2018 Wisconsin Attorney General election

The 2018 Wisconsin Attorney General election took place on November 6, 2018, to elect the attorney general of Wisconsin.

2018 Wisconsin Attorney General election

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Nominee Josh Kaul Brad Schimel Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 1,305,902 1,288,712 Percentage 49.41% 48.76%

County results Congressional district results Kaul:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80% Schimel:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%

Attorney General before election Brad Schimel Republican Elected Attorney General Josh Kaul Democratic

Republican incumbent Brad Schimel, first elected in 2014, ran for re-election to a second term.^[1] Voting rights attorney and former federal prosecutor Josh Kaul, the Democratic nominee, narrowly defeated Schimel in the general election.^[2] Terry Larson, the Constitution Party nominee, also garnered around 2% of the vote, greater than the vote difference between Schimel and Kaul.

Republican primary

Incumbent Attorney General Brad Schimel ran unopposed in the Republican primary.^[3]

Republican primary results

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Brad Schimel (incumbent)	394,799	99.77%
	Republican	Write-in	896	0.23%
Total votes			395,695	100.0%

Democratic primary

Attorney Josh Kaul won the Democratic nomination unopposed.^[4]

Democratic primary results

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Josh Kaul	432,954	99.65%
	Democratic	Write-in	1,509	0.35%
Total votes			434,463	100.0%

Constitution primary

Terry Larson won the Constitution Party nomination unopposed.^[5]

Constitution primary results

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Constitution	Terry Larson	354	100.0%
Total votes			354	100.0%

General election

Polling

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size	Margin of error	Brad Schimel (R)	Josh Kaul (D)	Undecided
Marquette University[6]	October 24–28, 2018	1,154 LV	± 3.2%	47%	45%	8%
		1,400 RV	± 3.0%	45%	43%	12%
Marquette University[7]	October 3–7, 2018	799 LV	± 3.9%	47%	43%	10%
		1,000 RV	± 3.6%	45%	41%	14%
Marquette University[8]	September 12–16, 2018	614 LV	± 4.4%	48%	41%	11%
		800 RV	± 4.0%	47%	40%	13%

Results

Kaul won the election by a 0.65% margin.^[9][10]

Wisconsin Attorney General election, 2018

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Josh Kaul	1,305,902	49.41%
	Republican	Brad Schimel (incumbent)	1,288,712	48.76%
	Constitution	Terry Larson	47,038	1.78%
	Write-in		1,199	0.05%
Total votes			2,642,851	100.00%
	Democratic gain from Republican

By congressional district

Despite losing the state, Schimel won five of eight congressional districts.^[11]

District	Schimel	Kaul	Representative
1st	55%	43%	Paul Ryan
2nd	30%	69%	Mark Pocan
3rd	48%	50%	Ron Kind
4th	24%	74%	Gwen Moore
5th	62%	37%	Jim Sensenbrenner
6th	57%	41%	Glenn Grothman
7th	57%	41%	Sean Duffy
8th	56%	42%	Mike Gallagher

See also

• 2018 United States attorney general elections
• 2018 Wisconsin elections