Wisconsin AG race: Can the numbers measure who's tougher on crime?

MILWAUKEE, Wis. - Wisconsin's attorney general rematch is putting crime numbers and their limits at the center of the Tuesday vote.

Wisconsin attorney general race

Local perspective:

The race is a rematch between Democratic Atty. Gen. Josh Kaul and Republican Fond du Lac County Dist. Atty. Eric Toney. Both are using public safety numbers to argue they should lead the Wisconsin Department of Justice.

According to FBI crime data from 2019, when Kaul took office, through 2025, violent crime rose about 20% in Fond du Lac County but fell about 17% statewide. "Under my leadership, last year, Wisconsin had the lowest number of violent crimes in any year since 2011, Fond du Lac County has had a spike where Toney is the DA," Kaul said. "Last year, they had the second-highest number that they’ve had in decades."

The county increase was not a steady climb, violent crime fell in 2024 before rising in 2025, and aggravated assaults drove much of the increase, while reported rapes and homicides stayed consistently low and made up a small sample size.

By the numbers:

"When we look at what we’re seeing in Fond du Lac County, our police chief has talked about the increase in domestic violence that is driving the numbers that the Attorney General is talking about," Toney said. "Murder is up over 30% on his watch as attorney general," Toney said.

According to FBI data, Wisconsin recorded 40% more murders last year than in 2019. Murders peaked in 2021 during the pandemic and have fallen every year since, though they have not returned to pre-pandemic levels. The broader homicide category rose about 25% from 2019 to 2025 and fell about 28% from its 2021 peak.

Big picture view:

Criminal justice experts told FOX6 that overall crime rates are shaped by many factors. They also said comparing a county district attorney with a statewide attorney general is difficult because the jobs serve different functions.

"When we look at overall crime rates, there's so many factors that contribute to that," said Marc Levin, chief policy counsel for the Council on Criminal Justice. "It's very difficult to assign any causation as it relates to a particular district attorney or attorney general."

"I think that when we look at trends in crime on a statewide basis, the attorney general would have, frankly, almost no effect on that," Levin said. "The role of the attorney general is more focused on civil law in terms of the approach that whoever is elected decides to take. If there are significant differences, they're probably more likely to be on the civil side than the criminal side."

Why you should care:

One area where the attorney general does have a direct role is the state crime labs, which analyze evidence submitted from crime scenes. A 2024 nonpartisan legislative audit found turnaround times rose nearly 50% from 2019 to 2023 while assignments dropped 13%.

Kaul said those figures are misleading because DNA analysis methods changed, allowing more precise results but longer wait times. "We’ve improved the laboratory management system, and we also are doing testing that allows us through toxicology testing to identify drugs like fentanyl at lower quantities than we used to be able to," Kaul said. "What we have not had is the kind of investment from the legislature that we need." Toney said increasing lab efficiency is one of his top priorities and said he would adopt formal performance metrics for lab analysts. "They’re taking longer to test less, and our attorney general just passes the buck and blames the legislature for not giving him the resources that he wants," Toney said. "But when they do give him additional resources, he doesn’t use them."

Kaul also cites changes to sexual assault kit laws, funding for the Office of School Safety and efforts to address the opioid epidemic. The Democratic incumbent has also joined lawsuits against the Trump administration more than 60 times while in office. Toney points to felony filings in Fond du Lac County rising 75% since 2012, domestic violence filings more than doubling and support from more than 80% of the state's sheriffs. Both candidates say their records show they are the right person to keep Wisconsinites safe.

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