Wisconsin-Illinois Results

[brianblackberry]

Really covering these two states as Wisconsin is where I live and Illinois is my home state and always will be (although I like where I live now).

For Wisconsin:

• Of our eight U.S. House of Representative seats, five are Republican and three are Democratic. Of the three close races (District 3, 7, & 8), two went Republican (Districts 7 & 8), and one Democrat (District 3).
• In my district, District 1, Paul Ryan(R) won again with 68% of the vote, which is absolutely no surprise whatsoever. Ryan is one of those major rising stars in the Republican party and there was no way he would lose in an election where his party is surging in a district where he is popular.
• Russ Feingold(D) who has been our senator since 1992 is out, replaced by challenger Ron Johnson(R). This is the largest upset in our state in this election.
• In the 2010 Wisconsin gubernatorial election, our current governor, Jim Doyle(D) decided not to seek reelection; Republican Scott Walker will now replace him.
• Republicans now control both legislative chambers of the Wisconsin assembly. All in all Republicans had a banner day in Wisconsin.

For Illinois:

• Four district were considered really contested: Districts 10,11, 14, & 17, all these were won by Republicans (all but District 10 were held by Democrats).
• The 8th district is considered still up for grabs but currently Republican Joe Walsh has the lead over Democrat Melissa Bean
• Republican Mark Kirk will now take over Obama's old Senate seat for Illinois
• Democrat Pat Quinn managed to retain the governorship of Illinois, won by about 9,000 votes. I was surprised by this as he is Rod Blagojevich's guy.
• Democrats maintain their hold on the Illinois House & Senate, but lost their "super majority" in the latter. All in all Democrats did better then expected in Illinois.