President
Several major news outlets declared former Vice President Joe Biden (D) the victor over incumbent President Donald Trump (R) on Saturday, November 7. According to The New York Times, Biden has won the Electoral College with 306 votes to Trump’s 232. Biden received approximately 50.8% of the popular vote and set a record for the most votes for a single presidential candidate in American history. In the Electoral College, Biden flipped five states that Trump won in 2016 by narrow margins: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. President Trump has yet to concede and is expected to file lawsuits in several key battleground states. Georgia is conducting a statewide hand recount of presidential votes, but Biden’s lead of over 14,000 votes in the state is expected to withstand any recount changes. Trump has also signaled that he intends to call for a recount in Wisconsin, where Biden leads by over 20,000 votes. However, past statewide recounts in Wisconsin have only changed the vote tally by a few hundred votes.
U.S. Senate
Control of the Senate remains a toss-up, although Democrats face an uphill battle. Democrats have a net gain of one seat after former Governor John Hickenlooper (D) defeated incumbent Cory Gardner (R) in Colorado, former astronaut Mark Kelly (D) defeated incumbent Martha McSally (R) in Arizona, and former football coach Tommy Tuberville (R) defeated incumbent Doug Jones (D) in Alabama. Gary Peters (D-MI), Susan Collins (R-ME), Joni Ernst (R-IA), Thom Tillis (R-NC), Steve Daines (R-MT), and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) fended off their challengers in highly publicized and expensive races. Democrats and their independent colleagues possess 48 seats while Republicans have 50. Control of the Senate will be determined by two run-off elections in Georgia next January, where Jon Ossoff (D) will seek to unseat incumbent David Perdue (R) while incumbent Kelly Loeffler (R) will face Raphael Warnock (D) in a special election after a jungle primary.
U.S. House
Democrats maintained control of the House but experienced a net loss as Republicans made inroads in several key battleground districts. Republicans flipped nine seats for a net gain of six, including a victory against Collin Peterson (D-MN), who currently chairs the House Agriculture Committee. The Associated Press has yet to call fourteen races. Wisconsin’s House delegation will likely remain at a five to three split in favor of Republicans, with all seven incumbents projected to win re-election. Wisconsin State Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R) will succeed Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R) to represent the 5th Congressional District.
Wisconsin Winners in the House:
1st Congressional District: Bryan Steil (R)
2nd: Mark Pocan (D)
3rd: Ron Kind (D)
4th: Gwen Moore (D)
5th: Scott Fitzgerald (R)
6th: Glenn Grothman (R)
7th: Tom Tiffany (R)
8th: Mike Gallagher (R)
Wisconsin State Senate
Republicans expanded their control of the State Senate but failed to secure a veto-proof supermajority of 22 seats. Senate Republicans needed to gain three seats but fell one short. Rep. Rob Stafsholt (R) defeated incumbent Sen. Patty Schachtner (D) in the 10th District while Eric Wimberger (R) will succeed retiring Sen. Dave Hansen (D) in the 30th District. Former Wisconsin Secretary of Agriculture, Trade, and Consumer Protection Brad Pfaff (D) beat former Sen. Dan Kapanke (R) by a razor-thin margin in the race to succeed retiring Sen. Jennifer Shilling (D) in the 32nd District, denying the Republicans their veto-proof majority. Senate Republicans chose Sen. Devin LeMahieu (R) to be the new State Senate Majority Leader after Sen. Scott Fitzgerald (R) won election to the U.S. House of Representatives. Sen. LeMahieu defeated former Senate President Roger Roth (R) for the role in a closed-caucus vote. One of Sen. LeMahieu’s first acts as Majority Leader was to replace Sen. Alberta Darling (R) with Sen. Howard Marklein (R) for the coveted position of Chair of the Joint Finance Committee, which will play a vital role in creating the upcoming biennial budget. Sen. Chris Kapenga (R) was elected Senate President in an unopposed race. Sen. Janet Bewley (D) was re-elected as Minority Leader.
Party Control: Republican; expected to be a 21-12 split.
Wisconsin State Assembly
Republicans maintained the control of the Assembly but failed to achieve a veto-proof supermajority in this chamber as well. Republicans needed to win a net-gain of three seats but received a net-loss of two seats as Democrats flipped two districts in suburban Milwaukee, due in part to changing demographics. Incumbent Rep. Rob Hutton (R) was defeated by Sara Rodriguez (D) in the 13th District while incumbent Rep. Jim Ott (R) was defeated by Deb Andraca (D) in the 23rd District. Leadership positions remain largely unchanged, but Rep. Kevin Petersen (R) will replace outgoing Rep. Mary Felzkowski (R) as Assistant Majority Leader.
Party Control: Republican; expected to be a 61-38 split.
Additional reporting by Spencer Johnson.
