Tony Evers Defeats Incumbent Scott Walker in Wisconsin Governor’s Race

It was a long night, but around 1:30am Wednesday morning, the Wisconsin race for governor was called for Democrat Tony Evers, who defeated incumbent Republican Governor Scott Walker with 50 percent of the vote to Walker’s 48%. Evers will be sworn in as Wisconsin’s 45th governor in early 2019.

In the U.S. Senate race, Democrat incumbent Senator Tammy Baldwin soundly defeated Republican candidate Leah Vukmir, grabbing 55 percent of the vote.

In the State Legislature, Republicans maintained their majorities in both houses. Assembly Republicans preserved all of the seats they held heading into election day, maintaining their commanding 64-35 seat majority for the 2019-20 legislative session. In the Senate, Republicans picked-up a seat, increasing their majority from a 18-15 split with Democrats to a 19-14 seat advantage for next session.

Governor’s Race – Final Results

  • Tony Evers (D) – 50%
  • Scott Walker (R) – 48%
  • Other – 2%

U.S. Senate Race – Final Results

  • Tammy Baldwin (D) – 55%
  • Leah Vukmir (R) – 45%

WI Attorney General Race – Unofficial Results

  • Josh Kaul (D) – 50%
  • Brad Schimel – Incumbent (R) – 49%

Wisconsin State Senate

Heading into the 2018 elections, most political observers believed the Senate majority was up for garbs, as there appeared to be a number of competitive state senate races across the state. However, when the polls closed, the GOP not only successfully protected all their seats, they picked up a seat by defeating the Democrat incumbent in the 1st Senate District. Heading into next session, Senate Republicans will hold a 19-14 seat majority. Please find below a brief overview and results for yesterday’s most heavily watched senate contests:

  • 1st Senate District – The contest in the 1st Senate District, comprised of Door, Manitowoc and Brown Counties, was a rematch of the June 2018 special election to fill the vacant seat. Democrat Senator Caleb Frostman, a former WEDA member, won the June special election, but lost yesterday’s rematch to state Rep. Andre Jacque, flipping the seat from Democrat to Republican:
    • Jacque (R) – 55%
    • Frostman (D) – 45%
  • 17th Senate District – In what was considered to be an extremely competitive race in the 17th Senate District that includes a large portion of southwest Wisconsin, Incumbent GOP Senator Howard Marklein ended up easily defeating Democrat challenger Kriss Marion:
    • Marklein (R) – 54%
    • Marion (D) – 46%
  • 19th Senate District – In the 19th senate District, which is comprised of Winnebago and Outagamie Counties, Republican incumbent Roger Roth defeated Lee Snodgrass (D), in what became a relatively easy victory:
    • Roth (R) – 53%
    • Snodgrass (D) – 47%
  • 23rd Senate District – In the open 23rd Senate District, which includes Chippewa and Eau Claire Counties, sitting state Rep. Kathy Bernier (R) retained the seat for Republicans by comfortably beating Democrat Chris Kapsner:
    • Bernier (R) – 59%
    • Kapsner (D) – 41%

Wisconsin State Assembly

Entering election day, the GOP held a 64-35 seat majority in the Assembly. Given the sheer number of seats held by Republicans, political observers generally believed they would lose some seats, but retain the majority. However, Assembly Republicans bucked the political conventional wisdom, retaining all 64 of their seats on election day.