2014 Wisconsin gubernatorial election

2014 Wisconsin gubernatorial election

← 2012 (recall) November 4, 2014 2018 →
Turnout54.5% (Decrease 3.3%)
 
Nominee Scott Walker Mary Burke
Party Republican Democratic
Running mate Rebecca Kleefisch John Lehman
Popular vote 1,259,706 1,122,913
Percentage 52.26% 46.59%

County results
Walker:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%
Burke:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%

Governor before election

Scott Walker
Republican

Elected Governor

Scott Walker
Republican

The 2014 Wisconsin gubernatorial election took place on November 4, 2014, to determine the governor and lieutenant governor of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It occurred concurrently with elections to the United States Senate in other states and elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections.

Incumbent Republican governor Scott Walker won re-election to a second term in office, defeating Democratic businesswoman and Madison school board member Mary Burke and two minor party candidates in the general election.

Walker, who was elected in 2010, survived an attempted recall in 2012, the first governor in United States history to do so, defeating Democrat Tom Barrett both times. Wisconsin voters have elected a governor from a different political party than the sitting president in 27 of the last 31 elections since 1932; only once has a Democratic candidate been elected governor in Wisconsin in the last 18 contests when a Democrat was in the White House.[1] Eleven of the last twelve Wisconsin governors, dating back to Republican Vernon Wallace Thomson in the late 1950s, had, unlike Burke, previously won an election to state government, the exception being Republican Lee S. Dreyfus in 1978.[2]

The polling leading up to the election was very close, with no candidate clearly in the lead. The consensus among most analysts was that the race was either a tossup or leaning Republican. As of 2024, this is the last time a Republican was elected governor of Wisconsin, and the last time that a candidate was elected Governor of Wisconsin by winning a majority of counties.

  1. ^ Ostermeier, Eric (August 23, 2013). "Scott Walker's Ticket to Ride: Obama in the White House?". Smart Politics.
  2. ^ Ostermeier, Eric (September 17, 2014). "Wisconsin Gubernatorial Pathways: How Does Burke's Measure Up?". Smart Politics.