2018 Wisconsin Secretary of State election

Last updated

2018 Wisconsin Secretary of State Election
Flag of Wisconsin.svg
  2014 November 6, 2018 2022  
  Secretary La Follette (7166302470) (1).jpg 3x4.svg
Candidate Doug La Follette Jay Schroeder
Party Democratic Republican
Popular vote1,380,7521,235,034
Percentage52.7%47.2%

2018 Wisconsin Secretary of State election results map by county.svg
2018 United States Senate election in Wisconsin election results map by congressional district.svg
La Follette:     50–60%     60–70%     70–80%
Schroeder:     50–60%     60–70%     70–80%

Secretary of State before election

Doug La Follette
Democratic

Elected Secretary of State

Doug La Follette
Democratic

The 2018 Wisconsin Secretary of State Election took place on November 6, 2018 to elect the Wisconsin Secretary Of State. It occurred concurrently with a Senate election in the state, elections to the state's U.S. House seats, and various other elections. Incumbent Doug La Follette who had been serving in the position since 1983 won re-election to a 10th 4-year term, defeating Republican nominee Jay Schroeder 53-47%.

Contents

Schroeder, La Follette's opponent made a pledge to abolish the position entirely if elected. [1] This is likely a response to the power of the office slowly being weakened ever since 1990, with more and more powers the office once had going to the legislature, other agencies, or being abolished entirely. According to analyses published by the Council of State Governments, the office is the weakest directly elected member of the National Association of Secretaries of State. [2]

Background

In 1974 La Follette was elected to his first term as Secretary of State. He served for one 4-year term but didn't run for re-election in order to run for lieutenant governor in 1978. He was succeeded as Secretary of State by Vel Phillips. After losing his bid for lieutenant governor, La Follette primaried Phillips in 1982 and subsequently won the general election. La Follette has run for re-election every cycle and has been re-elected every time even as the governorship and other offices at the top of the ticket went to the Republicans. Since returning in 1982, power has slowly been stripped from the office and instead given to jurisdictions. These powers include lobbying regulation and business registration, which La Follette has long advocated for the return of.

Though he had won most of his re-election campaigns with ease, 2010 was his closest result since 1986 winning only by 2%. This close result can be attributed to the red wave year of 2010 which saw many big wins for Wisconsin Republicans including the ousting of popular Democratic senator Russ Feingold as well as Scott Walker winning the governorship by 5% on the same ticket. La Follette was able to improve on his margin in 2014 winning by 4% under similar circumstances as the 2010 election but, this was still a notable decrease based on the results he got in the past. The 2018 elections were expected to be very favorable for Democrats, making La Follette a favorite going into it.

Democratic primary

Incumbent Doug La Follette was challenged from the left by Arvina Martin, a member of Madison Common Council. La Follette won the primary decisively getting 65% of the vote, notably carrying all counties including Dane County home to Madison which both candidates are from.

Nominated

Eliminated in primary

Results

Results by county:
La Follette:
50-60%
60-70%
70-80% 2018 Wisconsin Secretary of State Democratic primary election results map by county.svg
Results by county:
La Follette:
     50-60%
     60–70%
     70-80%
Democratic Primary Results
PartyCandidateVotes%
Democratic Doug La Follette (incumbent) 327,020 65.9
Democratic Arvina Martin169,13034.1
Total votes496,150 100.0

Republican primary

Nominated

Eliminated in primary

Results

Republican Primary Results
PartyCandidateVotes%
Republican Jay Harvey Schroeder 254,424 71.4
Republican Spencer Zimmerman101,81828.6
Total votes356,242 100.0

General election

Predictions

SourceRankingAs of
Governing [3] Safe DJune 1, 2018

With La Follette holding the position for so long the race was seen to be not very competitive. In the end, La Follette won by six percentage points.

Results

Wisconsin Secretary of State election, 2018
PartyCandidateVotes%
Democratic Doug La Follette (incumbent) 1,380,752 52.7 +2.7%
Republican Jay Schroeder1,235,03447.2+0.9%
Write-in 2,1620.1N/A
Total votes2,617,948 100.0 +12.7%
By county
La Follette
Democratic
Schroeder
Republican
MarginCounty Total
County# %# %# %#
Adams3,89244.59%5,08855.41%%99310.81%9,183
Ashland4,44164.05%2,49335.95%1,94828.09%6,934
Barron7,62341.05%10,30057.38%2,30512.60%18,295
Bayfield5,31561.21%3,36838.79%1,94722.42%8,683
Brown55,19548.82%57,85851.18%2,6637.48%113,053
Buffalo2,62845.16%3,19154.84%5639.68%5,819
Burnett2,95939.59%4,51560.41%1,55620.82%7,474
Calumet9,75842.03%13,45757.97%3,69915.93%23,215
Chippewa12,52946.17%14,60753.83%2,0787.66%27,136
Clark4,59940.40%6,78659.60%2,18719.21%11,385
Columbia14,36854.06%12,21145.94%2,1578.12%26,579
Crawford3,56754.94%2,92545.06%6429.89%6,492
Dane219,53876.04%69,18423.96%150,35452.08%288,722
Dodge14,52739.30%22,44060.70%7,91321.41%36,967
Door8,15151.02%8,14148.98%3392.04%16,621
Douglas11,24360.73%7,26939.27%3,97421.47%18,512
Dunn9,01949.73%9,11850.27%990.55%18,137
Eau Claire27,63657.91%20,08842.09%7,54815.82%47,724
Florence67631.43%1,47568.57%79937.15%2,151
Fond du Lac17,63139.82%26,64960.18%9,01820.37%44,280
Forest1,63542.67%2,19757.33%56214.67%3,832
Grant9,77251.01%9,37848.96%3942.05%19,150
Green9,59557.32%7,14442.68%2,45114.64%16,739
Green Lake2,83635.24%5,21164.76%2,37529.51%8,047
Iowa6,81962.31%2,69537.69%2,38524.63%10,943
Iron1,36645.01%1,66954.99%3039.98%3,035
Jackson4,04151.38%3,82448.62%2172.76%7,865
Jefferson16,78145.09%20,43756.28%3,6569.82%37,218
Juneau4,24942.66%5,71057.34%1,46114.67%9,959
Kenosha35,78153.72%30,82946.28%4,9527.43%66,610
Kewaunee3,92642.01%5,42057.99%1,49415.99%9,346
La Crosse33,06059.33%22,66340.67%10,39718.66%55,723
Lafayette3,34752.15%307147.85%2764.30%6,418
Langlade3,39537.62%5,63062.38%2,23524.76%9,025
Lincoln5,66243.22%7,43956.78%1,77713.56%13,101
Manitowoc15,35444.19%19,38855.81%4,03411.61%34,742
Marathon26,56743.69%34,23956.31%7,67212.62%60,806
Marinette6,66239.15%10,35660.85%3,69421.71%17,018
Marquette3,04443.18%4,00656.82%96213.65%7,050
Menominee84778.14%23721.86%61056.27%1,084
Milwaukee269,14370.34%113,48229.66%155,66140.68%382,625
Monroe7,34744.45%9,18255.55%1,83511.10%16,529
Oconto6,27636.46%10,93663.54%4,66027.07%17,212
Oneida8,54044.73%10,55355.27%2,01310.54%19,093
Outagamie38,39147.11%43,10952.89%4,7185.79%81,500
Ozaukee19,80139.38%30,48060.62%10,67921.24%50,281
Pepin1,37444.95%1,68355.05%30910.11%3,057
Pierce8,42148.62%8,89951.38%4782.76%17,320
Polk7,63541.41%10,80358.59%3,16817.18%18,438
Portage19,07556.12%14,91643.88%2,55912.24%33,991
Price2,91644.33%3,66255.67%74611.34%6578
Racine42,82150.07%4270549.93%1160.14%85,526
Richland3,64852.86%3,25347.14%3955.72%6,901
Rock40,63060.92%26,06839.08%14,56221.83%66,698
Rusk2,41840.41%3,56559.59%1,14719.17%5,983
Sauk15,87056.00%12,46844.00%3,40212.01%28,338
Sawyer3,66245.58%4,37254.42%7108.84%8,034
Shawano6,41636.50%11,16463.50%4,74827.01%17,580
Sheboygan22,94943.93%29,28956.07%6,34012.14%52,238
St. Croix17,26743.57%22,36556.43%5,09812.86%39,632
Taylor2,65033.72%5,20966.28%2,55932.56%7,859
Trempealeau5,86449.06%6,08850.94%2241.87%11,952
Vernon6,89853.94%5,89146.06%1,0077.87%12,789
Vilas4,90139.64%7,46460.36%2,56320.73%12,365
Walworth18,49941.39%26,20058.61%7,70117.23%44,699
Washburn3,37443.40%4,40156.60%1,02713.21%7,775
Washington20,69729.80%48,74970.20%28,05240.39%69,446
Waukesha77,91835.90%139,14964.10%61,23128.21%217,067
Waupaca8,54038.85%13,44161.15%4,90122.30%21,981
Waushara3,93937.88%6,46162.13%2,52224.25%10,400
Winnebago37,35350.25%36,98049.75%3730.50%74,333
Wood14,71945.52%17,61854.48%2,8998.96%32,337
Totals1,380,75252.7%1,235,03447.2%145,7185.5%2,615,786

By congressional district

Despite losing the state, Schroeder won 5 of 8 congressional districts. [4]

DistrictLa FolletteSchroederRepresentative
1st 47%53% Paul Ryan
2nd 72%28% Mark Pocan
3rd 53%47% Ron Kind
4th 78%22% Gwen Moore
5th 41%59% Jim Sensenbrenner
6th 45%55% Glenn Grothman
7th 44%56% Sean Duffy
8th 45%55% Mike Gallagher

See also

References

  1. "Schroeder Campaign:Eliminate Secretary of State Position" (PDF). February 19, 2018. Retrieved May 22, 2022.
  2. "2021 Book of the States". The Council of State Governments. pp. 154–156. Retrieved March 9, 2022.
  3. "Secretary of State Races Are More Competitive and Important Than Ever". Governing. Retrieved May 20, 2022.
  4. "DRA 2020". Daves Redistricting. Retrieved August 18, 2024.