Evers retains Governor seat
Voters showed up in droves to support their respective politicians at the midterm elections on Nov. 8. Wisconsin Repbulicans held onto seats in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives while Democrats Tony Evers and Josh Kaul retained their positions in the state legislature.
Wisconsin Governor
Incumbent Governor Tony Evers will keep his spot as the state’s leader as he defeated challenger Tim Michels in Tuesday’s midterm election. The victory came as a slim one as Evers garnered 51.2% of the votes throughout the state.
However, in central Wisconsin, Evers lost Clark, Marathon, Taylor and Wood counties by sizable margins. The victory mimicked his victory over Scott Walker in 2018 which closed at a 1.1% margin.
Evers will serve another four years as the governor of Wisconsin and has pledged to put school funding and abortion at the forefront of his to-do list in the days leading up to the election.
“You showed up because you saw our democracy was on the brink of existence,” Evers said in his acceptance speech. Michels accepted defeat after leading in the polls leading up to the election.
“Unfortunately, the math doesn’t add up,” in a speech to his supporters. “It wasn’t our night to- night.”
U.S. Senate
The race has yet to be called as of 10 a.m. on Wednesday but it appears as if incumbent republican Ron Johnson will keep his senate seat after a back and forth battle with democrat Mandela Barnes.
With 98.91% of the votes in, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel showed Barnes trailed Johnson by less than 30,000 votes in the waning stages of the race. If confirmed as the winner, Johnson will serve his third term as a member of the United States Senate.
Johnson mulled retirement after being elected to his second term back in 2016 but said the country needed his help and decided to run for a third term. Johnson declared a victory for himself on social media around 9:40 on Wednesday morning stating, “The votes are in… There is no path mathematically for Lt. Gov. Barnes to overcome his 27,374 vote deficit. This race is over.”
House
Tom Tiffany retained his seat by a wide margin over challenger Bob Look for the U.S. House of Representatives District 7 seat. Tiffany joined four other republicans in winning seats while two democrats earned spots and one race was undecided.
The Minocqua native touted fiscal responsibility, lower crime, energy independence and a secure border as the hot ticket issues he and other republicans would fight for leading up to the election.
Josh Kaul led Eric Toney by a slim margin of about 36,000 votes with 99 percent of the vote counted on Wednesday morning. He would be on track to serve his second-straight term as the Attorney General of Wisconsin. Kaul hosted a press conference for supporters and media personnel on Wednesday morning in which he thanked his supporters for a “hardfought” campaign.
Election results will be certified on Nov. 14 to confirm the winners.
