He’s taking over for a legend.

Joe Veenstra won Tuesday in the election for judge of La Crosse County Circuit Court Branch 1.

Veenstra takes over for Ramona Gonzalez, who was both the first woman and first minority elected to the bench in La Crosse County. She wraps up in August, a career that began in April of 1995.

Veenstra defeated Eric Sanford by 4.21% out of 38,898 votes. Veenstra won 20,161-18,525.

His term begins in August.

Also on the ballot, were Judges Elliott Levine and Scott Horne, who both ran unopposed in Brach 2 and Branch 4, respectively.