2018 Wisconsin Secretary of State Election

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Candidate Doug La Follette Jay Schroeder Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 1,380,752 1,235,034 Percentage 52.7% 47.2%

County results Congressional district 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

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 four-year term, defeating Republican nominee Jay Schroeder 53-47%.

Schroeder, La Follette's opponent made a pledge to abolish the position entirely if elected.^[1] This was 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.^[2]

Background

In 1974, La Follette was elected to his first term as Secretary of State. He served for one four-year term, but did not 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 had run for re-election every cycle, and had 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 had slowly been stripped from the office and instead given to jurisdictions. These powers include lobbying regulation and business registration, which La Follette had 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 had had 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, receiving 65% of the vote, and notably carrying all counties, including Dane County, home to Madison, which both candidates are from.

Results

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

General election

See also

• 2018 Wisconsin elections
• 2018 United States elections

References