Editing Wisconsin (section)

===Politics===
{{main|Politics of Wisconsin}}
{{See also|United States presidential elections in Wisconsin|Political party strength in Wisconsin}}
{{Gallery
|title=2024 United States presidential election in Wisconsin
|width=160
|height=170
|align=right
|File:Wisconsin Presidential Election Results 2024.svg|Results by county {{leftlegend|#4389E3|Democratic}}{{leftlegend|#AA0000|Republican}}
|File:WI President 2024.svg|Results by municipality
}}

Wisconsin is considered a [[swing state]] at the federal level, being won by either the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] or [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] nominees.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Rakich |first=Nathaniel |date=October 16, 2020 |title=Wisconsin Was Never A Safe Blue State |url=https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/wisconsin-was-never-a-safe-blue-state/ |access-date=March 29, 2023 |website=FiveThirtyEight |language=en-US |archive-date=January 15, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220115223612/https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/wisconsin-was-never-a-safe-blue-state/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Republican [[Donald Trump]] won the state by 0.87% in the [[2024 United States presidential election in Wisconsin|2024 presidential election]]; it had the closest margin of any state in that election. Democrat [[Joe Biden]] won the state by a narrow margin of 0.63% in [[2020 United States presidential election in Wisconsin|2020]];<ref>{{Cite web|title=Live election results: 2020 Wisconsin results|url=https://www.politico.com/2020-election/results/wisconsin/|access-date=January 18, 2021|website=www.politico.com|language=en|archive-date=January 19, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210119162934/https://www.politico.com/2020-election/results/wisconsin/|url-status=live}}</ref> Trump won Wisconsin in [[2016 United States presidential election in Wisconsin|2016]] by a similarly narrow margin of 0.77%, the first time the state voted for a Republican presidential nominee since [[1984 United States presidential election|1984]]. Wisconsin was part of the [[Blue wall (U.S. politics)|blue wall]], a group of states the Democratic Party won in each presidential election from [[1992 United States presidential election|1992]] to [[2012 United States presidential election|2012]].<ref>{{cite news |title='It's Such a Relief': Biden Voters Rebuild a Wall That Trump Smashed |date=November 8, 2020 |last1=Goldmacher |first1=Shane |last2=Corasaniti |first2=Nick |last3=Gabriel |first3=Trip |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/08/us/politics/joe-biden-voters.html |access-date=November 8, 2020 |work=The New York Times |archive-date=May 5, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220505033651/https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/08/us/politics/joe-biden-voters.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Since achieving statehood in 1848, Wisconsin has been won by Republican presidential candidates 26 times, Democrats 18 times, and once by the [[Progressive Party (United States, 1924–1934)|Progressive Party]]. 

At the statewide level, Wisconsin is competitive, with control regularly alternating between the two parties. Following the [[2014 Wisconsin elections|2014 general elections]], the governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, and treasurer were all Republicans, while the secretary of state was a Democrat.<ref>[http://wisconsinvote.org Wisconsin 2014 election results] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180102143923/https://www.wisconsinvote.org/ |date=January 2, 2018 }}, wisconsinvote.org; accessed November 5, 2014.</ref> However, in [[2018 Wisconsin elections|2018]], Democrats won all constitutional statewide offices on the ballot, the first time this happened in Wisconsin since 1982.<ref>{{cite news |last=Johnson |first=Shawn |date=January 17, 2023 |title=Lawsuit challenging Wisconsin 'lame duck' law persists more than 4 years after it was passed |work=[[Wisconsin Public Radio]] |url=https://www.wpr.org/lawsuit-challenging-wisconsin-lame-duck-law-persists-attorneys-general |accessdate=February 6, 2023 |archive-date=February 6, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230206232237/https://www.wpr.org/lawsuit-challenging-wisconsin-lame-duck-law-persists-attorneys-general |url-status=live }}</ref> [[List of governors of Wisconsin|Among Wisconsin's 46 governors]], 32 were Republicans, 12 were Democrats, one was a [[Whig Party (United States)|Whig]], and two were [[Wisconsin Progressive Party]] members.

In a 2020 study, Wisconsin was ranked as the 25th easiest state for citizens to vote in.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=J. Pomante II |first1=Michael |last2=Li |first2=Quan |title=Cost of Voting in the American States: 2020 |journal=Election Law Journal: Rules, Politics, and Policy |date=December 15, 2020 |volume=19 |issue=4 |pages=503–509 |doi=10.1089/elj.2020.0666 |s2cid=225139517 |doi-access=free |issn=1533-1296}}</ref> Some have argued the state has experienced [[democratic backsliding]] since 2011.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last1=Ginsburg |first1=Tom |title=How to Save a Constitutional Democracy |last2=Huq |first2=Aziz |publisher=[[University of Chicago Press]] |year=2018 |isbn=9780226564388 |pages=7–11, 13, 16, 22, 31 |quote=Wisconsin's elections can be criticized along the third of these criteria, China's along all three. The result is a series of "blurred and imperfect" boundaries between democracy and its alternatives, in addition to myriad pathways away from democratic ordering toward one of a range of alternatives.}}</ref><ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite news |last=Levine |first=Sam |date=April 5, 2023 |title=Liberal judge's Wisconsin supreme court race win shows a shake-up in US politics |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/apr/05/wisconsin-supreme-court-election-results-janet-protasiewicz-win |access-date=April 5, 2023 |issn=0261-3077 |archive-date=April 6, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230406031220/https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/apr/05/wisconsin-supreme-court-election-results-janet-protasiewicz-win |url-status=live }}</ref> Some political scientists classify Wisconsin as a [[hybrid regime]];<ref name=":2" /> the state's [[United States House of Representatives|House of Representative]] and [[State legislature (United States)|legislature]] elections are considered to be [[Free and fair election|free but not fair]], with districts undergoing "extreme [[Gerrymandering|partisan gerrymanders]]" to entrench Republicans "beyond [[Elections in the United States|electoral rotation]]".<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Grumbach |first=Jacob M. |date=December 1, 2022 |title=Laboratories of Democratic Backsliding |journal=American Political Science Review |volume=117 |issue=3 |language=en |pages=967–984 |doi=10.1017/S0003055422000934 |s2cid=234000893 |issn=0003-0554 |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite news |last=Tharoor |first=Ishaan |date=November 8, 2022 |title=U.S. democracy slides toward 'competitive authoritarianism' |language=en-US |newspaper=Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/11/08/american-democracy-backsliding-competitive-authoritarianism/ |access-date=April 5, 2023 |issn=0190-8286 |archive-date=March 30, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230330111007/https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/11/08/american-democracy-backsliding-competitive-authoritarianism/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The Wisconsin Supreme Court overturned the legislative gerrymander in the 2023 ruling of ''[[Clarke v. Wisconsin Elections Commission]].''<ref>{{Cite news |last=Bosman |first=Julie |date=December 22, 2023 |title=Justices in Wisconsin Order New Legislative Maps |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/22/us/wisconsin-redistricting-maps-gerrymander.html |access-date=December 22, 2023 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

[[File:2011 Wisconsin Budget Protests 1 JO.jpg|thumb|left|The [[2011 Wisconsin Act 10]] led to large protests around the state capitol building in Madison.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-wisconsin-protests-20110227,0,3378088.story|author=Abby Sewell|title=Protesters out in force nationwide to oppose Wisconsin's anti-union bill|work=Los Angeles Times|date=February 27, 2011|access-date=February 22, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110303124853/http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-wisconsin-protests-20110227,0,3378088.story|archive-date=March 3, 2011|url-status=live}}</ref>]]

During the [[American Civil War]], Wisconsin was a [[History of the United States Republican Party|historically Republican state]]; in fact, it is the state that gave birth to the Republican Party, although ethno-religious issues in the late 19th century caused a brief split in the coalition. The [[Bennett Law]] campaign of 1890 controversially required English as the sole medium of instruction in all schools, and Germans switched to the Democratic Party because the Republican Party supported the law.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Kellogg|first1=Louise Phelps|title=The Bennett Law in Wisconsin|journal=Wisconsin Magazine of History|date=September 1918|volume=2|issue=1|pages=3–25|jstor=4630124}}</ref>

Wisconsin's political history is broad in scope, encompassing [[Robert La Follette]] and the [[Progressive movement]] to prominent anti-communist [[Joseph McCarthy]]. From the early 20th century, the [[Socialist Party of America]] had a base in Milwaukee. The phenomenon was referred to as "[[sewer socialism]]" because the elected officials were more concerned with public works and reform than with revolution (although revolutionary socialism existed in the city as well). Its influence faded in the late 1950s largely because of the [[Second Red Scare|red scare]] and racial tensions.<ref name="smith2003">{{cite journal|last=Smith|first=Kevin D.|date=Spring 2003|title=From Socialism to Racism: The Politics of Class and Identity in Postwar Milwaukee|journal=Michigan Historical Review|volume=29|issue=1|pages=71–95|doi=10.2307/20174004|jstor=20174004}}</ref> The first socialist mayor of a large city in the United States was [[Emil Seidel]], elected mayor of Milwaukee in 1910; the city elected three more socialist mayors in [[Daniel Hoan]], [[Frank P. Zeidler]], and [[Henry Maier]]. Socialist [[newspaper editor]] [[Victor Berger]] was repeatedly elected as a U.S. Representative.
[[File:1942 Wisconsin gubernatorial election results map by county.svg|thumb|In [[1942 Wisconsin gubernatorial election|1942]], [[Orland Steen Loomis|Orland Loomis]] would be the last [[Wisconsin Progressive Party|Wisconsin Progressive]] elected governor of Wisconsin but would die shortly after being elected.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2017-08-08 |title=Loomis, Orland Steen 1893 - 1942 |url=https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Article/CS9999 |access-date=2025-04-23 |website=Wisconsin Historical Society |language=en}}</ref>|211x211px]]
Through the first half of the 20th century, Wisconsin's politics were dominated by Robert La Follette and his sons, originally of the Republican Party and later of the [[Wisconsin Progressive Party]]. Since 1945, the state has maintained a close balance between Republicans and Democrats.<ref name="conant2006">{{cite book|last=Conant|first=James K.|title=Wisconsin Politics and Government: America's Laboratory of Democracy|date=March 1, 2006|publisher=[[University of Nebraska Press]]|isbn=978-0-8032-1548-1|chapter=1}}</ref> Wisconsin Congressman [[Paul Ryan]] was the Republican vice-presidential nominee in the [[2012 United States presidential election|2012 election]], alongside [[Mitt Romney]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.boston.com/uncategorized/noprimarytagmatch/2012/08/11/mitt-romney-chooses-paul-ryan-as-running-mate |title=Mitt Romney chooses Paul Ryan as running mate |publisher=Boston.com |last1=Viser |first1=Matt |last2=Bender |first2=Bryan |date=August 11, 2012 |access-date=March 18, 2024 }}</ref> and later served as 54th [[Speaker of the United States House of Representatives|speaker of the House of Representatives]].<ref>{{cite web|last1=Heitshusen |first1=Valerie |last2=Beth |first2=Richard S. |title=Speakers of the House: Elections, 1913-2023 |date=November 6, 2023 |work=CRS Report for Congress |page=8 |url=https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RL30857.pdf |publisher=[[Congressional Research Service]], the [[Library of Congress]] |location=Washington, D.C. |access-date=March 18, 2024 }}</ref>