Wisconsin GOP Blunders

Briefly surveying the mixed election results in Wisconsin can cause one’s eyebrow to pitch upward querulously. In the major statewide races, Democratic governor Tony Evers won alongside an ideological opponent, Republican senator Ron Johnson. But Tony Evers’s and Ron Johnson’s victories are not astonishing after closer review. Instead, they’re the logical outcomes of running established players with robust and well-built election machines. In an age of breakneck electoral vacillation, Wisconsin confirmed a law of political nature: It’s better to be the incumbent.

Wisconsinites favored incumbents in every statewide race: from the governor down to the secretary of state. The only seat flipped was the third congressional, wherein a Dem moderate prudently retired in a rightward-shifting district and was replaced by a Republican. The victor, Derrick Van Orden, is a Trumpy former Navy SEAL who won by four points over lifelong agriculture bureaucrat Brad Pfaff.

About the Author

Luther Ray Abel

Luther Ray Abel is an Associate Editor for National Review. A veteran of the U.S. Navy, Luther is a proud native of Sheboygan, Wis.

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Briefly surveying the mixed election results in Wisconsin can cause one’s eyebrow to pitch upward querulously. In the major statewide races, Democratic governor Tony Evers won alongside an ideological opponent, Republican senator Ron Johnson. But Tony Evers’s and Ron Johnson’s victories are not astonishing after closer review. Instead, they’re the logical outcomes of running established players with robust and well-built election machines. In an age of breakneck electoral vacillation, Wisconsin confirmed a law of political nature: It’s better to be the incumbent.

Wisconsinites favored incumbents in every statewide race: from the governor down to the secretary of state. The only seat flipped was the third congressional, wherein a Dem moderate prudently retired in a rightward-shifting district and was replaced by a Republican. The victor, Derrick Van Orden, is a Trumpy former Navy SEAL who won by four points over lifelong agriculture bureaucrat Brad Pfaff.