2018 Wisconsin Secretary of State election

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%.

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

Schroeder, La Follette's opponent made a pledge to abolish the position entirely if elected. 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.

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

• Doug La Follette, Incumbent Secretary of State, candidate for governor in the 2012 recall election, former state senator from the 22nd district

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	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

By congressional district

Despite losing the state, Schroeder won 5 of 8 congressional districts.

District	La Follette	Schroeder	Representative
1st	47%	53%	Paul Ryan
2nd	72%	28%	Mark Pocan
3rd	53%	47%	Ron Kind
4th	78%	22%	Gwen Moore
5th	41%	59%	Jim Sensenbrenner
6th	45%	55%	Glenn Grothman
7th	44%	56%	Sean Duffy
8th	45%	55%	Mike Gallagher

See also

• 2018 Wisconsin elections
• 2018 United States elections