Democrats won the governor’s office and both chambers of the Legislature on Tuesday, securing unified control of Wisconsin state government for the first time in 16 years.
Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley defeated U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany to become the state’s next governor while Democrats also claimed an 18-15 majority in the Senate and a 53-46 edge in the Assembly after flipping three Senate seats and eight more in the Assembly.
Crowley, 40, spoke to supporters in Milwaukee after Tiffany conceded.
“Tonight, Wisconsin made history,” Crowley said in his victory speech. “I ran to be the governor for all of us. And tonight, that includes everyone who didn’t vote for me. We are not a red state or blue state; we are not defined by rural and urban. We are one people, one Wisconsin, and tonight, we choose to move forward together.”
Democrats swept the statewide races, with Attorney General Josh Kaul winning a third term, JoCasta Zamarippa winning the Secretary of State election, and Yee Leng Xiong defeating incumbent Republican John Lieber to become Wisconsin’s new State Treasurer.
“I just want you to take a look around this room because together we made history tonight,” Godlewski said at the Crowley campaign’s victory party. “And I have to tell you, after traveling 1,600 miles across this state with David Crowley, and maybe stopping at one too many Kwik Trips, I could not be prouder to say we won.”
Crowley, 40, will be Wisconsin’s first black governor and its youngest in more than 100 years. Tiffany congratulated him in an emotional concession speech at his election watch party in northern Wisconsin.
“Tonight was not the outcome we had hoped for, but I am incredibly grateful for the support, encouragement, and trust so many Wisconsinites placed in our campaign,” he said.
The Democratic gains were part of a broader national wave. Democrats also flipped two U.S. House seats in the state, with Rebecca Cooke defeating Derrick Van Orden in the 7th Congressional District and Mitchell Berman unseating Bryan Steil in the 1st.
Democrats won control of both houses of Congress, winning at least 250 House seats and flipping seven Republican Senate seats.
