Editing Dane County, Wisconsin (section)

==Politics==
{{PresHead|place=Dane County, Wisconsin|source=<ref>{{cite web|url=http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS|title=Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections|first=David|last=Leip|website=uselectionatlas.org|access-date=November 11, 2020}}</ref>}}
<!-- PresRow should be {{PresRow|Year|Winning party|GOP vote #|Dem vote #|3rd party vote #|State}} -->
{{PresRow|2024|Democratic|85,454|273,995|6,480|Wisconsin}}
{{PresRow|2020|Democratic|78,794|260,121|5,813|Wisconsin}}
{{PresRow|2016|Democratic|71,275|217,697|20,382|Wisconsin}}
{{PresRow|2012|Democratic|83,644|216,071|4,466|Wisconsin}}
{{PresRow|2008|Democratic|73,065|205,984|3,890|Wisconsin}}
{{PresRow|2004|Democratic|90,369|181,052|2,828|Wisconsin}}
{{PresRow|2000|Democratic|75,790|142,317|14,632|Wisconsin}}
{{PresRow|1996|Democratic|59,487|109,347|23,468|Wisconsin}}
{{PresRow|1992|Democratic|61,957|114,724|33,441|Wisconsin}}
{{PresRow|1988|Democratic|69,143|105,414|1,377|Wisconsin}}
{{PresRow|1984|Democratic|74,823|94,659|1,203|Wisconsin}}
{{PresRow|1980|Democratic|57,545|85,609|25,251|Wisconsin}}
{{PresRow|1976|Democratic|63,466|82,321|6,765|Wisconsin}}
{{PresRow|1972|Democratic|56,020|79,567|1,439|Wisconsin}}
{{PresRow|1968|Democratic|39,917|59,951|4,193|Wisconsin}}
{{PresRow|1964|Democratic|27,124|68,118|184|Wisconsin}}
{{PresRow|1960|Democratic|43,245|47,045|212|Wisconsin}}
{{PresRow|1956|Republican|38,955|36,891|367|Wisconsin}}
{{PresRow|1952|Republican|38,724|37,987|216|Wisconsin}}
{{PresRow|1948|Democratic|22,934|35,486|2,244|Wisconsin}}
{{PresRow|1944|Democratic|23,021|37,076|554|Wisconsin}}
{{PresRow|1940|Democratic|21,845|40,331|611|Wisconsin}}
{{PresRow|1936|Democratic|15,233|35,856|1,819|Wisconsin}}
{{PresRow|1932|Democratic|19,083|26,841|1,899|Wisconsin}}
{{PresRow|1928|Republican|23,680|19,126|364|Wisconsin}}
{{PresRow|1924|Progressive (Wisconsin)|12,280|2,081|24,847|Wisconsin}}
{{PresRow|1920|Republican|22,842|4,879|1,767|Wisconsin}}
{{PresRow|1916|Democratic|6,931|9,859|483|Wisconsin}}
{{PresRow|1912|Democratic|5,244|9,017|1,989|Wisconsin}}
{{PresRow|1908|Republican|9,441|7,818|750|Wisconsin}}
{{PresRow|1904|Republican|11,041|5,679|666|Wisconsin}}
{{PresRow|1900|Republican|9,396|6,129|562|Wisconsin}}
{{PresRow|1896|Republican|9,080|6,521|585|Wisconsin}}
{{PresFoot|1892|Democratic|6,445|6,833|1,068|Wisconsin}}
Like most other counties anchored by an urban population center and a large public university, Dane County is solidly Democratic, with a long history in the [[Progressivism in the United States|progressive]] movement. It has backed the Democratic presidential nominee in every election since [[1932 United States presidential election|1932]] with the exception of the two nationwide landslide victories of [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] in [[1952 United States presidential election|1952]] and [[1956 United States presidential election|1956]], and even then, Eisenhower's margin of victory was under 3% both times. Since then, Republicans have only crossed the 35% mark six times. Within Wisconsin, only the predominantly Native American county of [[Menominee County, Wisconsin|Menominee]] is more reliably Democratic.

At state level, the county is no less Democratic. The last Republicans the county supported at state level were Governor [[Tommy Thompson]] and Treasurer [[Jack Voight]] in [[1994 Wisconsin gubernatorial election|1994]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=1994 Gubernatorial General Election Results - Wisconsin |url=https://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/state.php?fips=55&year=1994&f=0&off=5&elect=0}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=1994 State Treasurer General Election Results - Wisconsin |url=https://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/state.php?fips=55&year=1994&f=0&off=8&elect=0}}</ref> The last Republican Senator to carry the county was [[Alexander Wiley]] in 1956 by less than one percent, 10 years earlier the county was the only one in the state to not vote for notorious Senator [[Joseph McCarthy]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=1956 Senatorial General Election Results - Wisconsin |url=https://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/state.php?fips=55&year=1956&f=0&off=3&elect=0}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=1946 Senatorial General Election Results - Wisconsin |url=https://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/state.php?fips=55&year=1946&f=0&off=3&elect=0}}</ref> In the three-party era of 1930s-1940s, the county backed [[Wisconsin Progressive Party|Progressive Party]] candidates, such as the [[La Follette family|La Follette]] brothers, [[Orland Steen Loomis]] and [[Herman Ekern]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Our Campaigns - WI US Senate Race - Nov 05, 1940 |url=https://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=46904 |access-date=May 11, 2022 |website=www.ourcampaigns.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Our Campaigns - WI Governor Race - Nov 03, 1942 |url=https://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=200136 |access-date=May 11, 2022 |website=www.ourcampaigns.com}}</ref>

===County executives===
* [[George Reinke]], 1973–1981
* [[Jonathan B. Barry]], 1981–1988
* [[Richard J. Phelps]], 1988–1997
* [[Kathleen Falk]], April 21, 1997 – April 18, 2011
* [[Joe Parisi]], April 18, 2011 – May 3, 2024
* Patrick Miles (acting), May 3, 2024 – May 17, 2024
* Jamie Kuhn (interim), May 17, 2024 – November 13, 2024
* [[Melissa Agard]], November 13, 2024 - present