Election
		Kimberly Plache (incumbent)	Template:Replace	69.88%
		Mark Ladd	Template:Replace	30.12%
Total votes			'5,215'	'100.0%'
General Election
		Kimberly Plache (incumbent)	Template:Replace	61.28%
		Mark Ladd	8,999	38.72%
Total votes			'23,243'	'100.0%'	+69.56%
	hold

Wisconsin Assembly, 62nd District Election, 1994

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
Primary Election
		James Turek	Template:Replace	40.26%
		Kimberly Plache (incumbent)	Template:Replace	59.74%
Total votes			'2,247'	'100.0%'
General Election
		Kimberly Plache (incumbent)	Template:Replace	59.74%
		James Turek	6,404	40.26%
Total votes			'15,908'	'100.0%'	+33.38%
	hold

Wisconsin Senate (1996-2002)

Wisconsin Senate, 21st District Recall Election, 1996

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
Primary Election
		George Petak (incumbent)	Template:Replace	60.20%
		William A. Pangman	5,174	22.02%
		Kimberly Plache	Template:Replace	17.09%
		Todd Mascaretti	Template:Replace	0.07%
Total votes			23,500	'100.0%'
General Election
		Kimberly Plache	Template:Replace	51.22%
		George Petak (incumbent)	19,318	47.02%
		Todd Mascaretti	725	1.76%
Total votes			41,088	'100.0%'	-10.00%
	gain from

Wisconsin Senate, 21st District Election, 1998

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
Primary Election
		Kimberly Plache (incumbent)	Template:Replace	61.45%
		David Hazen	Template:Replace	38.55%
Total votes			'8,959'	'100.0%'
General Election
		Kimberly Plache (incumbent)	Template:Replace	55.46%
		David Hazen	21,967	44.54%
Total votes			'49,320'	'100.0%'	+20.04%
	hold

Wisconsin Senate, 21st District Election, 2002

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
Primary Election
		Kimberly Plache (incumbent)	Template:Replace	63.31%
		Cathy Stepp	Template:Replace	28.33%
		John W. Knuteson	1,613	8.36%
Total votes			'19,282'	'100.0%'
General Election
		Cathy Stepp	Template:Replace	50.68%
		Kimberly Plache (incumbent)	24,594	49.14%
Total votes			'50,050'	'100.0%'	+1.48%
	gain from

Racine Mayor (2009)

Racine Mayoral Special Election, 2009

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
Primary Election
		John Dickert	Template:Replace	23.09%
		Robert L. Turner	Template:Replace	16.73%
		Kimberly Plache	1,313	13.14%
		James Spangenberg	1,249	12.50%
		Greg Helding	1,150	11.51%
		Pete Karas	851	8.52%
		Jody Harding	658	6.59%
		Q.A. Shakoor II	414	4.14%
		Lesia Hill-Driver	161	1.61%
		Raymond Fay	148	1.48%
		Jaimie Charon	69	0.69%
Total votes			'9,991'	'100.0%'
General Election
		John Dickert	Template:Replace	55.46%
		Robert L. Turner	4,841	44.54%
Total votes			'10,868'	'100.0%'

Racine School Board (2009–2016)

Racine School Board Election, 2009

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
General Election
		Don J. Nielsen (incumbent)	Template:Replace	24.46%
		Gretchen L. Warner (incumbent)	Template:Replace	21.62%
		Kimberly Plache	Template:Replace	19.84%
		Stella A. Young	7,041	18.04%
		John Leiber	6,176	15.82%
		Write-ins	85	0.22%
Total votes			'39,039'	'100.0%'

Racine School Board Election, 2012

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
General Election
		Kimberly Plache (incumbent)	Template:Replace	22.27%
		Don J. Nielsen (incumbent)	Template:Replace	18.91%
		Gretchen L. Warner (incumbent)	Template:Replace	18.24%
		Brian Dey	7,910	14.41%
		Roger Pfost	7,416	13.51%
		Scott Brownell	6,840	12.46%
		Write-ins	112	0.20%
Total votes			'54,896'	'100.0%'

Racine School Board Election, 2015

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
General Election
		Kimberly Plache (incumbent)	Template:Replace	25.33%
		Don J. Nielsen (incumbent)	Template:Replace	21.68%
		Lisa Parham	Template:Replace	20.95%
		Wally Rendón (incumbent)	7,494	16.97%
		Bryn Biemeck	6,656	15.08%
Total votes			'44,152'	'100.0%'

Racine School Board, 4th District Election, 2016

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
General Election
		Julie McKenna (incumbent)	Template:Replace	51.13%
		Kimberly Plache (incumbent)	2,192	48.87%
Total votes			'4,485'	'100.0%'