# 2018 Wisconsin Secretary of State election

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vte :
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 53-47%.
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

Democratic Primary Results :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Democratic | Doug La Follette (incumbent) | 327,020 | 65.9 |
| | Democratic | Arvina Martin | 169,130 | 34.1 |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 496,150 | 100.0 |

## Republican primary
### Nominated

* Jay Harvey Schroeder

### Eliminated in primary

* Spencer Zimmerman, perennial candidate

### Results

Republican Primary Results :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Republican | Jay Harvey Schroeder | 254,424 | 71.4 |
| | Republican | Spencer Zimmerman | 101,818 | 28.6 |
| Total votes | Total votes | 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 six percentage points.

### Results

Wisconsin Secretary of State election, 2018 :
| Party | 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 | 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 |