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Wisconsin State Senate elections, 2022
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2024 →
← 2020
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| 2022 Wisconsin Senate Elections | |
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| Primary | August 9, 2022 |
| General | November 8, 2022 |
| Past Election Results |
| 2020・2018・2016・2014 2012・2010・2008 |
| 2022 Elections | |
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| Choose a chamber below: | |
Elections for the Wisconsin State Senate took place in 2022. The general election was on November 8, 2022. A primary was scheduled for August 9, 2022. The filing deadline was June 1, 2022.
The Wisconsin State Senate was one of 88 state legislative chambers with elections in 2022. There are 99 chambers throughout the country.
Enacted district boundaries in this state have been overturned by court order and are subject to change prior to this election. Click here for more information.
Party control
| Wisconsin State Senate | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Party | As of November 8, 2022 | After November 9, 2022 | |
| Democratic Party | 12 | 11 | |
| Republican Party | 21 | 22 | |
| Total | 33 | 33 | |
Candidates
General
Wisconsin State Senate General Election 2022 |
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| Office | Other | ||
| District 1 |
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| District 3 |
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| District 5 |
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| District 7 |
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| District 9 |
Jarrod Schroeder (Write-in) |
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| District 11 |
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| District 13 |
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| District 15 |
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| District 17 |
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| District 19 |
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| District 21 |
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| District 23 |
Did not make the ballot: |
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| District 25 |
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| District 27 |
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| District 29 |
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| District 31 |
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| District 33 |
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Primary
Wisconsin State Senate Primary 2022 |
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| Office | Other | ||
| District 1 |
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| District 3 |
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| District 5 |
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| District 7 |
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| District 9 |
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| District 11 |
Did not make the ballot: |
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| District 13 |
No candidates filed for the Democratic primary |
Did not make the ballot: |
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| District 15 |
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| District 17 |
Did not make the ballot: |
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| District 19 |
Did not make the ballot: |
Did not make the ballot: |
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| District 21 |
No candidates filed for the Democratic primary Did not make the ballot: |
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| District 23 |
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| District 25 |
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| District 27 |
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| District 29 |
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| District 31 |
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Did not make the ballot: |
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| District 33 |
No candidates filed for the Democratic primary |
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Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey responses
Ballotpedia asks all federal, state, and local candidates to complete a survey and share what motivates them on political and personal levels. Click a link below to read survey responses from candidates in that district:
Campaign finance
The campaign finance data analyzed and displayed below is gathered and made available by Transparency USA.
Campaign finance by district
The section below contains data from financial reports submitted to state agencies. Districts and elections are grouped in sections of 10. To view data for a district, click on the appropriate bar below to expand it. The data is gathered and made available by Transparency USA.
Incumbents who were not re-elected
Incumbents defeated in general elections
No incumbents lost in general elections.
Incumbents defeated in primary elections
No incumbents lost in primaries.
Retiring incumbents
Seven incumbents were not on the ballot in 2022.[1] Those incumbents were:
| Name | Party | Office | Reason |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dale Kooyenga | Senate District 5 | Retired | |
| Janis Ringhand | Senate District 15 | Retired | |
| Roger Roth | Senate District 19 | Other office | |
| Kathy Bernier | Senate District 23 | Retired | |
| Janet Bewley | Senate District 25 | Retired | |
| Jon Erpenbach | Senate District 27 | Retired | |
| Jerry Petrowski | Senate District 29 | Retired |
Primary election competitiveness
This section contains data on state legislative primary election competitiveness in Wisconsin. These totals include data from all regularly-scheduled House and Senate elections. For more information about Ballotpedia's competitiveness analysis of state legislative elections, please click here.
Post-filing deadline analysis
The following analysis covers all state legislative districts up for election in Wisconsin in 2022. Information below was calculated on June 22, 2022, and may differ from information shown in the table above due to candidate replacements and withdrawals after that time.
There were 38 contested state legislative primaries in Wisconsin in 2022, 16% of the total number of possible primaries, and a 15% increase compared to the 2020 election cycle.
A primary is contested when more candidates file to run than there are nominations available, meaning at least one candidate must lose.
Republican candidates drove the increase this cycle. Of the 38 contested primaries in 2022, there were nine for Democrats and 29 for Republicans. For Democrats, this was down from 18 in 2020, a 50% decrease. For Republicans, the number increased 93% from 15 in 2020 to 29 in 2022.
Of those 38 contested primaries, nine featured an incumbent, representing 11% of incumbents who filed for re-election. This was the highest rate of incumbents in contested primaries since 2014 when 12% of incumbents faced primary challenges.
All nine incumbents in contested primaries in 2022 were Republicans. No Democratic incumbents who filed for re-election faced a contested primary.
Overall, 258 major party candidates—110 Democrats and 148 Republicans—filed to run. All 99 Assembly districts held elections in 2022 as did 17 of the 33 Senate districts.
Thirty of those districts were open, meaning no incumbents filed. This guaranteed that at least 23% of the legislature held be represented by newcomers in 2023.
Open seats
The table below shows the number and percentage of open seats in the Wisconsin State Senate from 2010 to 2022.[2] It will be updated as information becomes available following the state’s candidate filing deadline.
| Open Seats in Wisconsin State Senate elections: 2010 - 2022 | |||
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| Year | Total seats | Open seats | Seats with incumbents running for re-election |
| 2022 | 17 | 7 (41 percent) | 10 (59 percent) |
| 2020 | 16 | 7 (44 percent) | 9 (56 percent) |
| 2018 | 17 | 3 (18 percent) | 14 (82 percent) |
| 2016 | 16 | 3 (19 percent) | 13 (81 percent) |
| 2014 | 17 | 7 (41 percent) | 10 (59 percent) |
| 2012 | 16 | 2 (13 percent) | 14 (87 percent) |
| 2010 | 17 | 3 (18 percent) | 14 (82 percent) |
Process to become a candidate
See statutes: Wisconsin Statutes and Annotations, Chapter 8
The filing process for both ballot-qualified party candidates and other candidates (e.g., independents, non-recognized party candidates, etc.) is the same. The filing procedure, however, does vary somewhat according to the type of office being sought. Please note that only ballot-qualified party candidates can participate in primaries.[3]
For federal and state candidates
A candidate for federal office must file a declaration of candidacy with the Wisconsin Elections Commission. The declaration of candidacy must state the following:[3][4]
- that the individual is a candidate for the office named on the form
- that the individual meets the qualifications for office, or will meet the qualifications by the time he or she assumes office if elected
- that the individual will otherwise qualify for office if nominated and elected
The declaration of candidacy must be sworn before an individual authorized to administer oaths. The declaration of candidacy must be filed by 5:00 p.m. on June 1 preceding the election (if June 1 falls on non-business day, the form will be due on the next preceding business day).[3][4][5][6]
In addition to the declaration of candidacy, the candidate must submit nomination papers to the Wisconsin Elections Commission. The number of signatures required varies according to the office being sought. Requirements are summarized in the table below.[3][5][6]
| Nomination paper signature requirements for federal candidates | ||
|---|---|---|
| Office | Minimum signatures | Maximum signatures |
| U.S. Senator | 2,000 | 4,000 |
| U.S. Representative | 1,000 | 2,000 |
| State senator | 400 | 800 |
| State representative | 200 | 400 |
| State supreme court justice | 2,000 | 4,000 |
Nomination papers must be submitted by 5:00 p.m. on June 1 preceding the election (if June 1 falls on non-business day, the form will be due on the next preceding business day).[3][5][6]
Write-in candidates
On April 2, 2014, Governor Scott Walker signed into law AB 419, which requires that write-in candidates file campaign finance statements in order to have their votes tallied. Otherwise, there are no specific filing requirements for write-in candidates.[7]
Qualifications
Section 6 of Article 4 of the Wisconsin Constitution states, "No person shall be eligible to the legislature who shall not have resided one year within the state, and be a qualified elector in the district which he may be chosen to represent."
Salaries and per diem
- See also: Comparison of state legislative salaries
| State legislative salaries, 2024[8] | |
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| Salary | Per diem |
| $57,408/year | $140/day for senators. Dane County senators are allowed half that amount. $155.70/day (with overnight) or $77.85/day (no overnight) for representatives. Dane County representatives receive only $77.85/day. |
When sworn in
Wisconsin legislators assume office the first Monday in January following the election, unless the first Monday of January falls on January 1 or 2. In those cases, legislators assume office on January 3.[9]
Wisconsin political history
Trifectas
A state government trifecta is a term that describes single-party government, when one political party holds the governor's office and has majorities in both chambers of the legislature in a state government.
Wisconsin Party Control: 1992-2025
Two years of Democratic trifectas • Ten years of Republican trifectas
Scroll left and right on the table below to view more years.
| Year | 92 | 93 | 94 | 95 | 96 | 97 | 98 | 99 | 00 | 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Governor | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | D | D | D | D | D | D | D |
| Senate | D | R | R | R | D | D | R | D | D | D | D | R | R | R | R | D | D | D | D | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R |
| House | D | D | D | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | D | D | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R |
Presidential politics in Wisconsin
2020 Presidential election results
Candidate/Running mate |
% |
Popular votes |
Electoral votes |
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| ✔ |
| Joe Biden/Kamala D. Harris (D) |
49.5
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1,630,673 | 10 |
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| Donald Trump/Mike Pence (R) |
48.8
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1,610,065 | 0 | |
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| Jo Jorgensen/Spike Cohen (L) |
1.2
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38,491 | 0 | |
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| Brian T. Carroll/Amar Patel (American Solidarity Party) |
0.2
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5,258 | 0 | |
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| Don Blankenship/William Mohr (Constitution Party) |
0.2
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5,144 | 0 | |
| Other write-in votes |
0.2
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7,721 | 0 | ||
| Total votes: 3,297,352 |
Voting information
- See also: Voting in Wisconsin
Redistricting following the 2020 census
On February 19, 2024, Gov. Tony Evers (D) signed Senate Bill 488 into law, adopting new Wisconsin legislative maps.[10] The maps were approved by majority votes in both chambers of Wisconsin's state legislature on February 13. The state Senate voted 18-14 in favor of adopting the new legislative maps, while the state Assembly vote total was 63-33.
In the 2023 Wisconsin Supreme Court election, Janet Protasiewicz had defeated Daniel Kelly, changing the balance of the court from a conservative to a liberal majority for the first time in 15 years.[11][12] Later that year on December 22, 2023, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled in a 4-3 vote that the state's legislative maps were unconstitutional and ordered new maps to be drawn before the 2024 election.[13] The court rejected the least change approach the conservative majority had adopted for the 2022 maps and ruled that the new maps must satisfy the state constitution's contiguity requirements.[14]
See also
| Wisconsin | State Legislative Elections | News and Analysis |
|---|---|---|
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2025 • 2024 • 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2016 • 2015 • 2014 2025 • 2024 • 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018 • 2017 • 2016 • 2015 |
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External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Ballotpedia defines an incumbent as retiring if the incumbent did not file for office or filed for office but withdrew, was disqualified, or otherwise left a race in a manner other than losing the primary, primary runoff, or convention. If an incumbent runs as a write-in candidate, Ballotpedia does not consider them to be retiring. If an incumbent runs in the same chamber for a different seat, Ballotpedia does not consider them to be retiring.
- ↑ Ballotpedia defines a seat as open if the incumbent did not file to run for re-election or filed but withdrew and did not appear on any ballot for his or her seat. If the incumbent withdrew from or did not participate in the primary but later chose to seek re-election to his or her seat as a third party or independent candidate, the seat would not be counted as open. If the incumbent retired or ran for a different seat in the same chamber, his or her original seat would be counted as open unless another incumbent from the same chamber filed to run for that seat, in which case it would not be counted as open due to the presence of an incumbent.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Government Accountability Board, "Ballot Access Manual (2023)," accessed apRIL 25, 2025
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Wisconsin Statutes and Annotations, "Chapter 8, Section 21," accessed April 28, 2025
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Wisconsin Statutes and Annotations, "Chapter 8, Section 20," accessed April 28, 2025
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Wisconsin Statutes and Annotations, "Chapter 8, Section 15," accessed April 28, 2025
- ↑ Ballot Access News, "Wisconsin Will No Longer Count Write-in Votes Unless Write-in Candidate Files Paperwork," May 17, 2014
- ↑ National Conference of State Legislatures, "2024 Legislator Compensation," August 21, 2024
- ↑ Wisconsin Statutes, "Chapter 13: Legislative Branch: 13.02 Regular sessions," accessed October 5, 2021
- ↑ Office of the Governor, "Gov. Evers Signs Fair Maps for Wisconsin," February 19, 2024
- ↑ NBC, "In heated Wisconsin Supreme Court debate, candidates tangle over 'fake elector' scheme," March 21, 2023
- ↑ NBC News, "Wisconsin governor signs new state legislative maps into law, ending a GOP gerrymander," February 19, 2024
- ↑ The New York Times, "Justices in Wisconsin Order New Legislative Maps," December 22, 2023
- ↑ Wisconsin Examiner, "Wisconsin Supreme Court rules state voting maps unconstitutional," December 22, 2023
