2010 Wisconsin Senate election

Not to be confused with 2010 United States Senate election in Wisconsin.

The 2010 Wisconsin Senate elections were held on Tuesday, November 2, 2010. Seventeen of the 33 seats in the Wisconsin State Senate were up for election—the odd-numbered districts.^[1] Before the election, 18 Senate seats were held by Democrats and 15 seats were held by Republicans. 10 Democratic seats and 7 Republican seats were up in this election. The primary election took place on September 14, 2010.

2010 Wisconsin State Senate election

← 2008 November 2, 2010 2012 →
2011 (Recall) →
17 of 33 seats in the Wisconsin State Senate 17 seats needed for a majority
Majority party Minority party   Leader Scott L. Fitzgerald Russ Decker (defeated) Party Republican Democratic Leader's seat 13th–Juneau 29th–Weston Last election 8 seats, 45.53% 8 seats, 54.09% Seats before 15 18 Seats won 10 6 Seats after 19 14 Seat change 4 4 Popular vote 627,160 430,068 Percentage 59.1% 40.53% Swing 13.6 pp 13.5 pp
Results of the elections:      Republican hold      Republican gain      Democratic hold      No election
President before election Fred Risser Democratic Elected President Michael Ellis Republican

Republicans flipped four Democratic-held Senate seats and achieved a majority for the first time since 2004, entering the 100th Wisconsin Legislature with 19 of 33 State Senate seats.^[2]

Summary

Seats		Party (majority caucus shading)		Total
		Democratic	Republican
Last election (2008)		8	8	16
Total after last election (2008)		18	15	33
Total before this election		18	15	33
Up for election		10	7	17
of which:	Incumbent retiring	2	2	4
	Vacated
	Unopposed		2	2
This election		6	11	17
Change from last election
Total after this election		14	19	33
Change in total		4	4

Close races

Seats where the margin of victory was under 10%:

1. State Senate district 31, 0.66%
2. State Senate district 25, 2.58%
3. State Senate district 5, 4.46% (gain)
4. State Senate district 29, 4.64% (gain)
5. State Senate district 21, 5.09% (gain)
6. State Senate district 23, 8.47% (gain)

Outgoing incumbents

Retiring

• Alan Lasee, (R–De Pere), representing District 1 since 1977, announced he would not seek re-election.^[3]
• Judy Robson (D–Beloit), representing District 15 since 1998, announced she would not seek re-election.^[4]
• Theodore Kanavas (R–Brookfield), representing District 33 since 2001, announced he would not seek re-election.^[5]

Candidates and results

Dist.	Incumbent				This race[1]
	Member	Party	First elected	Status	Primary	General	Result
01	Alan Lasee	Republican	1977 (special)	Not running		Y Frank Lasee (Rep.) 60.04% Monk Elmer (Dem.) 39.83%	New member elected. Republican hold.
03	Tim Carpenter	Democratic	2002	Running		Y Tim Carpenter (Dem.) 61.09% Annette Miller Krznarich (Rep.) 38.63%	Incumbent re-elected
05	Jim Sullivan	Democratic	2006	Running		Y Leah Vukmir (Rep.) 52.15% Jim Sullivan (Dem.) 47.69%	New member elected. Republican gain.
07	Jeffrey Plale	Democratic	2003 (special)	Running	Chris Larson (Dem.) 60.7% Jeffrey Plale (Dem.) 39.3%	Y Chris Larson (Dem.) 67.25% Peter Gilbert (Rep.) 32.64%	New member elected. Democratic hold.
09	Joe Leibham	Republican	2002	Running		Y Joe Leibham (Rep.) 73.11% Jason B. Borden (Dem.) 26.86%	Incumbent re-elected
11	Neal Kedzie	Republican	2002	Running		Y Neal Kedzie (Rep.) 75.37% L.D. Rockwell (Dem.) 24.55%	Incumbent re-elected
13	Scott L. Fitzgerald	Republican	1994	Running		Y Scott L. Fitzgerald (Rep.) 67.61% Dwayne Block (Dem.) 29.20% Vittorio Spadaro (Ind.) 3.14%	Incumbent re-elected
15	Judy Robson	Democratic	1998	Not running		Y Timothy Cullen (Dem.) 58.98% Rick Richard (Rep.) 40.99%	New member elected. Democratic hold.
17	Dale Schultz	Republican	1990	Running		Y Dale Schultz (Rep.) 62.56% Carol Beals (Dem.) 37.38%	Incumbent re-elected
19	Michael Ellis	Republican	1982	Running		Y Michael Ellis (Rep.) 99.04%	Incumbent re-elected
21	John Lehman	Democratic	2006	Running		Y Van H. Wanggaard (Rep.) 52.52% John Lehman (Dem.) 47.43%	New member elected. Republican gain.
23	Pat Kreitlow	Democratic	2006	Running		Y Terry Moulton (Rep.) 54.20% Pat Kreitlow (Dem.) 45.73%	New member elected. Republican gain.
25	Bob Jauch	Democratic	1986	Running		Y Robert Jauch (Dem.) 51.27% Dane Deutsch (Rep.) 48.69%	Incumbent re-elected
27	Jon Erpenbach	Democratic	1998	Running		Y Jon Erpenbach (Dem.) 61.84% Kurt Schlicht (Rep.) 38.13%	Incumbent re-elected
29	Russ Decker	Democratic	1990	Running		Y Pam Galloway (Rep.) 52.26% Russ Decker (Dem.) 47.62%	New member elected. Republican gain.
31	Kathleen Vinehout	Democratic	2006	Running		Y Kathleen Vinehout (Dem.) 50.27% Ed Thompson (Rep.) 49.61%	Incumbent re-elected
33	Theodore Kanavas	Republican	2001 (special)	Not running		Y Rich Zipperer (Rep.) 99.50%	New member elected. Republican hold.

See also

• Electoral history of the Tea Party movement
• 2010 Wisconsin elections
  • 2010 Wisconsin gubernatorial election
  • 2010 Wisconsin State Assembly election
  • 2010 United States Senate election in Wisconsin
  • 2010 United States House of Representatives elections in Wisconsin

References

1. "2010 Fall General Election" (PDF). State of Wisconsin. December 1, 2010. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 21, 2012. Retrieved March 30, 2015.
2. Stein, Jason; Johnson, Annysa (November 3, 2010). "Republicans Take Over State Senate, Assembly". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Retrieved November 24, 2016.
3. Foley, Ryan J. (January 12, 2010). "'Citizen Senator' to retire". Wisconsin State Journal. p. 5. Retrieved December 31, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
4. "Sen. Robson: Grateful to have served". Archived from the original on July 16, 2011. Retrieved January 28, 2010.
5. State Sen. Kanavas will not seek re-election