|
Capitol Notes
Wisconsin Political and Legislative Update
|
TO: Clients/Friends of Capitol Consultants, Inc./Wimmer & Company, S.C.
FROM: Tony Langenohl
Capitol Consultants, Inc.
& Wimmer Company, S.C.
DATE: November 6, 2012
SUBJECT: Wisconsin Election Results (Part 2)
|
Know someone that would like to receive our Weekly Updates, please feel free to forward this e-mail and have them join our subscriber list below.
|
Republicans Retain Strong Control of WI State Assembly
 | | Likely Assembly Speaker Representative Robin Vos (R-Burlington) |
Heading into election night with a 59-39-1 majority, Assembly Republicans were largely playing defense, holding several seats that had higher than average Democratic performance under the newly redistricted maps. At a minimum, with a few elections remaining to be finalized, Republicans will retain control of the State Assembly with a minimum of the same majority they have now. Starting with their base of 59 seats on Election Day: Republicans picked up 3 seats that became Republican leaning because of redistricting; - 13th Assembly District- Republican Rob Hutton defeated Democrat John Pokrandt 65% to 35%. This seat was formerly held by Rep. David Cullen (D-Milwaukee).
- 15th Assembly District- Republican Joe Sanfelippo defeated Democrat Cindy Moore 56% to 44% for the seat formerly held by Rep. Tony Staskunas (D-Milwaukee).
- 37th Assembly District- Republican John Jagler defeated Democrat Mary Arnold for the seat that was represented by Rep. Andy Jorgensen (D-Fort Atkinson).
Democrats captured two Republican seats that became more Democratic leaning because of redistricting: - 44th Assembly District- Rep. Andy Jorgensen (D-Fort Atkinson) defeated Rep. Evan Wynn (R-Whitewater) in a district that was combined through redistricting. Jorgensen captured 58% to Wynn's 42%.
- 44th Assembly District- Democrat Deb Kolste defeated Rep. Joe Knilans (R-Janesville) 62% to 38%.
Republicans picked up the seat of former Independent Representative Bob Ziegelbauer (I-Manitowoc) who did not seek re-election. - 25th Assembly District: Republican Paul Tittl defeated Democrat Jim Brey 57% to 43% in the Manitowoc district.
Outstanding at this point are only three races two potential Democratic pick-ups and a potential Republican pick-up that are too close to call; - In the 70th Assembly District, State Representative Amy Sue Vruwink is trailing Republican Nancy Vandermeer with 78% of precincts reporting. Vruwink has 49% to Vandermeer's 51%, less than 300 votes separating the two.
- In the 75th Assembly District, State Representative Roger Rivard is trailing Democratic challenger Stepen Smith by 440 votes, 49% to 51%.
- In the 72nd Assembly District, State Representative Scott Krug is leading his Democratic opponent 52% to 48%, with 82
So Republicans will maintain at least their current 59 seat majority or may grow it by one seat.
Back to the table of contents
|
Republicans capture majority in Wisconsin State Senate
 | | Likely Sen. Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau) |
In the State Senate, Republicans started the session with a 19-14 majority, but after three sets of recall elections, lost control of the State Senate (after the session concluded). Tonight they captured two of the three competitive races they were targeting, winning the open 12th Senate District seat and defeating incumbent State Senator Jessica King (D-Oshkosh), giving them an 18-15 majority to start the session in January. State Senator Dave Hansen (D-Green Bay), who survived a recall election last year, was re-elected this evening.
The Republican primary for the candidate to take the seat formerly held by Sen. Rich Zipperer (R-Pewaukee), who resigned his seat in August to take the position of Governor Walker's Deputy Chief of Staff and General Counsel, was tied at 50% to 50% with 44% reporting. Representative Chris Kapenga (R-Hartland) and Representative Paul Farrow (R-Brookfield), who were both re-elected to their Assembly seats tonight, are competing for that seat.
12th Senate District (Tiffany-R, Wins): Sen. Jim Holperin (D-Conover), who is the only legislator in the country to survive two recall elections (one as a member of the State Assembly in the early 90's and one last year as a state senator) decided to not seek re-election this year. Rep. Tom Tiffany (R-Hazelhurst) captured 57% of the vote, defeating Susan Somers (D-Phelps) (40%) and Paul Ehlers (L-Rhinelander) (3%).
18th Senate District (Gudex-R, Wins):
The 18th Senate District is one of two seats last year that were previously Republican-held and were captured by Democrat challengers in the 2011 recall elections. Sen. Jessica King (D-Oshkosh) captured the seat last year by defeating incumbent Sen. Randy Hopper (R-Fond du Lac ). Tonight, Sen. King was narrowly defeated by Rick Gudex (R-Fond du Lac), 51% to 49%.
30th Senate District (Hansen-D, Wins):
Sen. Dave Hansen (D-Green Bay), who easily survived a recall challenge in 2011, tonight defeated Republican John Macco (R-De Pere) 54% to 46%.
Back to the table of contents
|
|
Cong. Baldwin wins US Senate seat, Democrats maintain US Senate Majority
 | | Sen.-elect Tammy Baldwin |
With 74% precincts reporting, the Associated Press is projecting that Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin (D-Madison) has defeated former Governor Tommy Thompson (R-Madison) 50% to 47%.
Cong. Baldwin's victory, combined with other Democratic US Senate wins, keeps the Democratic majority in the US Senate, with at least 51 seats.
The margin of victory by Cong. Baldwin was larger than the spread in publicly released polling.
Pollster Estimate:
The Pollster estimate has the race at 47.1% for Baldwin and 46.1% for Thompson, a tightening of 3 points over the last week of polling. Link to Pollster site.
Real Clear Politics Estimate:
The Real Clear Politics average of the last four polls has the race currently at +0.5% for Baldwin. Link to RCP site.
|
|
Stay Connected on what's going on politically throughout the week
Follow us on Twitter
Like us on Facebook
Follow us on tumblr
|
