The race for U.S. President, along with races for U.S. Senate, U.S. Congress, State Senate, State Assembly and county races, drew 15,220 Lincoln County voters to the polls Tuesday. More than 67% of registered Lincoln County voters cast ballots. Statewide, voter turnout was about 70%.
Lincoln County voters weighed in with the rest of the country on the presidential race between incumbent Democrat Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney. Obama was declared the victor nationwide, also taking Wisconsin’s 10 electoral votes with a 53% to 46% advantage over Romney in the state. In Lincoln County, Obama was favored by a slim 7,543 to 7,444 vote margin.
For United States Senate, Republican Tommy Thompson and Democrat Tammy Baldwin faced off to take the seat being vacated by retiring incumbent Herb Kohl. Baldwin topped Thompson statewide by a 51% to 46% margin. Lincoln County voters chose Baldwin, 7,364 votes to 6,894.
In the race for U.S Congress District 7, incumbent Republican Sean Duffy survived a challenge from Democrat Pat Kreitlow. Duffy was re-elected 2ith 200,033 votes to Kreitlow’s 155,068. Duffy was favored by a slightly wider margin in Lincoln County, with 8,500 votes to Kreitlow’s 6,291.
At the state level, Lincoln County voters helped select new representatives in the state Senate and Assembly.
Incumbent District 12 State Senator Jim Holperin did not seek re-election. Republican Tom Tiffany was elected to replace Holperin, defeating Democrat Susan Sommer by a 56% to 40% margin. Libertarian candidate Paul Ehlers received 3% of the vote. Tiffany also got the nod from Lincoln County voters, with 8,394 votes to Sommer’s 6,015.
With incumbent Tiffany making a bid for the Senate seat, the 35th District Assembly post was also up for grabs. Republican Mary Czaja was elected over Democrat Kevin Koth and Independent Patrick Tjugum. Czaja received 15,458 votes (7,223 in Lincoln County) to Koth’s 12,130 votes (6,695 in Lincoln County). Tjugum received 5 % of the vote.
At the Lincoln County level, incumbent Republican District Attorney Don Dunphy was re-elected over challenger Democrat Sidney Brubacher. Dunphy received 8,311 votes to Brubacher’s 6,153.
For Lincoln County Clerk, Republican Chris Marlowe was elected with 9,935 votes (80.6%). Write-in votes for the office totaled 2,392. Appointed incumbent Sheila Pudelko, who lost to Marlowe in the August Republican primary, made a bid as a registered write-in in the general election.
Incumbent Lincoln County Treasurer Jan Lemmer and incumbent Lincoln County Register of Deeds Sarah Koss were re-elected without opposition.