County loyal to Trump in national nail-biter
In high turnout election, voters support Republicans
Western Marathon County voters remained loyal to President Donald Trump on Tuesday, helping to keep the full county a Republican stronghold in a national election that, as of press time, is too close to call.
Locally, county voters, with over 91 percent turnout, favored Trump, a Republican, over his Democratic challenger former vice-president Joe Biden 44,623 (58 percent) to 30,807 (40 percent) in unoffi cial tallies.
As of Wednesday morning, Biden had a 238 to 213 lead in Electoral College votes over Trump with ballot tabulation in Wisconsin, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Arizona and Nevada still incomplete. Media accounts suggest a final count of ballots in Pennsylvania, a crucial battleground state, might be delayed as long as Friday.
In Tuesday night remarks, Biden said his campaign was on track to win the presidency. Trump, on the other hand, declared victory and promised a Supreme Court challenge to votes counted after Nov. 3.
Control of the U.S. Senate was also undecided as final votes were being counted in a handful of states.
Statewide, the electoral map in the presidential race changed little since 2016 when Trump narrowly defeated Hillary Clinton for his first term. Trump carried all of the Wisconsin counties he did four years ago except for Door County, which went for Biden this year.
Trump won the large majority of Wisconsin counties except for Milwaukee, Dane and its neighboring counties, Portage, Menomonie, Eau Claire and three Lake Superior counties, Ashland, Bayfield and Douglas. The level of support for Trump within local western county towns and villages was striking. The Republican swept local west county municipalities and typically by 70 percent margins. Turnout was exceptionally high and new voters appeared to lift Trump’s margins. Among local townships, the town of Halsey gave Trump recordhigh support, 79 percent.
Both the towns of Frankfort and Green Valley had extraordinarily high 99 percent turnouts in Tuesday’s election. The town of Bern had a 104 percent turnout.
In what was supposed to be a “blue wave” year, local Republican candidates for Congress, state senate and assembly easily outpolled their Democratic opponents.
Incumbent Seventh District congressman Tom Tiffany won his race to defeat Democratic challenger Tricia Zunker, 251,998 (61 percent) to 162,724 (39 percent). In a Tuesday night victory statement, he said he was looking forward to a two-year term in office. “In just the few short months that I’ve served as your congressman, we have already been able to get some great things done, and I am excited to jump right back into the work and continue getting things done for the people of the Seventh District,” he said.
Mary Czaja-Felzkowski, a Republican, defeated Democratic candidate Ed Vocke for the District 12 state senate seat. She won by a nearly two to one margin, 68,679 to 34,598. In a statement, Czaja-Felzkowski said she promised to work for opportunity in northcentral Wisconsin.
“This vision for our future aligns with my reason for running for this offi ce in the first place: opportunity,” she said. “I want our children, grandchildren and future generations to have the same opportunities we had growing up, right here at home in northern Wisconsin. I want prosperity for the Northwoods. I want to spend the next four years making these goals a reality and proving to you that you made the best decision when it comes to who represents you in Madison.”
In similar lopsided victories, Donna Rozar, a Republican, defeated Brian Giles in the District 69 assembly race, 18,567 to 9,603. James Edming, a Republican, defeated Richard Pulcher, a Democrat, 21,569 to 8,883.
In the District 35 assembly race, Calvin Callahan, the Republican, beat Tyler Ruprecht, a Democrat, by a 20,920 to 11,105 margin.
