| Election Name: | 2012 Wisconsin elections |
| Country: | Wisconsin |
| Type: | presidential |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Previous Election: | 2011 Wisconsin elections |
| Previous Year: | 2011 |
| Next Election: | 2013 Wisconsin elections |
| Next Year: | 2013 |
| Election Date: | April 3, 2012 November 6, 2012 |
The 2012 Wisconsin Fall General Election was held in the U.S. state of Wisconsin on November 6, 2012. One of Wisconsin's U.S. Senate seats and all of Wisconsin's eight seats in the United States House of Representatives were up for election, as well as sixteen seats in the Wisconsin State Senate and all 99 seats in the Wisconsin State Assembly. Voters also chose ten electors to represent them in the Electoral College, which then participated in selecting the president of the United States. The 2012 Fall Partisan Primary was held on August 14, 2012.[1] In the presidential election, Wisconsin congressman Paul Ryan was the Republican nominee for Vice President of the United States.
2012 also saw the culmination of the recall effort in Wisconsin which had been incited by Governor Scott Walker's 2011 Wisconsin Act 10, which stripped public employee unions of collective bargaining rights. During 2012, Walker faced a recall election along with four Republican state senators. These recall elections were all held on June 5, 2012, with a special primary on May 8. Walker survived the gubernatorial recall, but Democrats gained control of the state Senate.
In the Fall general election, the Democratic presidential candidate, incumbent president Barack Obama, won Wisconsin's ten electoral votes and secured a second four-year term. U.S. Senator Herb Kohl retired and was succeeded by fellow Democrat Tammy Baldwin; there was no change to the partisan makeup of Wisconsin's congressional delegation, remaining at five Republicans and three Democrats. This was also the first legislative election after a dramatic Republican gerrymander was implemented in 2011; Republicans gained two seats in the Wisconsin Senate, regaining the majority, and maintained their majority in the Wisconsin State Assembly.
The 2012 Wisconsin Spring Election was held April 3, 2012. This election featured a not-yet-settled Republican party presidential nominating contest, and various judicial and local elections, including county executive and mayoral elections in Wisconsin's largest city and county, Milwaukee. The 2012 Wisconsin Spring Primary was held February 21, 2012.
See main article: 2012 United States presidential election in Wisconsin. Incumbent president Barack Obama sought a second four-year term. In Wisconsin, voters elected Obama's electoral slate. Obama went on to win the majority of the electoral college.
See main article: 2012 Democratic Party presidential primaries. In the 2012 Democratic Party presidential primaries, the Wisconsin Democratic presidential preference primary was held concurrent with the Spring general election, April 3, 2012. The only candidate for the Democratic nomination was incumbent president Barack Obama, who received about 98% of the vote.[1]
See main article: 2012 Republican Party presidential primaries. In the 2012 Republican Party presidential primaries, the Wisconsin Republican presidential preference primary was held concurrent with the Spring general election, April 3, 2012. As the incumbent president was a Democrat, the Republican presidential nominating contest was open and saw nine candidates enter the race. By the time of Wisconsin's presidential preference primary, only four candidates remained in the race, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, former U.S. senator Rick Santorum (PA), former Speaker of the House of Representatives Newt Gingrich (GA), and U.S. Representative Ron Paul (TX). Other candidates whose names appeared on the ballot included former Ambassador Jon Huntsman Jr. (UT) and U.S. Representative Michele Bachmann (MN).
Mitt Romney won the Wisconsin Republican presidential preference primary with 44%, Santorum received 37% of the votes, Paul received 11%, with 6% going to Gingrich.[1]
Barack Obama won the presidential election against Mitt Romney and was awarded Wisconsin's ten electoral votes.
See main article: 2012 United States Senate election in Wisconsin. A regularly scheduled election was held for Wisconsin's Class 1 U.S. Senate seat at the Fall general election, November 6, 2012. The incumbent, Herb Kohl, first elected in 1988, retired after 24 years in the U.S. Senate. The election was won by Democrat Tammy Baldwin, who had previously served 14 years in the U.S. House of Representatives. Baldwin received 51% of the vote and defeated former Wisconsin governor Tommy Thompson in the general election. With her election, Baldwin became the first openly gay member of the U.S. Senate and Wisconsin's first female U.S. senator.
All 8 of Wisconsin's congressional districts were up for election at the Fall general election, November 6, 2012. Seven of the eight incumbent representatives ran for reelection, with Tammy Baldwin vacating District 2 to run for U.S. Senate. Party composition remained unchanged after the general election.
| District | Incumbent | This race | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Num. | PVI | Representative | Results | Candidates | |||||
| 1998 | Incumbent re-elected. | nowrap | |||||||
| 1998 | Incumbent retired to run for U.S. senator. New member elected. Democratic hold. | nowrap | |||||||
| 1996 | Incumbent re-elected. | nowrap | |||||||
| 2004 | Incumbent re-elected. | nowrap | |||||||
| 1978 | Incumbent re-elected. | nowrap | |||||||
| 1979 | Incumbent re-elected. | nowrap | |||||||
| 2010 | Incumbent re-elected. | nowrap | |||||||
| 2010 | Incumbent re-elected. | nowrap | |||||||
See main article: 2012 Wisconsin gubernatorial recall election. Wisconsin governor Scott Walker was subject to a recall petition in the Spring of 2012 and faced a recall election on June 5, 2012. He survived the recall election; Walker received 53% of the vote in a rematch with his 2010 opponent, Milwaukee mayor Tom Barrett.
See main article: 2012 Wisconsin lieutenant gubernatorial recall election.
Alongside Walker, lieutenant governor Rebecca Kleefisch was subject to recall petitions in the Spring of 2012 and faced recall elections on June 5, 2012. She survived the recall election; Kleefisch defeated Fire Fighters union president Mahlon Mitchell with a slightly smaller margin than Walker had in defeating Barrett.
See main article: 2012 Wisconsin Senate recall elections. Four Wisconsin state senators were subjects of a coordinated recall effort to remove them from office in the Spring of 2012. The four recall elections occurred on June 5, 2012. One incumbent, Van H. Wanggaard, was defeated in the recall. One other chose to resign and was replaced by another of the same party. The net result was that Democrats gained the majority of the state Senate.
| Dist. | Incumbent | This race | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Member | Party | First elected | Result | General[2] | |||
| 13 | Republican | 1994 | Incumbent retained | ||||
| 21 | Republican | 2010 | Incumbent recalled. Democratic gain. | ||||
| 23 | Republican | 2010 | Incumbent retained | ||||
| 29 | Vacant | New member elected. Republican hold | |||||
A special election was held December 2, 2012, to fill the 33rd State Senate seat vacated by Rich Zipperer, who resigned to become deputy chief of staff to Governor Scott Walker. Republican state representative Paul Farrow won the seat without opposition.[3]
See main article: 2012 Wisconsin Senate election. The 16 even-numbered districts out of 33 seats in the Wisconsin Senate were up for election at the Fall general election, November 6, 2012. Ten of these seats were held by Democrats and six were held by Republicans. Prior to the election, Democrats controlled the chamber with a 17 to 16 majority. Republicans flipped two seats in the general election, taking an 18 - 15 majority going into the 101st Wisconsin Legislature.
| Dist. | Incumbent | This race | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Member | Party | First elected | Primary election candidates | General election candidates | Result | ||||
| 2 | Robert Cowles | Republican | 1987 | Robert Cowles (Rep.) | Robert Cowles (Rep.) 98.54% | Incumbent re-elected. | |||
| 4 | Lena Taylor | Democratic | 2004 | Lena Taylor (Dem.) | nowrap | Incumbent re-elected. | |||
| 6 | Spencer Coggs | Democratic | 2003 | Incumbent retired. Democratic hold. | |||||
| 8 | Alberta Darling | Republican | 1992 | nowrap | Incumbent re-elected. | ||||
| 10 | Sheila Harsdorf | Republican | 2000 | nowrap | Incumbent re-elected. | ||||
| 12 | Jim Holperin | Democratic | 2008 | Incumbent retired. New member elected. Republican gain. | |||||
| 14 | Luther Olsen | Republican | 2004 | nowrap | Incumbent re-elected. | ||||
| 16 | Mark F. Miller | Democratic | 2004 | nowrap | Incumbent re-elected. | ||||
| 18 | Jessica King | Democratic | 2011 | Incumbent lost. New member elected. Republican gain. | |||||
| 20 | Glenn Grothman | Republican | 2004 | nowrap | Incumbent re-elected. | ||||
| 22 | Robert Wirch | Democratic | 1996 | nowrap | Incumbent re-elected. | ||||
| 24 | Julie Lassa | Democratic | 2003 | nowrap | Incumbent re-elected. | ||||
| 26 | Fred Risser | Democratic | 1962 | nowrap | Incumbent re-elected. | ||||
| 28 | Mary Lazich | Republican | 1998 | nowrap | Incumbent re-elected. | ||||
| 30 | Dave Hansen | Democratic | 2000 | nowrap | Incumbent re-elected. | ||||
| 32 | Jennifer Shilling | Democratic | 2011 | nowrap | Incumbent re-elected. | ||||
See main article: 2012 Wisconsin State Assembly election. All 99 seats of the Wisconsin State Assembly were up for election at the Fall general election, November 6, 2012. This was the first election after the redistricting of the legislature in 2011, and 21 seats had no incumbent on the ballot in this election. Republicans won 60 seats, matching their total from the 2010 election and maintaining their majority going into the 101st Wisconsin Legislature.
| Seats | Party (majority caucus shading) | Total | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Ind. | Republican | ||||
| nowrap colspan=2 | Last election (2010) | 38 | 1 | 60 | 99 | |
| nowrap style="font-size:80%" colspan=2 | Total before this election | 38 | 1 | 58 | 97 | |
| Up for election | 39 | 1 | 59 | 99 | ||
| of which: | nowrap style="font-size:80%" | Incumbent retiring | 8 | 1 | 6 | 15 |
| nowrap style="font-size:80%" | Vacated | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | |
| nowrap style="font-size:80%" | Unopposed | 16 | 0 | 4 | 20 | |
| This election | 39 | 0 | 60 | 99 | ||
| nowrap style="font-size:80%" colspan=2 | Change from last election | 1 | 1 | |||
| nowrap style="font-size:80%" colspan=2 | Total after this election | 39 | 0 | 60 | 99 | |
| nowrap style="font-size:80%" colspan=2 | Change in total | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||
Four seats on the Wisconsin Court of Appeals were on the ballot at the Spring general election, April 3, 2012. None of the elections were contested, one new judge was elected.[1]
Fifty two of the state's 249 circuit court seats were on the ballot at the Spring general election, April 3, 2012. Twelve of those elections were contested, two incumbents were defeated.[1]
A regularly scheduled mayoral election was held in Kenosha, Wisconsin, at the Spring general election, April 3, 2012. The incumbent Keith Bosman, first elected in 2008, was elected to a second four-year term, defeating city council president Jesse Downing. Two other candidates were eliminated in the February primary: video producer Jeff Baas and bar owner Nasser Museitif.
A regularly scheduled mayoral election was held in Wausau, Wisconsin, at the Spring general election, April 3, 2012. The incumbent Jim Tipple, first elected in 2004, was elected to a third four-year term.
See main article: 2012 Milwaukee mayoral election. A regularly scheduled mayoral election was held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, at the Spring general election, April 3, 2012. The incumbent Tom Barrett, first elected in 2004, was elected to a third four-year term, defeating University of Wisconsin faculty member Edward McDonald. One other candidate was eliminated in the February primary, Ieshuh Griffin.
A regularly scheduled county executive election was held in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, at the Spring general election, April 3, 2012. The incumbent Chris Abele, first elected in a 2011 special election, was elected to his first four-year term without opposition.
A regularly scheduled mayoral election was held in Appleton, Wisconsin, at the Spring general election, April 3, 2012. The incumbent Tim Hanna, first elected in 1996, was elected to a fifth four-year term, defeating city councilmember Thomas Konetzke.[4]
A mayoral recall election was held in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, concurrent with the Spring primary, February 21, 2012. A special recall primary was held on January 17, 2012. After incumbent mayor Bob Ryan ran into a series of controversies, Sheboygan residents collected over 4,700 signatures to trigger a recall election, submitting their petitions on November 1, 2011. In the recall election, Ryan was defeated by former state representative Terry Van Akkeren in a rematch of the 2009 mayoral election.[5] Six other candidates ran and were eliminated in the nonpartisan primary: city councilmember Jean Kittelson, retired executive Roberta Filicky-Peneski, businessman Randy Schwoerer, musician Erik Neave, high school student Asher Heimermann, and restaurant worker Mark Hermann.[6]