Washington, Waukesha, and Ozaukee counties have long been the three most Republican counties in Wisconsin. For example, in 2008, John McCain won the counties with 64.1, 62.3, and 60.3% of the vote, respectively. Similarly, Mitt Romney won the counties in 2012 with 70.0, 66.8, and 64.6% of the vote.
This trend held true in off-years, too. In the 2014 gubernatorial election, Walker carried Washington, Waukesha, and Ozaukee counties by 75.9, 72.5, and 70.0%. As usual, the three counties ranked as the first, second, and third most Republican counties in the state.
However, last year's presidential election was unusual in many ways. The GOP's highly-flawed candidate was not as popular in the three-county region as in many other parts of the state. Trump received 28,893 fewer W.O.W. votes than Mitt Romney. This huge drop-off by the GOP candidate at least temporarily unseated the W.O.W. counties as the reddest in Wisconsin.
My own Washington County, I am ashamed to say, was the 3rd most Trump-loving county in Wisconsin, giving Trump 67.4% of our vote. We trailed only low-population Florence (71.5% Trump) and Taylor (69.5% Trump). Still, Washington was dethroned from being the top Republican vote percentage county. We could hold our heads at least a little higher.
Waukesha County was certainly not a citadel of Trumpism. Giving Trump 60.0% of its vote, Waukesha was only the 22nd trumpiest county in the state. And at least for the 2016 presidential election, Ozaukee County was downright purple. At 55.8%, they were only the 40th most Trump-loving county.
The question remained, were the 2016 presidential results a mere aberration, or are they indicative of a trend? Could W.O.W. county residents have finally wised up? Could the voters of the Milwaukee suburbs be starting to become less overwhelmingly red? The answer came this week, in the vote for State Superintendent.
Although the election for State Superintendent is supposed to be non-partisan, it was anything but. Moderate incumbent, Tony Evers ran against a Republican-backed challenger, Lowell Holtz. Holtz was clearly a wing-nut candidate. He wanted to abandon state curriculum standards. He was in the pocket of the school profitization industry. He even celebrated the confirmation of the uniquely unqualified Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Education.
Holtz was endorsed by a raft of county Republican parties. He was endorsed by the far right Wisconsin Family Action PAC. He was endorsed by some of the looniest politicians in Madison, including Representatives Andre Jacque, Bob "Gunnin'"Gannon, Ozaukee Patriot member Dan Knodl, and Janel Brandtjen. He was endorsed by former Representative, one-time State Superintendent candidate, and frequent national embarrassment, Don Pridemore.
So despite the race being non-partisan in name, it was clearly a proxy Democrat vs Republican contest. The moderate Evers won handily, with 70 percent of the vote. Despite the common wisdom of progressives doing poorly in low-turnout elections, Evers carried the day. Evers remains a voice of reason to defend our public schools against the worst intentions of the extremist Governor and wacko Legislators.
But how did the W.O.W. counties vote? They regressed to their former behavior. In this highly partisan, formally non-partisan election, the three counties once again were the reddest in the state. In fact Washington County (which voted 53.6% Holtz) and Waukesha County (which voted 51.3% Holtz) were the only two counties in which the GOP-backed candidate won. They thereby returned to being the #1 and #2 reddest counties. Ozaukee, in which Holtz received 46.6% of the vote, is again the #3 most Republican county.
So despite a temporary bout of sanity, a presidential election in which Washington, Waukesha, and Ozaukee Counties were not the three reddest counties in Wisconsin, we relapsed. Tuesday's election once again bestowed on the Milwaukee suburbs the disgrace of being the most Republican region of the state.
No comments:
Post a Comment