In Kenosha County, 2 face off in Wisconsin’s only contested district attorney race

District attorneys fill powerful roles, overseeing criminal prosecutions in their counties.

But, across Wisconsin, there’s only one contested district attorney race on the Nov. 5 ballot.

That’s in Kenosha County, where Democrat Carli McNeill is competing against Republican Xavier Solis to replace retiring DA Mike Graveley.

Graveley, a Democrat who’s been Kenosha County’s district attorney since 2017, is not seeking reelection.

McNeill has worked as a prosecutor in Kenosha County for 13 years and currently holds the office’s number two position as deputy district attorney.

Solis is a criminal defense attorney in private practice. He did not respond to WPR’s requests for an interview or a campaign photo.

McNeill pointed to her prosecutorial experience, urging voters to compare “resumes side by side.”

“I’ve prosecuted every type of case there is, including first degree intentional homicide cases,” McNeill said. “You do not want a DA who is trying to learn on the job. And, for my opponent, he has never been a prosecutor, so he’s never prosecuted a case.”

Kenosha County has voted narrowly Republican in recent elections, but McNeill says she expects many GOP voters will cross over to support her.

She touts endorsements from unions representing local law enforcement officers, including the Kenosha County Deputy Sheriff’s Association and the Kenosha Professional Police Association Board.

And McNeill says she has the support of every current employee in the district attorney’s office, including Graveley.

“They know my work,” McNeill said. “They know my opponent’s work because he’s a defense attorney, and they want me to be the next district attorney. Because it’s not about politics, it’s about professionalism.”

Solis was the subject of media attention in Kenosha County, when he represented the foundation that helped raise bail for Kyle Rittenhouse.

Rittenhouse was acquitted by a Kenosha County jury after fatally shooting two men and wounding another during 2020 protests in Kenosha over the police shooting of Jacob Blake. Blake was left paralyzed by the shooting.

In 2023, Solis was among the people appointed by the county’s executive to lead a racial equity commission. But the appointment of Solis and another commission member sparked backlash, prompting other commissioners to resign in protest.

In October 2023, Solis ignited further outrage because of an exchange he had at a commission meeting with a man who identifies as Black and biracial. In a recording of the meeting, Solis sounds like he tells the man, “Don’t come here with your sarcasm, boy.”

The man called for Solis to be rebuked and admonished. Solis denied that he called the man “boy,” according to the Kenosha News.

“I have a thick, Hispanic southern accent,” Solis told the paper.

The racial equity commission no longer meets after the county’s executive rescinded her appointees, and the body couldn’t form a quorum.

McNeill said that’s a result of Solis’ actions.

“He ran it into the ground,” McNeill said of the commission. “It was due to his poor leadership, his inability to guide the commission and really upsetting the public with the way he ran that commission.”

In posts on Facebook, Solis has alleged the Kenosha County DA’s office wasn’t aggressive enough in prosecuting people who rioted in Kenosha in the aftermath of the shooting of Jacob Blake.

“This office only charged 70 felonies from all of the 1000’s of rioters that burned down our city,” Solis wrote on social media.

McNeill said the assertion that the DA’s office wasn’t aggressive enough in prosecuting rioters is “completely false.”

“We prosecuted around 70 felony cases that arose from the riots,” she said. “And of course, there were way more rioters than that, but you have to solve a case.”

McNeill noted that some arson cases were referred to federal authorities with the US Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. And McNeill said there were some cases where police lacked sufficient evidence because there wasn’t video available, or the perpetrator’s face was covered.

“Every solved case that the that the Kenosha Police Department sent us, that we thought we could prove, we charged and we prosecuted,” she said. “We put particular emphasis on these cases, because we know the the devastating impact this had on our community.”

The district attorney’s job includes overseeing the office’s budget, and managing about 20 attorneys, as well as over 20 support staff employees.

If she’s elected to the four-year term, McNeill says she’ll continue to work with the county’s victim-witness coordinators who help people navigate the legal process, including testifying in court.

“We try to make that process as not intimidating as possible, and support our victims every step along the way, because we can’t protect the rest of the community without our victims being willing to make that sacrifice,” she said.

McNeill also said she’s interested in restarting a diversion program in Kenosha County, allowing some people charged with drug possession to avoid jail time by agreeing to conditions including treatment for addiction.

At the same time, McNeill said she supports criminal consequences for people charged with more serious drug-related crimes. She said that includes charging people with homicide if they provide drugs to someone who later dies from an overdose.

“When other crimes are not being committed — it’s really just drug possession —then we want to direct that person to treatment as soon as we can,” she said. “If you’re committing armed robberies to get drugs, you know that’s a whole different public safety issue.”

As of late October, McNeill’s campaign raised more than $96,800 while Solis’ committee took in just over $10,800, according to their pre-election campaign finance reports.

This story has been updated.