2008 Wisconsin elections

2008 Wisconsin elections

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Elections in Wisconsin
Federal government Presidential elections 1848 1852 1856 1860 1864 1868 1872 1876 1880 1884 1888 1892 1896 1900 1904 1908 1912 1916 1920 1924 1928 1932 1936 1940 1944 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016 2020 2024 Presidential primaries Democratic 2000 2004 2008 2016 2020 2024 Republican 2004 2008 2012 2016 2020 2024 U.S. Senate elections Class 1 1848 1851 1857 1863 1869 1875 1881 1887 1893 1899 1905 1911 1916 1922 1925 sp 1928 1934 1940 1946 1952 1957 sp 1958 1964 1970 1976 1982 1988 1994 2000 2006 2012 2018 2024 Class 3 1848 1849 1855 1861 1867 1872 1879 1881 sp 1885 1890 1891 1897 1903 1907 sp 1909 1914 1918 sp 1920 1926 1932 1938 1944 1950 1956 1962 1968 1974 1980 1982 1986 1992 1998 2004 2010 2016 2022 2028 U.S. House of Representatives elections 1848 1850 1852 1854 1856 1858 1860 1862 1863 2nd sp 1864 1866 1868 1870 2nd sp 1872 1874 1876 1878 1880 1882 1884 1886 5th sp 1887 8th sp 1888 1890 1892 1893 4th sp 1894 7th sp 1896 1898 1900 1902 1904 1906 2nd sp 1908 1910 1912 1914 1916 1918 6th sp 11th sp 1920 1922 1924 1926 1928 1930 6th sp 1931 1st sp 1932 1934 1936 1938 1940 1941 1st sp 1942 1944 1946 1947 2nd sp 1948 1950 1952 1953 9th sp 1954 1956 1958 1960 1962 1964 1966 1968 1969 7th sp 1970 1972 1974 1976 1978 1979 6th sp 1980 1982 1984 4th sp 1986 1988 1990 1992 1993 1st sp 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018 2020 7th sp 2022 2024 8th sp 2026
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Ballot measures 2006 Referendum 1
Green Bay Mayoral elections 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015 2019 2023
Madison Mayoral elections 1997 sp 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015 2019 2023
Milwaukee Mayoral elections 1910 1912 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016 2020 2022 sp 2024
Kenosha Mayoral elections 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016 2020 2024
v t e

The 2008 Wisconsin fall general election was held on November 4, 2008. All of Wisconsin's eight seats in the United States House of Representatives were up for election. Within the state government, sixteen seats in the Wisconsin State Senate, and all 99 seats in the Wisconsin State Assembly were up for election. At the presidential level, voters chose ten electors to represent them in the Electoral College, which then helped select the president of the United States. The 2008 fall partisan primary was held on September 9, 2008.

In the fall general election, the Democratic presidential candidate, Senator Barack Obama, won Wisconsin's ten electoral votes, defeating Senator John McCain. There was no change to the partisan makeup of Wisconsin's congressional delegation. The state senate saw no change in partisan composition, as all incumbents were re-elected, and vacancies in seats held by both parties were filled with no change to the party that held the seat. In the state assembly, Democrats gained five seats while one Independent was re-elected after having previously served as a Republican.

The 2008 Wisconsin spring election was held on April 1, 2008. This election saw a contested race for the Wisconsin Supreme Court, a constitutional amendment referendum, as well as various nonpartisan local and judicial offices. The 2008 spring primary election was held on February 19, 2008. In an unusual move, the presidential preference primary was held at the Spring primary election rather than the Spring general election; it was part of a national movement in which half the states rushed to hold their presidential primaries in February.

Incumbent president George W. Bush was term limited and could not run for another term. With no incumbent on the ballot, both party nominating contests featured a wide array of candidates. Both nominating contests were still unresolved when Wisconsin voted in their presidential preference primaries. In the general election, Wisconsin voters chose electors for the Democratic nominee, U.S. Senator Barack Obama (D–IL).

For its part in the 2008 Democratic Party presidential primaries, Wisconsin's presidential preference primary was on the ballot for Wisconsin's Spring primary election, held on Tuesday, February 19, 2008. At the time of the Wisconsin primary, three candidates were still in the race for the nomination, U.S. senators Barack Obama (D–IL) and Hillary Clinton (D–NY), and former U.S. senator Mike Gravel (D–AK), though Gravel did not have a viable path to the nomination at this point. The candidate field originally also included U.S. senators Joe Biden (D–DE), Evan Bayh (D–IN), and Chris Dodd (D–CT), former U.S. senator John Edwards (D–NC), governors Bill Richardson (D–NM) and Tom Vilsack (D–IA), and U.S. representative Dennis Kucinich (D–OH), all of their names still appeared on the Wisconsin ballot, except Bayh and Vilsack.

Barack Obama won the Wisconsin primary, receiving 58% of the popular vote and earning 42 of 74 pledged delegates from the state. At the time, it was his eleventh consecutive victory in a primary or caucus, building a delegate lead that he would have to fight to retain through another three months of primary contests.

In the 2008 Republican Party presidential primaries, the Wisconsin Republican presidential preference primary was also held at the Spring primary, February 19, 2008. At the time of the Wisconsin primary, three candidates were still in the race for the nomination, U.S. senator John McCain (R–AZ), former governor Mike Huckabee (R–AR), and U.S. representative Ron Paul (R–TX). The candidate field originally included Wisconsin's incumbent governor Tommy Thompson, but he dropped out before the Iowa caucuses. The field also previously included U.S. senator Sam Brownback (R–KS), actor and former U.S. senator Fred Thompson (R–TN), U.S. representatives Duncan L. Hunter (R–CA) and Tom Tancredo (R–CO), governors Mitt Romney (R–MA) and Jim Gilmore (R–VA), mayor Rudy Giuliani (R–NY), businessman John H. Cox, and perennial candidate Alan Keyes. In addition to the three remaining candidates, Romney, Giuliani, Thompson, Hunter, and Tacredo were also on the ballot in Wisconsin.

John McCain won the Wisconsin primary, receiving 55% of the popular vote and earning 34 of 40 pledged delegates from the state. Huckabee would with draw from the race less than a month later.

The presidential election was held at the Fall general election, November 4, 2008. Barack Obama won the state with 56% of the vote, it was the largest majority the state had given to a presidential candidate since Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964.

The 2008 United States House of Representatives elections in Wisconsin were held on November 4, 2008, to elect Wisconsin's delegation to the United States House of Representatives for the 111th United States Congress. At the time of the 2008 election, Wisconsin had eight congressional districts. All eight of Wisconsin's incumbent U.S. representatives won re-election in 2008. At the time the delegation was composed of five Democrats and three Republicans.

The 16 even-numbered districts out of the 33 seats in the Wisconsin State Senate were up for re-election in 2008. Prior to the election Democrats held the majority with 17 seats, Republicans held 14 seats, and two seats were vacant. In the election, both parties regained their vacant seats and returned to the 18 seats held by Democrats and 15 seats held by Republicans which was seen after the prior election.

Seats		Party (majority caucus shading)		Total
		Democratic	Republican
Total after last election (2006)		18	15	33
Total before this election		18	15	33
Up for election		8	8	16
This election		8	8	16
Total after this election		18	15	33
Change in total

All of the 99 seats in the Wisconsin State Assembly were on the ballot for the Fall general election, November 4, 2008. Prior to the election, 52 seats were held by Republicans, 47 seats were held by Democrats, and one seat was held by an Independent. In the election, Republicans failed to defend their majority and Democrats took a majority of seats for the first time in 14 years.

Seats		Party (majority caucus shading)			Total	Vacant
		Democratic	Ind.	Republican
Total after last election (2006)		47	0	52	99	0
Total before this election		47	1	51	99	0
Up for election		47	1	51	99
This election		52	1	46	99
Total after this election		52	1	46	99	0
Change in total		3		3

Judge Michael Gableman was elected with 51% of the vote, defeating incumbent Justice Louis Butler with 49% of the vote.^[1] The heavy spending of outside interest groups in this race, including Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce,^[2] inspired some to call for reforms to Wisconsin election law and the selection of judges.^[3] Gableman's victory also shifted the Court in a more conservative direction, establishing a conservative majority that would persist for 15 years.^[4]

Three seats on the Wisconsin Court of Appeals were up for election on April 1, 2008.

• In District I, incumbent judge Patricia S. Curley was elected to her third six-year term without opposition.
• In District II, incumbent judge Lisa Neubauer, appointed by Governor Jim Doyle in 2007, won her first six-year term, defeating attorney William Gleisner.
• In District IV, incumbent judge Burnie Bridge, appointed by Governor Jim Doyle in 2007, won her first six-year term without opposition.

Thirty nine of the state's 247 circuit court seats were on the ballot for the Spring general election, April 1, 2008. Of those seats, six were newly created. Only 9 seats were contested. One incumbent justice faced a challenger and was defeated.

Prohibit Partial Veto Authority

April 1, 2008
Partial Veto. Shall section 10(1)(c) of article V of the constitution be amended to prohibit the governor, in exercising his or her partial veto authority, from creating a new sentence by combining parts of two or more sentences of the enrolled bill?
Results
Choice Votes % Yes 575,582 70.61% No 239,613 29.39% Total votes 815,195 100.00%

By a margin of 335,969 votes, the Wisconsin voters chose to amend the state's Constitution to implement restrictions on the governor's ability to partially veto legislation.^[6] The purpose of the amendment was to reduce the veto power of the Governor, sometimes known as the "Frankenstein veto", which has been historically used by governors of irrespective of their party to rework legislation.^[7][8]

The line-item veto, also known as a Frankenstein veto is a historic fixture of Wisconsin politics and acted as a way for the governor to bypass the state legislature regarding legislation as the veto gave the governor the ability to strike out words, numbers, and even entire sentences from different bills, though this ability was reduced over time. The veto was used by governors of both parties, such as Patrick Lucey (D), Tony Earl (D), and Tommy Thompson (R) and Jim Doyle (D) during their terms. During all their terms, the veto was also restricted via judicial action, such as in State ex. rel. Wisconsin Telephone Co. v. Henry, which recognized the ability of the governor to use such a veto, and Risser v. Klauser, which prohibited the governor from using a write-in veto to alter monetary amounts which were not appropriated by the legislature The veto has also been restricted in prior constitutional amendments, such as in 1990, when voters approved an amendment to end the "pick-a-letter" veto, which was the selective vetoing of letters or numerical characters to form a new word.^[9]

A regularly scheduled mayoral election was held in Milwaukee, concurrent with the Spring general election, April 1, 2008. Incumbent mayor Tom Barrett defeated challenger Andrew J. Shaw and was re-elected to a second four-year term.^[10]

• [1] Wisconsin Government Accountability Board Registered Candidates
• Project Vote Smart - Wisconsin
• Wisconsin Senate districts map
• Wisconsin Assembly districts map
• Search Wisconsin candidate Statements of Economic Interest