A Democrat, Wiseman was elected in 1998 to the Dayton City Commission, serving until 2002 when she declined to run for a second term.
[4] During her first year as a judge, Wiseman presided over the high-profile trial of China P. Arnold, a mother found guilty of burning her month-old baby to death in a microwave oven.
She looked set to face a challenge in the Democratic primary from District Court judge [[, but he withdrew in January 2008 following a controversy over allegedly homophobic comments he had made during the campaign.
Senators – Sherrod Brown (D–Lorain) and George Voinovich (R–Cleveland) – convened a bipartisan commission to recommend candidates for the vacancy, with Wiseman emerging as one of three finalists.
In July 2009, Brown and Voinovich recommended U.S. Magistrate Judge Timothy Black to Barack Obama for appointment to the seat.