2014 Wisconsin elections

2014 Wisconsin elections

April 1, 2014 November 4, 2014

The 2014 Wisconsin Fall General Election was held in the U.S. state of Wisconsin on November 4, 2014. Wisconsin's Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, Secretary of State, and State Treasurer were all up for election, as well as Wisconsin's eight seats in the United States House of Representatives. The November general election in 2014 also featured a statewide referendum on an amendment to the Constitution of Wisconsin. The 2014 Wisconsin Fall Primary Election was held on August 12, 2014.

The Republican Party of Wisconsin held onto all statewide offices up for election in 2014, except for secretary of state, where Democrat Doug La Follette won his tenth term. Republicans also retained control of the Wisconsin State Senate and Wisconsin State Assembly. The partisan breakdown of Wisconsin's delegation to the United States House of Representatives was unchanged, remaining five Republicans and three Democrats.

For nonpartisan local and judicial seats, the 2014 Wisconsin Spring General Election was held April 1, 2014. No Wisconsin Supreme Court seats were up in 2014, but three seats on the Wisconsin Court of Appeals and 41 Wisconsin Circuit Court seats were up. The 2014 Wisconsin Spring Primary Election was held on February 18.

Federal

Senate

Neither of Wisconsin's United States Senate seats were up for election in 2014.

House of Representatives

Main article: United States House of Representatives elections in Wisconsin, 2014

All 8 of Wisconsin's congressional districts were up for election at the Fall general election. Seven of eight incumbent Representatives ran for reelection, with Tom Petri retiring from District 6. Party composition remained unchanged after the general election.

District	Incumbent		Elected		Defeated	Democratic		Republican		Others		Total		Result
						Votes	%	Votes	%	Votes	%	Votes	%
District 1	Paul Ryan		Paul Ryan		Rob Zerban (D) Keith R. Deschler (Ind)	105,552	36.63%	182,316	63.27%	302	0.10%	288,170	12.23%	Republican Hold
District 2	Mark Pocan		Mark Pocan		Peter Theron (R)	224,920	68.40%	103,619	31.51%	308	0.09%	328,847	13.96%	Democratic Hold
District 3	Ron Kind		Ron Kind		Tony Kurtz (R) Ken Van Doren (Ind)	155,368	56.46%	119,540	43.44%	253	0.09%	275,161	11.68%	Democratic Hold
District 4	Gwen Moore		Gwen Moore		Dan Sebring (R) Robert R. Raymond (Ind)	179,045	70.24%	68,490	26.87%	7,357	2.89%	254,892	10.82%	Democratic Hold
District 5	Jim Sensenbrenner		Jim Sensenbrenner		Chris Rockwood (D)	101,190	30.40%	231,160	69.45%	476	0.14%	332,826	14.13%	Republican Hold
District 6	Tom Petri		Glenn Grothman		Mark L. Harris (D) Gus Fahrendorf (Ind)	122,212	40.87%	169,767	56.77%	7,054	2.36%	299,033	12.69%	Republican Hold
District 7	Sean Duffy		Sean Duffy		Kelly Westlund (D) Lawrence Dale (Ind)	112,949	39.41%	169,891	59.28%	3,763	1.31%	286,603	12.17%	Republican Hold
District 8	Reid Ribble		Reid Ribble		Ron Gruett (D)	101,345	34.94%	188,553	65.01%	150	0.05%	290,048	12.31%	Republican Hold
Total						1,102,581	46.81%	1,233,336	52.36%	19,663	0.83%	2,355,580	100.00%

State

Executive

Governor and Lieutenant Governor

Main article: 2014 Wisconsin gubernatorial election

Incumbent Republican Governor Scott Walker and Lieutenant Governor Rebecca Kleefisch, first elected in 2010, sought re-election to a second term after surviving a recall election in 2012.

The Democratic Party nominated business executive Mary Burke and state senator John Lehman for governor and lieutenant governor, respectively. Burke was a member of the Madison school board and former Secretary of Wisconsin's Department of Commerce. Lehman was a state senator and former teacher from Racine, who had just won back his senate seat in a recall election.

Walker and Kleefisch won the November election with 52% of the vote.

2014 Wisconsin gubernatorial election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Scott Walker (incumbent) / Rebecca Kleefisch (incumbent)	1,259,706	52.26%	−0.79%
	Democratic	Mary Burke / John Lehman	1,122,913	46.59%	+0.31%
	Libertarian	Robert Burke / Joseph M. Brost	18,720	0.78%
	Independent	Dennis Fehr	7,530	0.31%
		Scattering	1,445	0.06%
Plurality			136,793	5.68%
Total votes			2,410,314	100.0%	-4.20%

Attorney General

Main article: 2014 Wisconsin Attorney General election

Republican incumbent attorney general J. B. Van Hollen, first elected in 2006, did not seek re-election to a third term. Waukesha County District Attorney Brad Schimel defeated Jefferson County District Attorney Susan Happ in the November general election.

Happ defeated state representative Jon Richards and Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne in the Democratic primary.

Secretary of State

Main article: 2014 Wisconsin Secretary of State election

Incumbent Democratic secretary of state Doug La Follette, first elected in 1974 and regaining his seat in 1982, narrowly won his 10th four-year term, defeating the Republican candidate, telecommunications manager Julian Bradley.

La Follette was unopposed in the Democratic primary.

In the Republican primary, Bradley defeated State Representative Garey Bies.

Treasurer

Republican incumbent state treasurer Kurt W. Schuller, first elected in 2011, did not seek re-election to a second term. In the November general election, Republican Wisconsin legislative staffer Matt Adamczyk defeated Democrat Dave Sartori, a former Greenfield alderman.

Republican primary

Candidates

• Matt Adamczyk, legislative staffer
• Randall Melchert, attorney

Results

Republican primary results

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Matt Adamczyk	132,596	61.8
	Republican	Randall Melchert	82,108	38.2
Total votes			214,074	100

Democratic primary

Candidates

• Dave Leeper, former Green County District Attorney
• Dave Sartori, former Greenfield alderman

Results

Democratic primary results

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Dave Sartori	119,504	51.6
	Democratic	Dave Leeper	112,225	48.4
Total votes			231,729	100

General election

Candidates

• Matt Adamczyk, legislative staffer (R)
• Dave Sartori, former Greenfield alderman (D)
• Jerry Shidell, former Rhinelander mayor (L)
• Andrew Zuelke, businessman (C)
• Ron Hardy, Winnebago County Supervisor (G)

Polling

Hypothetical polling

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size	Margin of error	Randall Melchert (R)	Dave Leeper (D)	Ron Hardy (G)	Undecided
Gravis Marketing	September 22–23, 2014	908	± 3%	38%	35%	10%	17%
Gravis Marketing	July 31–August 2, 2014	1,346	± 3%	39%	31%	12%	18%

Results

2014 Wisconsin State Treasurer Election

November 4, 2014

Candidate Matt Adamczyk Dave Sartori Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 1,120,140 1,026,548 Percentage 48.80% 44.73%

County results Adamczyk:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80% Sartori:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%

Treasurer before election Kurt W. Schuller Republican Elected Treasurer Matt Adamczyk Republican

Wisconsin State Treasurer Election, 2014

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
General Election, November 4, 2014
	Republican	Matt Adamczyk	1,120,140	48.80%	−4.59%
	Democratic	Dave Sartori	1,026,548	44.73%	−1.74%
	Independent	Ron Hardy	66,120	2.88%
	Independent	Jerry Shidell	53,113	2.31%
	Constitution	Andrew Zuelke	28,053	1.22%
		Scattering	1,244	0.05%
Plurality			93,592	4.08%	-2.85%
Total votes			2,295,218	100.0%	+11.27%
	Republican hold

Legislature

State Senate

17 of the Wisconsin State Senate's 33 seats were up for election in the November general election. Republicans added one seat to their majority, retaking the 21st senate district which had been lost in the 2012 recall elections.

Summary

Parties			Total
	Republican	Democratic
Last election (2012)	18	15	33
Before 2014 elections	17	15	32
Not up	8	8	16
Up	10	7	17
Incumbent retiring	4	3	7
Incumbent running	6	4	10
After 2014 elections	19	14	33
Voting share	58%	42%

Full Results

District	Incumbent			This race		Results
	Senator	Party	First elected	Incumbent Status	Candidates	Winner
1	Frank Lasee	Republican	2010	Running	Frank Lasee (Republican) Dean P. Debroux (Democratic)	Frank Lasee 61.59%
3	Tim Carpenter	Democrat	2002	Running	Tim Carpenter (Democrat)	Tim Carpenter 97.10%
5	Leah Vukmir	Republican	2010	Running	Leah Vukmir (Republican) Wendy Friedrich (Democratic)	Leah Vukmir 73.03%
7	Chris Larson	Democratic	1993	Running	Chris Larson (Democratic) Jason Red Arnold (Republican)	Chris Larson 59.50%
9	Joe Leibham	Republican	2002	Not Running	Devin LeMahieu (Republican) Martha Laning (Democrat)	Devin LeMahieu 59.95%
11	Neal Kedzie	Republican	2002	Not Running	Stephen Nass (Republican) Dan Kilkenny (Democrat)	Stephen Nass 63.29%
13	Scott L. Fitzgerald	Republican	1994	Running	Scott L. Fitzgerald (Republican) Michelle Zahn (Democrat)	Scott L. Fitzgerald 62.69%
15	Timothy Cullen	Democrat	1974	Not Running	Janis Ringhand (Democrat) Brian Fitzgerald (Republican)	Janis Ringhand 59.47%
17	Dale Schultz	Republican	1990	Not Running	Howard Marklein (Republican) Pat Bomhack (Democrat)	Howard Marklein 55.07%
19	Michael Ellis	Republican	1982	Not Running	Roger Roth (Republican) Penny Bernard Schaber (Democrat)	Roger Roth 57.17%
21	John Lehman	Democrat	2006	Not Running	Van H. Wanggaard (Republican) Randy Bryce (Democrat)	Van H. Wanggaard 61.42%
23	Terry Moulton	Republican	2010	Running	Terry Moulton (Republican) Phil Swanhorst (Democrat)	Terry Moulton 61.15%
25	Robert Jauch	Democrat	1986	Not Running	Janet Bewley (Democrat) Dane Deutsch (Republican)	Janet Bewley 51.16%
27	Jon Erpenbach	Democrat	1998	Running	Jon Erpenbach (Democrat)	Jon Erpenbach 97.51%
29	Jerry Petrowski	Republican	2012	Running	Jerry Petrowski (Republican) Paul Demain (Democratic)	Jerry Petrowski 65.73%
31	Kathleen Vinehout	Democrat	2006	Running	Kathleen Vinehout (Democrat) Mel Pittman (Republican)	Kathleen Vinehout 52.32%
33	Paul Farrow	Republican	2012	Running	Paul Farrow (Republican) Sherryll Shaddock (Democrat)	Paul Farrow 73.86%

State Assembly

All 99 seats of the Wisconsin State Assembly were up for election in November. 21 Assembly incumbents (14 Republicans, 7 Democrats) did not seek re-election.

Affiliation	Party (Shading indicates majority caucus)		Total
	Republican	Democratic		Vacant
Before 2014 elections	60	39	99	0
Latest voting share	61%	39%
After 2014 elections	63	36	99	0
Voting share	64%	36%

Judiciary

State Court of Appeals

Three seats on the Wisconsin Court of Appeals were up for election in 2014. None of the three elections was contested.

• In District I, Judge Patricia S. Curley was re-elected to her fourth term.
• In District II, Judge Lisa Neubauer was re-elected to her second full term.
• In District IV, Judge Gary Sherman was elected to his first full term. Judge Sherman had been appointed to the court in 2010 by Governor Jim Doyle.

State Circuit Courts

Forty one of the state's 249 circuit court seats were up for election in 2014. Four of those elections were contested.

Constitutional Amendments

Transportation Fund

In the November election, Wisconsin voters overwhelmingly approved an amendment to the Constitution of Wisconsin to establish a dedicated transportation fund administered by the Wisconsin Department of Transportation. The amendment also specified that none of the money which flowed into the fund, collected by transportation fees or taxes, could be appropriated to any other program. Critics argued that purpose of the amendment was to create budget inflexibility that would force legislators to raid education funds to balance the budget.

Transportation Fund

Candidate		Votes	%
Yes		1,733,101	79.94
No		434,806	20.06
Total votes		2,167,907	100

Personhood Amendment

There was an attempt to amend the Constitution of Wisconsin to establish a right to life. This amendment did not ultimately make it onto the ballot in 2014, as it did not obtain a necessary vote in the 101st Wisconsin Legislature.