Wisconsin's 2nd Congressional District election, 2020 (August 11 Democratic primary)
- Primary date: Aug. 11
- Primary type: Open
- Registration deadline(s): July 22 (postmarked); Aug. 7 (received)
- Online registration: Yes
- Same-day registration: Yes
- Early voting starts: Varies locally
- Absentee/mail voting deadline(s): Aug. 7 (received)
- Voter ID: Photo ID
- Poll times: 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
2022 →
← 2018
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| Wisconsin's 2nd Congressional District |
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| Democratic primary Republican primary General election |
| Election details |
| Filing deadline: June 1, 2020 |
| Primary: August 11, 2020 General: November 3, 2020 Pre-election incumbent: Mark Pocan (Democratic) |
| How to vote |
| Poll times: 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Voting in Wisconsin |
| Race ratings |
Inside Elections: Solid Democratic Sabato's Crystal Ball: Safe Democratic |
| Ballotpedia analysis |
| U.S. Senate battlegrounds U.S. House battlegrounds Federal and state primary competitiveness Ballotpedia's Election Analysis Hub, 2020 |
| See also |
1st • 2nd • 3rd • 4th • 5th • 6th • 7th • 8th Wisconsin elections, 2020 U.S. Congress elections, 2020 U.S. Senate elections, 2020 U.S. House elections, 2020 |
A Democratic Party primary took place on August 11, 2020, in Wisconsin's 2nd Congressional District to determine which Democratic candidate would run in the district's general election on November 3, 2020.
Incumbent Mark Pocan advanced from the Democratic primary for U.S. House Wisconsin District 2.
| Candidate filing deadline | Primary election | General election |
|---|---|---|
Heading into the election, the incumbent was Mark Pocan (Democrat), who was first elected in 2012.
A primary election is an election in which registered voters select a candidate that they believe should be a political party's candidate for elected office to run in the general election. They are also used to choose convention delegates and party leaders. Primaries are state-level and local-level elections that take place prior to a general election. Wisconsin utilizes an open primary system; registered voters do not have to be members of a party to vote in that party's primary.[2][3]
For information about which offices are nominated via primary election, see this article.
This page focuses on Wisconsin's 2nd Congressional District Democratic primary. For more in-depth information on the district's Republican primary and the general election, see the following pages:
- Wisconsin's 2nd Congressional District election, 2020 (August 11 Republican primary)
- Wisconsin's 2nd Congressional District election, 2020
Election procedure changes in 2020
Ballotpedia provided comprehensive coverage of how election dates and procedures changed in 2020. While the majority of changes occurred as a result of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, some changes occurred for other reasons.
Political party events in Wisconsin were modified as follows:
- Political party events: The Republican Party of Wisconsin postponed its state convention, originally scheduled to take place in May, to July 10-11.
For a full timeline about election modifications made in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, click here.
Candidates and election results
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for U.S. House Wisconsin District 2
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Mark Pocan | 99.6 | 120,353 |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.4 | 488 | ||
| Total votes: 120,841 | |||
 = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
District analysis
- See also: The Cook Political Report's Partisan Voter Index
- See also: FiveThirtyEight's elasticity scores
The 2017 Cook Partisan Voter Index for this district was D+18, meaning that in the previous two presidential elections, this district's results were 18 percentage points more Democratic than the national average. This made Wisconsin's 2nd Congressional District the 75th most Democratic nationally.[4]
FiveThirtyEight's September 2018 elasticity score for states and congressional districts measured "how sensitive it is to changes in the national political environment." This district's elasticity score was 1.13. This means that for every 1 point the national political mood moved toward a party, the district was expected to move 1.13 points toward that party.[5]
Campaign finance
The chart below contains data from financial reports submitted to the Federal Election Commission.
| Name | Party | Receipts* | Disbursements** | Cash on hand | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mark Pocan | Democratic Party | $1,293,769 | $1,017,815 | $851,013 | As of December 31, 2020 |
|
Source: Federal Elections Commission, "Campaign finance data," 2020. This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
* According to the FEC, "Receipts are anything of value (money, goods, services or property) received by a political committee." |
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General election race ratings
- See also: Race rating definitions and methods
Ballotpedia provides race ratings from four outlets: The Cook Political Report, Inside Elections, Sabato's Crystal Ball, and DDHQ/The Hill. Each race rating indicates if one party is perceived to have an advantage in the race and, if so, the degree of advantage:
- Safe and Solid ratings indicate that one party has a clear edge and the race is not competitive.
- Likely ratings indicate that one party has a clear edge, but an upset is possible.
- Lean ratings indicate that one party has a small edge, but the race is competitive.[6]
- Toss-up ratings indicate that neither party has an advantage.
Race ratings are informed by a number of factors, including polling, candidate quality, and election result history in the race's district or state.[7][8][9]
| Race ratings: Wisconsin's 2nd Congressional District election, 2020 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Race tracker | Race ratings | ||||||||
| November 3, 2020 | October 27, 2020 | October 20, 2020 | October 13, 2020 | ||||||
| The Cook Political Report | Solid Democratic | Solid Democratic | Solid Democratic | Solid Democratic | |||||
| Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales | Solid Democratic | Solid Democratic | Solid Democratic | Solid Democratic | |||||
| Larry J. Sabato's Crystal Ball | Safe Democratic | Safe Democratic | Safe Democratic | Safe Democratic | |||||
| Note: Ballotpedia updates external race ratings every week throughout the election season. | |||||||||
See also
- Wisconsin's 2nd Congressional District election, 2020 (August 11 Republican primary)
- Wisconsin's 2nd Congressional District election, 2020
- United States House elections in Wisconsin, 2020 (August 11 Democratic primaries)
- United States House elections in Wisconsin, 2020 (August 11 Republican primaries)
- United States House Democratic Party primaries, 2020
- United States House Republican Party primaries, 2020
- United States House of Representatives elections, 2020
- U.S. House battlegrounds, 2020
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 On April 2, 2020, Judge William M. Conley, of the United States District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin, issued an order extending absentee voting deadlines in Wisconsin's April 7, 2020, election. Under Conley's order, the absentee ballot request deadline was extended to 5:00 p.m. April 3, 2020. The ballot return deadline was extended to 4:00 p.m. April 13, 2020. The primary date itself was unchanged.
- ↑ National Conference of State Legislatures, "State Primary Election Types," accessed October 4, 2024
- ↑ Wisconsin State Legislature, "Wis. State § 5.62 Partisan primary ballots," accessed October 4, 2024
- ↑ Cook Political Report, "Introducing the 2017 Cook Political Report Partisan Voter Index," April 7, 2017
- ↑ FiveThirtyEight, "Election Update: The Most (And Least) Elastic States And Districts," September 6, 2018
- ↑ Inside Elections also uses Tilt ratings to indicate an even smaller advantage and greater competitiveness.
- ↑ Amee LaTour, "Email correspondence with Nathan Gonzalez," April 19, 2018
- ↑ Amee LaTour, "Email correspondence with Kyle Kondik," April 19, 2018
- ↑ Amee LaTour, "Email correspondence with Charlie Cook," April 22, 2018
