‘Wisconsin Is a Warning Sign’

 

Elections have consequences.  Electoral systems do, too.

After the 2024 presidential contest, we wrote the following about Trump’s victory in Wisconsin:  ‘In Wisconsin, Trump squeaked by Harris in the popular vote, 49.6% vs 48.8%.  But he trounced her in the county vote, winning 59 to Harris’s 13, making Trump’s county victory in this State 81.9% with Harris taking only 18.1%.’

The point we were making in that essay was that conservatives/revivalists need to make structural changes to election systems, like requiring candidates to win a majority of counties/parishes in order to be declared the winner of an election, not simply look for ways to maximize turnout.  If they did, they would empower the rural areas of the States, which are generally more conservative, and thus have a better chance of consistently winning Statewide elections.

Wisconsin in 2025 shows how ephemeral victories for the Right will continue to be until some major structural reforms like the county/parish majority rule are implemented.  For in the Wisconsin Supreme Court election, the Democrat candidate Susan Crawford handily beat the Republican Brad Schimel 55% to 45% in an election held only five months after President Trump’s victory in the State over VP Harris.

As in 2024, the results in 2025 are misleading.  Crawford’s victory wasn’t very broad.  Like Harris, she won only a minority of counties in Wisconsin despite winning the majority of votes:  23 out of 72 went for Crawford; 49 were won by Schimel (results via Milwaukee Journal Sentinel).  Schimel thus beat Crawford in the county total 68% to 32%.

Republican reliance on voter turnout alone to win in critical States like Wisconsin isn’t a wise strategy.  Even modest declines in voter participation can lead to stinging defeats for those who hold to that strategy.  A report from NBC News about the Wisconsin Supreme Court election confirms this:

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The rest is at https://thehayride.com/2025/04/garlington-wisconsin-is-a-warning-sign/.

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Holy Ælfred the Great, King of England, South Patron, pray for us sinners at the Souð, unworthy though we are!

Anathema to the Union!