Local voters rally behind Trump win
By Kevin O’Brien
Just as they did in 2016 and 2020, voters in the Abbotsford-Colby area showed overwhelming support for Republican Donald Trump in Tuesday’s election, preferring him over Democrat Kamala Harris by wide margins and helping him retake Wisconsin and the White House.
Trump earned strong majorities in every local municipality and won nearly 70 percent of the vote in Clark County and nearly 60 percent in Marathon County.
The former and now future president won in a landslide locally, beating Harris 507-283 in the city of Abbotsford and 458 to 275 in the city of Colby. The village of Dorchester went for Trump 251 to 84. The only local municipality where it was close was the village of Curtiss, where Trump beat Harris by just two votes, 25-23.
Wisconsin was one of several “Blue Wall” states, including Michigan and Pennslyvania, that went for Trump on Tuesday night after voting for Biden in 2020. The Badger State’s 10 electoral college votes helped Trump surpass the 270 threshold he needed to earn a new term as president.
As of press time, Trump was leading Harris in both the Electoral College vote and the national popular vote.
In other major races, Congressman Tom Tiffany won a new two-year term in the U.S. House of Representatives, beating Democrat Kyle Kilbourn by 274,110 to 156,730. Tiffany won over 62 percent of the vote in Marathon County, amassing 48,487 votes
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compared to 29,088 for Kilbourn.
Marathon County voters were some of Tiffany’s biggest supporters in the race, providing the largest share of ballots in his favor across the 7th Congressional District. The only counties supporting Kilbourn were in the far north, including Douglas, Ashland and Bayfield.
The lone potential bright spot for Democrats was the race between Sen. Tammy Baldwin and Republican Eric Hovde, which was still too close to call at press time. Statewide, Baldwin had a razor thin lead of 49.4 percent, compared to 48.5 percent for Hovde.
On a local level, though, voters left no doubt that they favored Hovde over Baldwin, with over 57 percent of Marathon County’s going to the Republican, compared to about 41 percent for the Democratic incumbent. Hovde won an even greater share of the vote in Clark County, winning 67 percent of votes castÍÍÍ.
By far, the biggest winner on Tuesday’s ballot was a statewide referendum asking voters if the state constitution should be amended so that only U.S. citizens 18 and over can vote in national, state and local elections. Well over 80 percent of voters in local precincts voted in favor of the referendum, which passed with over 1 million votes statewide.
