1886 Wisconsin gubernatorial election

The 1886 Wisconsin gubernatorial election was held on November 2, 1886.
Republican nominee Jeremiah McLain Rusk defeated Democratic nominee Gilbert M. Woodward, Union Labor Party nominee John Cochrane, and Prohibition nominee John Myers Olin with 46.53% of the vote.

General election

Candidates

Major party candidates

Gilbert M. Woodward, Democratic, attorney, former member of the United States House of Representatives
Jeremiah McLain Rusk, Republican, incumbent Governor

Other candidates

John Myers Olin, Prohibition, lecturer in law at the University of Wisconsin, Prohibition nominee for Wisconsin's 3rd congressional district in 1884
John Cochrane, Union Labor

Results by county

Marquette County voted Republican for the first time since 1857. Woodward was the first Democrat since 1859 to win Bayfield County and La Crosse County; the former would not vote Democratic again until 1918. Additionally, Sawyer County would not vote Democratic again until 1932.

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

Counties that flipped from Republican to Union Labor

Milwaukee