In statewide races, Lincoln County resoundingly voted Republican but that didn’t necessarily correspond with statewide numbers/results

TINA L. SCOTT
EDITOR

In a quick early-morning (6:00 a.m.) look at voting in Lincoln County, here’s what we know:
• Voter turnout in the Tuesday, November 8, 2022, mid-term general election was at 59.27 percent in Lincoln County.
• Republican candidates had a clean sweep in Lincoln County, with the majority of residents voting for the Republican candidates in all races and clearly preferring Tim Michels and Roger Roth (59.64%) in the race for Wisconsin Governor and Lieutenant Governor. However, those results did not necessarily correspond with the statewide results and reportedly Tony Evers/Sara Rodriguez had the lead (51% of the votes statewide) with an estimated 98% of the vote in as of this (Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2022) morning, and Michels has conceded to Evers.
• In the race for Secretary of State, 59.54% of Lincoln County voters preferred Republican challenger Amy Loudenbeck by a 7,944-4,946 vote over Democratic incumbent Doug LaFollette. Statewide, however, LaFollette currently holds an extremely slim lead over Loudenbeck (both having roughly 48% of the overall vote) with 98% of the votes counted.
• In the race for State Treasurer, 61.34% of Lincoln County voters chose Republican John Leiber by a 8,136-4,773 vote over Democrat Aaron Richardson. Statewide Leiber currently has a slight lead (50%) over Richardson (48%) with 99% of the votes counted.
• The races for Wisconsin Attorney General and U.S. Senate are going to be tight. While Lincoln County voters clearly preferred the Republican candidates in these races (59.81% voted for Eric Toney for Attorney General and 63.31% voted for Ron Johnson for U.S. Senate), the numbers right now are really close. Currently, Democratic incumbent Josh Kaul holds a slight lead over Toney for Attorney General and Republican incumbent Ron Johnson holds a slight lead over Democratic challenger Mandela Barnes, but all the votes aren’t in yet and every vote may count.
• For the 7th Congressional District seat, Republican incumbent Tom Tiffany held his seat. In Lincoln County, Tiffany garnered 62.95% of the votes, with voters casting 8,483 votes for him versus 4,985 votes for Democratic challenger Richard Ausman.
• It appears Republican Calvin Callahan will hold his seat as Representative to the Assembly for the 35th District of Wisconsin. Nearly two-thirds (65.14%) of Lincoln County voters cast ballots for Republican incumbent Calvin Callahan by a 8,530-4,544 vote over Independent challenger Todd Frederick. The votes in the other counties in the 35th District similarly show Callahan with a majority of votes.
Lincoln County Races
• Republican incumbent Sheriff Ken Schneider won his bid for re-election as Lincoln County Sheriff with 63.68% of the vote. Schneider garnered 8,238 votes to Independent challenger Garrett Dinges’ 4,271 votes. Write-in candidates for Sheriff received 428 votes.
• Unopposed Republican candidates Valerie Caylor and Thomas Barker won their bids for Lincoln County Coroner and Lincoln County Clerk of Circuit Court, respectively.
Referendums
• The MAPS $2.5 million per year for four years operational referendum once again failed to get voter approval. This time 8,574 voters cast ballots on the question and 52.24% of voters said No. (In the April 2022 election, only 4,145 voters voted on the question, and 56.91% voted No.)
• On the Lincoln County referendum question asking if the State should prohibit election officials from soliciting and using private resources from special interest entities for the purpose of administering elections and referendums, Lincoln County voters (84.05%) resoundingly said Yes, it should be prohibited.
• In the Town of King, in response to their referendum question, 55.38% of voters said No, the person holding the office of Clerk in the Town of King should not be appointed by the Town Board.
• Regarding the Rhinelander School District operational referendum, in which Lincoln County Town of Harrison voters were asked whether the District should be authorized to exceed the revenue limit by $4 million per year, 56.19% of the 194 Town of Harrison voters who cast ballots said No. Similarly, Langlade County Town of Parish voters responded with 40 voters saying No and 25 voters voting Yes. However, it was Oneida County voters that had the majority of this vote, and a large majority (5,698-3,844) of Oneida County voters said Yes, so the Rhinelander Schol District referendum did pass.