Governor of Wisconsin

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	Wisconsin Governor
	; ; ;
	General information
Office Type:	Partisan
Office website:	Official Link
Compensation:	$152,756
2025 FY Budget:	$4,530,400
Term limits:	None
	Structure
Length of term:	4 years
Authority:	Wisconsin Constitution, Article V, Section I
Selection Method:	Elected
	Current Officeholder
	Governor of Wisconsin Tony Evers; Democratic Party; Assumed office: January 7, 2019
	Elections
Next election:	November 3, 2026
Last election:	November 8, 2022
	Other Wisconsin Executive Offices
	Governor • Lieutenant Governor • Secretary of State • Attorney General • Treasurer • Auditor • Superintendent of Education • Agriculture Commissioner • Insurance Commissioner • Natural Resources Commissioner • Labor Commissioner • Public Service Commission

The Governor of the State of Wisconsin is an elected constitutional officer, the head of the executive branch and the highest state office in Wisconsin. The governor is popularly elected every four years by a plurality and has no term limit.^[1]

Wisconsin has a divided government where neither party holds a trifecta. The Democratic Party controls the office of governor, while the Republican Party controls both chambers of the state legislature.

Wisconsin has a Democratic triplex. The Democratic Party controls the offices of governor, secretary of state, and attorney general.

See also: Wisconsin State Legislature, Wisconsin House of Representatives, Wisconsin State Senate

Current officer

The 46th and current governor is Tony Evers, a Democrat elected in 2018.^[2]

Authority

The state Constitution addresses the office of the governor in Article V, the Executive Department.

Under Article V, Section I:

The executive power shall be vested in a governor...

Qualifications

In order to be eligible for the office of governor of Wisconsin, a candidate must be:

a citizen of the United States
a qualified voter in the state of Wisconsin
at least 18 years old

Additionally, general requirements to hold office in Wisconsin stipulate that no candidate may:

hold any office, honor or profit under any foreign power
hold any federal office
be a convicted felon
be convicted of any misdemeanor involving a violation of the public trust^[3]

Elections

Wisconsin state government organizational chart

Wisconsin elects governors in the midterm elections, that is, even years that are not presidential election years. For Wisconsin, 2018, 2022, 2026, 2030 and 2034 are all gubernatorial election years. Legally, the gubernatorial inauguration is always set for the first Monday in the January following an election.

The governor of Wisconsin is elected in a direct election—the candidate with the most votes becomes governor. In the event that two candidates receive an equal number of votes which is higher than that received by any other candidate, the members of the state legislature vote between the two at their next session.

History

Under the original Wisconsin Constitution, governors were elected for a term of two years; in 1967, the constitution was amended to increase the term of office to four years, beginning with the governor elected in the 1970 election. There is no limit to the number of terms a governor may hold.

Term limits

See also: States with gubernatorial term limits

Wisconsin governors do not face any term limits.

Removal

The governor may be removed from office through an impeachment trial or through a recall election.

Four governors have resigned for various reasons, and none have been removed from office through impeachment.

However, Arthur MacArthur, Sr., who, as lieutenant governor, became governor upon the resignation of William Barstow, was removed after the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that Barstow's opponent in the election, Coles Bashford, was the election's legitimate winner. Barstow initially won by 157 votes and was later found to have forged election returns from non-existent precincts.^[4]

Recall

See also: States with gubernatorial recall provisions

Recall elections are governed under Article XIII, Section 12 of the Wisconsin Constitution.

All elected officers are subject to recall, after the first year of their term, by filing a petition with the same officer who accepts the nominating petition for the office in question. For example, as nominating petitions for statewide office are filed with the Secretary of State, the petition to recall a statewide officer would also be filed with the Secretary of State.

The petition must have valid signatures equal to 25% of the votes cast for the governor in the city, county, or municipality which the targeted incumbent represents. As the governor is a statewide office, the petition threshold is 25% of all votes cast for governor in the last election.

Currently, that number would be 540,208, or 25% of 2,160,832, the total ballots cast in the 2010 gubernatorial race.

If the petition is valid, the filing officer must call a recall election for the Tuesday of the 6th week after the petition is filed. If that Tuesday is a legal holiday, the recall election is held the next day.

An incumbent under recall holds his or her office and carries out the duties until the results of the recall are declared. Unless a recalled incumbent declines to run within ten days of the recall election being called, the incumbent is assumed to have declared for the race.

For a partisan office, such as the governor, a recall primary is held for each party legally entitled to a separate ballot. if a recall primary is called, it is on the same date as the recall primary.

If the recall fails, the incumbent may not be recalled again for the remainder of his or her term.

Impeachment

See also: Gubernatorial impeachment procedures

Impeachments of civil officers are governed under Article VII, Section 1 of the Wisconsin Constitution.

An impeachment trial is carried out by the Wisconsin State Assembly, if a majority of its members agree to the impeachment. A governor may also choose to resign from office.

The court of impeachment for a civil officer is the Wisconsin State Senate, a super majority of whose members must agree to impeach. Before the impeachment begins, each Senator must take an oath of impartiality.

Though the Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin is Constitutionally the President of the Senate, she or he may not act as an officer of the court when the officer being impeached is the governor.

If the Senate does impeach, the punishment may not extend beyond removal from office and disqualification to hold any other office, honor, or profit in the state. However, an impeached officer may still be liable to indictment, trial, and punishment according to law.

Partisan composition

The chart below shows the partisan composition of the Office of the Governor of Wisconsin from 1992 to 2013.

2022

See also: Wisconsin gubernatorial and lieutenant gubernatorial election, 2022

General election

General election for Governor of Wisconsin

Incumbent Tony Evers defeated Tim Michels, Joan Ellis Beglinger (Unofficially withdrew), and Seth Haskin in the general election for Governor of Wisconsin on November 8, 2022.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Tony Evers (D)	51.1	1,358,774
	Tim Michels (R)	47.8	1,268,535
	Joan Ellis Beglinger (Independent) (Unofficially withdrew)	1.0	27,198
	Seth Haskin (Independent) (Write-in)	0.0	104
	Other/Write-in votes	0.1	1,879

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 2,656,490
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Jess Hisel (Free Party)
Chris Donahue (Independent / L)
Levi Borntreger (Independent)
Ryan Patrick Sweeney (Independent)

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Governor of Wisconsin

Incumbent Tony Evers advanced from the Democratic primary for Governor of Wisconsin on August 9, 2022.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Tony Evers	99.8	491,656
	Other/Write-in votes	0.2	975

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 492,631
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Yousef Sameer Zahran (D)
Job Edmond Hou-Seye (D)

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Governor of Wisconsin

Tim Michels defeated Rebecca Kleefisch, Timothy Ramthun, Kevin Nicholson (Unofficially withdrew), and Adam Fischer in the Republican primary for Governor of Wisconsin on August 9, 2022.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Tim Michels	47.1	326,969
	Rebecca Kleefisch	42.0	291,384
	Timothy Ramthun	6.0	41,639
	Kevin Nicholson (Unofficially withdrew)	3.6	24,884
	Adam Fischer	1.2	8,139
	Other/Write-in votes	0.1	504

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 693,519
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates