Incumbents hold seats, Trump wins presidency

Wisconsin voters made their voices heard this past week.

On Wednesday, November 6, the Associate Press (AP) called the 2024 presidential election in favor of Donald Trump, who will succeed Joe Biden as the 47th President of the United States.

Trump’s victory in Wisconsin gave him 10 electoral votes, which pushed his campaign past the 270 vote threshold to capture the White House for a second time, according to the AP.

Trump managed to eke out a victory with slim margins, both nationally and in Wisconsin. When the AP called the election, he had slightly less than five million more votes across the country and just over 30,000 in the Badger State.

Wisconsin was deemed one of seven battleground states in the 2024 presidential election. The state has a history of close elections: Biden won by just over 20,000 votes in 2020, and Trump took the state by approximately 27,000 in 2016.

Trump outperformed himself in Wisconsin, taking in approximately 1,688,000 votes, up from 1,610,000 in 2020 and 1,400,000 in 2016, according to poll results.

In Crawford County, early polling data provided by the county shows the Trump/Vance ticket bested Democrats in most municipalities, accumulating more votes everywhere except for Utica (207-163) and Prairie du Chien’s 6th Ward (244-192). In total, Trump won more than 5,000 in the county, while Harris pulled in approximately 3,800. Trump won Crawford County in 2020 with approximately 4,600 and in 2016 with approximately 3,800.

The City of Prairie du Chien and the school district have submitted bills for Donald Trump’s visit at the end of September.

According to Police Chief Kyle Teynor, the City is seeking approximately $22,000 in expenses for the speaking event at the school district’s arts center, located at the Prairie du Chien High School.

Teynor confirmed that the expenses included costs incurred by Crawford County, MarMac Police Department, Grant County Sheriff’s Department and the City of Prairie du Chien Fire Department.

The City has not received payment from the Trump campaign as of the time of printing.

The school district has received full payment from Trump’s use of the school property, according to district administrator Andy Banasik.

The campaign paid a $1,500 down payment for use of the PAAC and a $5,500 final payment.

Several states lost or gained electoral votes during this election cycle due to the 2020 Census. Electoral votes are designated based on population.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, states that gained electoral college votes included Colorado, Florida, Montana, North Carolina and Oregon. Each state gained one vote, and Texas gained two more votes. On the other side, California, Illinois, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia all lost one electoral vote.

In the legislature, elections were hotly contested, but incumbents U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin (D) and U.S. Representative Derrick Van Orden (R) staved off challengers to hold their respective positions.

Baldwin managed to net more than 49 percent of the votes in her race against Eric Hovde, but that only gave her a small window of victory. Early voting numbers showed less than 30,000 votes separated the two candidates.

According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Baldwin declared victory early in the morning on Wednesday, November 6, before the AP had called the race.

Baldwin, who has served in political office for nearly 40 years, didn’t take many victories in Crawford County. She managed to grab more votes in Scott, Utica, and the 3rd, 4th and 6th Wards in Prairie du Chien. In total, Hovde took approximately 600 more votes than Baldwin throughout the county.

The AP reported that the senatorial election was close enough to allow Hovde to pursue a recount.

Van Orden had a dog fight against Rebecca Cooke for his seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. Van Orden’s victory was the last of the area elections to be called by the AP. He captured approximately 11,000 more votes than his challenger to keep his spot.

Many of the towns and villages in Crawford County were decided by a handful of votes in that race. Van Orden won approximately 4,800 votes in the county against Cooke’s 4,100.

Travis Tranel (R-Cuba City) rebuked Democrat Scott Walker for the District 49 Wisconsin State Assembly seat, taking more than 60 percent of the vote, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. In Crawford, Tranel brought in slightly more than 5,000 votes, while Walker finished with approximately 3,800.

Other elected officials in Crawford County, including Circuit Court Judge Lukas Steiner, County Clerk Robin Fisher, County Treasurer Deanne Lutz and Melissa Nagel, retained their positions in uncontested elections.

Overall, Wisconsin approved the state referendum question, which sought to amend Article III of the constitution.

The question asked voters to either approve or reject an amendment that stated “only a United States citizen age 18 or older who resides in an election district may vote in an election for national, state or local office or at a statewide or local referendum.”

Wisconsin voters approved the ballot measure by a 40 percent margin. According to the numbers, 2,256,721 voted to approve the ballot measure.

A table of results is available on page 14.