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United States House of Representatives elections in Wisconsin, 2018
- General election: Nov. 6
- Voter registration deadline: Oct. 17 (online or mail), or Nov. 2 (in-person)
- Early voting: Varies by locality
- Absentee voting deadline: Nov. 6
- Online registration: Yes
- Same-day registration: Yes
- Voter ID: Photo ID required
- Poll times: 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.
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August 14, 2018 |
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The 2018 U.S. House of Representatives elections in Wisconsin took place on November 6, 2018. Voters elected eight candidates to serve in the U.S. House, one from each of the state's eight congressional districts.
Partisan breakdown
Heading into the November 6 election, the Republican Party held five of the eight congressional seats from Wisconsin.
| Members of the U.S. House from Wisconsin -- Partisan Breakdown | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Party | As of November 2018 | After the 2018 Election | |
| Democratic Party | 3 | 3 | |
| Republican Party | 5 | 5 | |
| Total | 8 | 8 | |
Incumbents
Heading into the 2018 election, the incumbents for the eight congressional districts were:
| Name | Party | District |
|---|---|---|
| Paul Ryan |  Republican |
1 |
| Mark Pocan |  Democratic |
2 |
| Ron Kind | Democratic |
3 |
| Gwen Moore | Democratic |
4 |
| Jim Sensenbrenner | Republican |
5 |
| Glenn Grothman | Republican |
6 |
| Sean Duffy | Republican |
7 |
| Mike Gallagher | Republican |
8 |
2016 Pivot Counties
Wisconsin features six congressional districts that, based on boundaries adopted after the 2010 census, intersected with one or more Pivot Counties. These 206 Pivot Counties voted for Donald Trump (R) in 2016 after voting for Barack Obama (D) in 2008 and 2012.
The 206 Pivot Counties are located in 34 states. Iowa, with 31, had the most such counties. Heading into the 2018 elections, the partisan makeup of the 108 congressional districts intersecting with Pivot Counties was more Republican than the partisan breakdown of the U.S. House. Of the 108 congressional districts that had at least one Pivot County, 63 percent were held by a Republican incumbent, while 55.4 percent of U.S. House seats were won by a Republican in the 2016 elections.[1]
Candidates
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District 1
General candidates
General election candidates
- Randy Bryce (Democratic Party)
- Bryan Steil (Republican Party) ✔
- Ken Yorgan (Independent)
Primary candidates
Democratic primary candidates
Republican primary candidates
Did not make the ballot:
Independents
District 2
General candidates
General election candidates
- Mark Pocan (Incumbent) (Democratic Party) ✔
Primary candidates
Democratic primary candidates
- Mark Pocan (Incumbent) ✔
There are no official candidates yet for this election.
District 3
General candidates
General election candidates
- Ronald James Kind (Incumbent) (Democratic Party) ✔
- Steve Toft (Republican Party)
Primary candidates
Democratic primary candidates
- Ronald James Kind (Incumbent) ✔
Republican primary candidates
Did not make the ballot:
District 4
General election candidates
General election candidates
- Gwen Moore (Incumbent) (Democratic Party) ✔
- Tim Rogers (Republican Party)
- Robert Raymond (Independent)
Primary candidates
Democratic primary candidates
- Gwen Moore (Incumbent) ✔
- Gary George
Republican primary candidates
Independents
District 5
General candidates
General election candidates
- F. James Sensenbrenner (Incumbent) (Republican Party) ✔
- Tom Palzewicz (Democratic Party)
Did not make the ballot:
- Kris Riley (Independent)
= candidate completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey
Primary candidates
Democratic primary candidates
Did not make the ballot:
= candidate completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey
Republican primary candidates
- F. James Sensenbrenner (Incumbent) ✔
- Jennifer Vipond
Independents
Withdrew
District 6
General candidates
General election candidates
- Glenn Grothman (Incumbent) (Republican Party) ✔
- Dan Kohl (Democratic Party)
Primary candidates
Democratic primary candidates
- Dan Kohl ✔
Did not make the ballot:
Republican primary candidates
- Glenn Grothman (Incumbent) ✔
Did not make the ballot:
District 7
General candidates
General election candidates
- Sean Duffy (Incumbent) (Republican Party) ✔
- Margaret Engebretson (Democratic Party)
- Ken Driessen (Direct Participatory Democracy Party)
= candidate completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey
Primary candidates
Democratic primary candidates
Did not make the ballot:
= candidate completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey
Republican primary candidates
- Sean Duffy (Incumbent) ✔
Direct Participatory Democracy
District 8
General candidates
General election candidates
- Mike Gallagher (Incumbent) (Republican Party) ✔
- Beau Liegeois (Democratic Party)
Primary candidates
Democratic primary candidates
Republican primary candidates
- Mike Gallagher (Incumbent) ✔
Wave election analysis
- See also: Wave elections (1918-2016)
The term wave election is frequently used to describe an election cycle in which one party makes significant electoral gains. How many seats would Republicans have had to lose for the 2018 midterm election to be considered a wave election?
Ballotpedia examined the results of the 50 election cycles that occurred between 1918 and 2016—spanning from President Woodrow Wilson's (D) second midterm in 1918 to Donald Trump's (R) first presidential election in 2016. We define wave elections as the 20 percent of elections in that period resulting in the greatest seat swings against the president's party.
Applying this definition to U.S. House elections, we found that Republicans needed to lose 48 seats for 2018 to qualify as a wave election.
The chart below shows the number of seats the president's party lost in the 11 U.S. House waves from 1918 to 2016. Click here to read the full report.
| U.S. House wave elections | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | President | Party | Election type | House seats change | House majority[4] | |
| 1932 | Hoover | R | Presidential | -97 | D | |
| 1922 | Harding | R | First midterm | -76 | R | |
| 1938 | Roosevelt | D | Second midterm | -70 | D | |
| 2010 | Obama | D | First midterm | -63 | R (flipped) | |
| 1920 | Wilson | D | Presidential | -59 | R | |
| 1946 | Truman | D | First midterm | -54 | R (flipped) | |
| 1994 | Clinton | D | First midterm | -54 | R (flipped) | |
| 1930 | Hoover | R | First midterm | -53 | D (flipped) | |
| 1942 | Roosevelt | D | Third midterm | -50 | D | |
| 1966 | Johnson | D | First midterm[5] | -48 | D | |
| 1974 | Ford | R | Second midterm[6] | -48 | D | |
See also
- United States House of Representatives elections, 2018
- U.S. House battlegrounds, 2018
- U.S. House primaries, 2018
Footnotes
- ↑ The raw data for this study was provided by Dave Leip of Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections.
- ↑ Wisconsin Elections Commission, "Candidates Tracking By Office," accessed May 7, 2018
- ↑ Federal Election Commission, "RILEY, KRIS ANN MS," accessed October 3, 2017
- ↑ Denotes the party that had more seats in the U.S. House following the election.
- ↑ Lyndon Johnson's (D) first term began in November 1963 after the death of President John F. Kennedy (D), who was first elected in 1960. Before Johnson had his first midterm in 1966, he was re-elected president in 1964.
- ↑ Gerald Ford's (R) first term began in August 1974 following the resignation of President Richard Nixon (R), who was first elected in 1968 and was re-elected in 1972. Because Ford only served for two full months before facing the electorate, this election is classified as Nixon's second midterm.
