Wisconsin held its partisan primaries yesterday (August 13) for state legislative and congressional races for the fall general election. Despite a significant number of primaries (primaries were held in roughly half of the 99 Assembly seats and 4 of the 16 Senate seats), there were very few surprises, with the only incumbents that lost their reelection bids were those who were paired against other incumbents due to redistricting.  There was also a statewide referendum on two proposed constitutional amendments. Please find below key election result highlights:

CONGRESSIONAL RACES OF NOTE:

• In the 8th Congressional District GOP primary, Trump-endorsed Tony Wied edged out state Senator Andre Jacque and former state Senator Roger Roth in this closely watched race. Wied will face Democrat Kristin Lyerly in November for the opportunity to fill the open seat vacated earlier this year by Congressman Mike Gallagher (R). Jacque will return to the State Senate, as his seat is not up in November.
• In the 3rd Congressional District, former WEDC Board member Rebecca Cooke beat state Rep. Katrina Shankland in the Democratic primary. She will face Congressman Derrick Van Orden (R) in the November general election. The 3^rdCD is considered a swing seat, and Democrats have targeted it in their attempt to win back the House this fall.

OVERVIEW OF STATE LEGISLATIVE RACES:

• Assembly Speaker Robin Vos easily won his primary challenge, which took place after two failed recall attempts against him earlier this year.
• Freshman Republican State Rep. Nate Gustafson defeated Rep. Mike Schraa in the 55^thAssembly District.  Schraa has served in the State Assembly for 12 years.
• Republican State Rep. John Spiros won his three-way primary for the 86^thAD, which also included two-term incumbent State Representative Donna Rozar.
• Freshman Republican State Rep. Elijah Behnke defeated freshman Rep. Peter Schmidt after moving into the 5^thAD to challenge him.
• Dave Armstrong defeated Jimmy Swenson in the GOP primary for the 67th Assembly District, capturing nearly 78% of the vote.
• Republican State Senator Dan Knodl defeated State Representative Janel Brandtjen in the Republican primary for the 24^thAssembly District.  Sitting senators don’t typically run for the State Assembly. However, Knodl was redistricted into another Senator’s seat and decided to return to the State Assembly rather than run for the Senate.  He served 15 years in the State Assembly prior to serving the last year in the State Senate.
• Dan Feyen (R-Fond du Lac) easily defeated Tim Ramthun in the GOP primary for the 20th Senate District, capturing nearly 65% of the vote.
• Democrat State Representative Melissa Ratcliffe won a three-way primary for the 16^thSenate District, defeating fellow State Representatives Jimmy Anderson and Samba Baldeh.  Both Anderson and Baldeh had to forgo running for their Assembly seat to run for Senate, so neither will be returning to the State Assembly in January.

PRPOSED CONSTITITIONAL AMENDMENTS:

• Wisconsin voters rejected both constitutional amendment questions on the ballot, which aimed to give the Legislature more control over spending federal funds.

CLICK HERE to review all election results.