The 2010 Wisconsin gubernatorial election took place on November 2, 2010, to elect the

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

and

Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin The lieutenant governor of Wisconsin is the first person in the line of succession of Wisconsin's executive branch, thus serving as governor in the event of the death, resignation, removal, impeachment, absence from the state, or incapacity due to ...

. The primary elections on September 14 determined which candidates advanced to the general election. Incumbent Democratic

Jim Doyle James Edward Doyle, Jr., (born November 23, 1945) is an American attorney and politician who served as the 44th governor of Wisconsin, serving from January 6, 2003 to January 3, 2011. In his first election to the governorship, he defeated incum ...

did not seek re-election in 2010, making for the first open gubernatorial election in Wisconsin since 1982. Republican nominee Scott Walker, the

Milwaukee County Executive The Milwaukee County Executive serves as the chief executive officer of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin. Vested with veto power and appointing authority over department heads, the county executive oversees the administrative functions of county gover ...

, defeated Democratic nominee Tom Barrett, the

Mayor of Milwaukee This is a list of mayors of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. List External linksJS Online {{Mayors of the City of Milwaukee Milwaukee Milwaukee, Wisconsin Mayors In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal governmen ...

Democratic primary

Candidates for Governor

Declared

* Tom Barrett, Mayor of

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee is ...

and former U.S. Representative * Tim John

Failed to qualify

* Jared Gary Christiansen * Dominic Reinwand

Candidates for Lieutenant Governor

Declared

* G. Spencer Coggs, state senator from

and former state representative for 20 years. * Tom Nelson, Democratic Majority Leader in the

Wisconsin State Assembly The Wisconsin State Assembly is the lower house of the Wisconsin Legislature. Together with the smaller Wisconsin Senate, the two constitute the legislative branch of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Representatives are elected for two-year terms, ...

, member since 2005 representing

Outagamie County Outagamie County is a county in the northeast region of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census, the population was 190,705. Its county seat is Appleton. Outagamie County is included in the Appleton, WI Metropolitan Statistical Are ...

. * Henry Sanders * James L. Schneider

Results

Republican primary

Candidates for Governor

Declared

Mark Neumann Mark William Neumann (born February 27, 1954) is an American businessman and politician. He represented for two terms, from 1995 to 1999. In 2010, Neumann lost a bid to become the Republican nominee for Governor of Wisconsin. Neumann was a can ...

, former U.S. Representative and nominee for the U.S. Senate in 1998 * Scott Paterick * Scott Walker,

Failed to qualify

* William "Bill" Ingram,

truck driver A truck driver (commonly referred to as a trucker, teamster, or driver in the United States and Canada; a truckie in Australia and New Zealand; a HGV driver in the United Kingdom, Ireland and the European Union, a lorry driver, or driver in ...

and

write-in A write-in candidate is a candidate whose name does not appear on the ballot but seeks election by asking voters to cast a vote for the candidate by physically writing in the person's name on the ballot. Depending on electoral law it may be po ...

candidate for

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United Stat ...

in 2008 * John Schless

Candidates for Lieutenant Governor

Declared

Brett Davis Brett H. Davis (born December 5, 1975) is an American businessman and former Republican politician. He served three terms in the Wisconsin State Assembly, representing the 80th Assembly district, and subsequently served as Wisconsin's state Me ...

, state representative from Oregon, Wisconsin. *

Rebecca Kleefisch Rebecca Ann Kleefisch (née Reed; born August 7, 1975) is an American politician and former television reporter who served as the 44th Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin from 2011 to 2019. A member of the Republican Party, she was elected to the p ...

, former

WISN-TV WISN-TV (channel 12) is a television station in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States, affiliated with ABC. Owned by Hearst Television, it is the second-oldest television station to remain with the company in all of its various iterations behind f ...

morning anchor and frequent on-air contributor to

Charlie Sykes Charles Jay Sykes (born November 11, 1954) is an American political commentator who is currently editor-in-chief of the website ''The Bulwark''. From 1993 to 2016, Sykes hosted a conservative talk show on WTMJ in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He was a ...

' radio show on

WTMJ (AM) WTMJ (620 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Owned by Good Karma Brands, the station has a news/talk radio format. Its sign-on dates back to 1922 and for most of its history it was owned by ''The Milwaukee Journal'' ...

. * Robert Gerald Lorge * Dave Ross, Mayor of Superior, Wisconsin * Nick Voegeli

Polling

Results

Wisconsin Governor Republican primary, 2010

Others

Candidates

Declared

* James Dean Langer (Independent) * James James (Common Sense)

Failed to qualify

* Michael J. Blinkwitz * Terry Virgil

General election

Candidates

Seven candidates appeared on the primary election ballot: two Democrats, three Republicans and two other candidates. The Democratic and Republican nominees will face the independent candidates using the "Independent" and "Common Sense" labels in the November general election.

Predictions

Polling

Results

Results by county

References

External links

Elections & Voting
at the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board *
Candidate list

Wisconsin Governor Candidates
at

Project Vote Smart Vote Smart, formerly called Project Vote Smart, is a non-profit, non-partisan research organization that collects and distributes information on candidates for public office in the United States. It covers candidates and elected officials in si ...

Campaign contributions for 2010 Wisconsin Governor
from ''Follow the Money''
2010 Wisconsin Gubernatorial General Election
graph of multiple polls from ''Pollster.com''
Election 2010: Wisconsin Governor
from ''

Rasmussen Reports Rasmussen Reports is an American polling company founded in 2003. The company engages in political commentary and the collection, publication, and distribution of public opinion polling information. Rasmussen Reports conducts nightly tracking, ...

''
2010 Wisconsin Governor – Walker vs. Barrett
from ''

Real Clear Politics RealClearPolitics (RCP) is an American political news website and polling data aggregator formed in 2000 by former options trader John McIntyre and former advertising agency account executive Tom Bevan. The site features selected political new ...

''
2010 Wisconsin Governor's Race
from ''

CQ Politics Congressional Quarterly, Inc., or CQ, is part of a privately owned publishing company called CQ Roll Call that produces a number of publications reporting primarily on the United States Congress. CQ was acquired by the Economist Group and combine ...

''
Race Profile
in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''
Election 2010
at the ''

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel The ''Milwaukee Journal Sentinel'' is a daily morning broadsheet printed in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where it is the primary newspaper. It is also the largest newspaper in the state of Wisconsin, where it is widely distributed. It is currently o ...

'' ;Debates
Wisconsin Governor Republican Primary Debate
''

C-SPAN Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network (C-SPAN ) is an American cable and satellite television network that was created in 1979 by the cable television industry as a nonprofit public service. It televises many proceedings of the United States ...

'', August 25, 2010
Wisconsin Gubernatorial Debate
''

'', September 24, 2010 ;Official campaign websites (Archived)
Tom Barrett for WI Governor

Scott Walker for WI Governor

Tim John for WI Governor
{{United States general elections, 2010

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

Gubernatorial A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

2010