2018 Wisconsin Secretary of State Election
November 6, 2018
 
Candidate Doug La Follette Jay Schroeder
Party Democratic Republican
Popular vote 1,380,752 1,235,034
Percentage 52.7% 47.2%
County results
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 52-47%.

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

  • Arvina Martin, member of the Madison Common Council

Results

Results by county:
La Follette:
     50-60%
     60–70%
     70-80%
Democratic Primary Results
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Doug La Follette (incumbent) 327,020 65.9
Democratic Arvina Martin 169,130 34.1
Total votes 496,150 100.0

Republican primary

Nominated

  • Jay Harvey Schroeder

Eliminated in primary

  • Spencer Zimmerman, perennial candidate

Results

Republican Primary Results
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Jay Harvey Schroeder 254,424 71.4
Republican Spencer Zimmerman 101,818 28.6
Total votes 356,242 100.0

General election

Predictions

Source Ranking As of
Governing[3] Safe D June 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 5 percentage points leading the statewide Democratic ticket.

Results

Wisconsin Secretary of State election, 2018
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Doug La Follette (incumbent) 1,380,752 52.7 +2.7%
Republican Jay Schroeder 1,235,034 47.2 +0.9%
Write-in 2,162 0.1 N/A
Total votes 2,617,948 100.0 +12.7%
By county
La Follette
Democratic		 Schroeder
Republican		 Margin County Total
County #  % #  % #  % #
Adams 3,892 44.59% 5,088 55.41%% 993 10.81% 9,183
Ashland 4,441 64.05% 2,493 35.95% 1,948 28.09% 6,934
Barron 7,623 41.05% 10,300 57.38% 2,305 12.60% 18,295
Bayfield 5,315 61.21% 3,368 38.79% 1,947 22.42% 8,683
Brown 55,195 48.82% 57,858 51.18% 2,663 7.48% 113,053
Buffalo 2,628 45.16% 3,191 54.84% 563 9.68% 5,819
Burnett 2,959 39.59% 4,515 60.41% 1,556 20.82% 7,474
Calumet 9,758 42.03% 13,457 57.97% 3,699 15.93% 23,215
Chippewa 12,529 46.17% 14,607 53.83% 2,078 7.66% 27,136
Clark 4,599 40.40% 6,786 59.60% 2,187 19.21% 11,385
Columbia 14,368 54.06% 12,211 45.94% 2,157 8.12% 26,579
Crawford 3,567 54.94% 2,925 45.06% 642 9.89% 6,492
Dane 219,538 76.04% 69,184 23.96% 150,354 52.08% 288,722
Dodge 14,527 39.30% 22,440 60.70% 7,913 21.41% 36,967
Door 8,151 51.02% 8,141 48.98% 339 2.04% 16,621
Douglas 11,243 60.73% 7,269 39.27% 3,974 21.47% 18,512
Dunn 9,019 49.73% 9,118 50.27% 99 0.55% 18,137
Eau Claire 27,636 57.91% 20,088 42.09% 7,548 15.82% 47,724
Florence 676 31.43% 1,475 68.57% 799 37.15% 2,151
Fond du Lac 17,631 39.82% 26,649 60.18% 9,018 20.37% 44,280
Forest 1,635 42.67% 2,197 57.33% 562 14.67% 3,832
Grant 9,772 51.01% 9,378 48.96% 394 2.05% 19,150
Green 9,595 57.32% 7,144 42.68% 2,451 14.64% 16,739
Green Lake 2,836 35.24% 5,211 64.76% 2,375 29.51% 8,047
Iowa 6,819 62.31% 2,695 37.69% 2,385 24.63% 10,943
Iron 1,366 45.01% 1,669 54.99% 303 9.98% 3,035
Jackson 4,041 51.38% 3,824 48.62% 217 2.76% 7,865
Jefferson 16,781 45.09% 20,437 56.28% 3,656 9.82% 37,218
Juneau 4,249 42.66% 5,710 57.34% 1,461 14.67% 9,959
Kenosha 35,781 53.72% 30,829 46.28% 4,952 7.43% 66,610
Kewaunee 3,926 42.01% 5,420 57.99% 1,494 15.99% 9,346
La Crosse 33,060 59.33% 22,663 40.67% 10,397 18.66% 55,723
Lafayette 3,347 52.15% 3071 47.85% 276 4.30% 6,418
Langlade 3,395 37.62% 5,630 62.38% 2,235 24.76% 9,025
Lincoln 5,662 43.22% 7,439 56.78% 1,777 13.56% 13,101
Manitowoc 15,354 44.19% 19,388 55.81% 4,034 11.61% 34,742
Marathon 26,567 43.69% 34,239 56.31% 7,672 12.62% 60,806
Marinette 6,662 39.15% 10,356 60.85% 3,694 21.71% 17,018
Marquette 3,044 43.18% 4,006 56.82% 962 13.65% 7,050
Menominee 847 78.14% 237 21.86% 610 56.27% 1,084
Milwaukee 269,143 70.34% 113,482 29.66% 155,661 40.68% 382,625
Monroe 7,347 44.45% 9,182 55.55% 1,835 11.10% 16,529
Oconto 6,276 36.46% 10,936 63.54% 4,660 27.07% 17,212
Oneida 8,540 44.73% 10,553 55.27% 2,013 10.54% 19,093
Outagamie 38,391 47.11% 43,109 52.89% 4,718 5.79% 81,500
Ozaukee 19,801 39.38% 30,480 60.62% 10,679 21.24% 50,281
Pepin 1,374 44.95% 1,683 55.05% 309 10.11% 3,057
Pierce 8,421 48.62% 8,899 51.38% 478 2.76% 17,320
Polk 7,635 41.41% 10,803 58.59% 3,168 17.18% 18,438
Portage 19,075 56.12% 14,916 43.88% 2,559 12.24% 33,991
Price 2,916 44.33% 3,662 55.67% 746 11.34% 6578
Racine 42,821 50.07% 42705 49.93% 116 0.14% 85,526
Richland 3,648 52.86% 3,253 47.14% 395 5.72% 6,901
Rock 40,630 60.92% 26,068 39.08% 14,562 21.83% 66,698
Rusk 2,418 40.41% 3,565 59.59% 1,147 19.17% 5,983
Sauk 15,870 56.00% 12,468 44.00% 3,402 12.01% 28,338
Sawyer 3,662 45.58% 4,372 54.42% 710 8.84% 8,034
Shawano 6,416 36.50% 11,164 63.50% 4,748 27.01% 17,580
Sheboygan 22,949 43.93% 29,289 56.07% 6,340 12.14% 52,238
St. Croix 17,267 43.57% 22,365 56.43% 5,098 12.86% 39,632
Taylor 2,650 33.72% 5,209 66.28% 2,559 32.56% 7,859
Trempealeau 5,864 49.06% 6,088 50.94% 224 1.87% 11,952
Vernon 6,898 53.94% 5,891 46.06% 1,007 7.87% 12,789
Vilas 4,901 39.64% 7,464 60.36% 2,563 20.73% 12,365
Walworth 18,499 41.39% 26,200 58.61% 7,701 17.23% 44,699
Washburn 3,374 43.40% 4,401 56.60% 1,027 13.21% 7,775
Washington 20,697 29.80% 48,749 70.20% 28,052 40.39% 69,446
Waukesha 77,918 35.90% 139,149 64.10% 61,231 28.21% 217,067
Waupaca 8,540 38.85% 13,441 61.15% 4,901 22.30% 21,981
Waushara 3,939 37.88% 6,461 62.13% 2,522 24.25% 10,400
Winnebago 37,353 50.25% 36,980 49.75% 373 0.50% 74,333
Wood 14,719 45.52% 17,618 54.48% 2,899 8.96% 32,337
Totals 1,380,752 52.7% 1,235,034 47.2% 145,718 5.5% 2,615,786

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.
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