2014 Wisconsin gubernatorial election


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.
This was one of nine Republican-held governorships up for election in a state that Barack Obama won in the 2012 presidential election. 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. 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.
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, this is the last time a Republican was elected governor of Wisconsin, and the last time that a candidate was elected Governor of Wisconsin while winning a majority of counties.

Republican primary

Governor

Candidates

Lieutenant governor

Candidates

Democratic primary

Governor

Candidates

Disqualified

Declined

Lieutenant governor

Candidates

Minor parties

Candidates

Declared

Disqualified

  • Francis Klein

General election

Polling

Poll sourceDate
administered		Sample
size		Margin of
error		Scott
Walker 		Jon
Erpenbach 		OtherUndecided
Public Policy PollingFebruary 21–24, 20131,799± 2.3%48%42%—9%

Poll sourceDate
administered		Sample
size		Margin of
error		Scott
Walker 		Russ
Feingold 		OtherUndecided
Public Policy PollingFebruary 21–24, 20131,799± 2.3%47%49%—4%

Poll sourceDate
administered		Sample
size		Margin of
error		Scott
Walker 		Mahlon
Mitchell 		OtherUndecided
Public Policy PollingFebruary 21–24, 20131,799± 2.3%48%39%—13%

Poll sourceDate
administered		Sample
size		Margin of
error		Scott
Walker 		Brett
Hulsey 		OtherUndecided
Marquette UniversityMay 15–18, 2014805± 3.5%48%39%—13%

Poll sourceDate
administered		Sample
size		Margin of
error		Scott
Walker 		Steve
Kagen 		OtherUndecided
Public Policy PollingFebruary 21–24, 20131,799± 2.3%48%41%—11%

Poll sourceDate
administered		Sample
size		Margin of
error		Scott
Walker 		Tom
Nelson 		OtherUndecided
Public Policy PollingSeptember 13–16, 20131,180± 2.9%47%40%—12%

Poll sourceDate
administered		Sample
size		Margin of
error		Scott
Walker 		Ron
Kind 		OtherUndecided
Public Policy PollingFebruary 21–24, 20131,799± 2.3%46%42%—11%

Poll sourceDate
administered		Sample
size		Margin of
error		Scott
Walker 		Kathleen
Vinehout 		OtherUndecided
Marquette UniversityOctober 21–24, 2013800± 3.5%47%44%—9%
Public Policy PollingSeptember 13–16, 20131,180± 2.9%47%41%—10%

Poll sourceDate
administered		Sample
size		Margin of
error		Scott
Walker 		Peter W.
Barca 		OtherUndecided
Marquette UniversityOctober 21–24, 2013800± 3.5%48%42%—10%
Public Policy PollingSeptember 13–16, 20131,180± 2.9%47%43%—10%
Public Policy PollingFebruary 21–24, 20131,799± 2.3%48%43%—9%

Results

By county

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican
Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

By congressional district

Walker won six of eight congressional districts, including one that elected a Democrat.
DistrictWalkerBurkeRepresentative
58.25%40.73%Paul Ryan
33.35%65.51%Mark Pocan
50.1%48.52%Ron Kind
27.35%71.65%Gwen Moore
67.64%31.53%Jim Sensenbrenner
60.71%38.17%Glenn Grothman
57.84%40.98%Sean Duffy
60.16%38.76%Reid Ribble