Democratic primary

For its part in the 2008 Democratic Party presidential primaries, Wisconsin's presidential preference primary was on the ballot for Wisconsin's Spring primary election, held on Tuesday, February 19, 2008. At the time of the Wisconsin primary, three candidates were still in the race for the nomination, U.S. senators Barack Obama (D–IL) and Hillary Clinton (D–NY), and former U.S. senator Mike Gravel (D–AK), though Gravel did not have a viable path to the nomination at this point. The candidate field originally also included U.S. senators Joe Biden (D–DE), Evan Bayh (D–IN), and Chris Dodd (D–CT), former U.S. senator John Edwards (D–NC), governors Bill Richardson (D–NM) and Tom Vilsack (D–IA), and U.S. representative Dennis Kucinich (D–OH), all of their names still appeared on the Wisconsin ballot, except Bayh and Vilsack.

Barack Obama won the Wisconsin primary, receiving 58% of the popular vote and earning 42 of 74 pledged delegates from the state. At the time, it was his eleventh consecutive victory in a primary or caucus, building a delegate lead that he would have to fight to retain through another three months of primary contests.

Republican primary

In the 2008 Republican Party presidential primaries, the Wisconsin Republican presidential preference primary was also held at the Spring primary, February 19, 2008. At the time of the Wisconsin primary, three candidates were still in the race for the nomination, U.S. senator John McCain (R–AZ), former Governor Mike Huckabee (R–AR), and U.S. Representative Ron Paul (R–TX). The candidate field originally included Wisconsin's incumbent governor Tommy Thompson, but he dropped out before the Iowa caucuses. The field also previously included U.S. senator Sam Brownback (R–KS), actor and former U.S. senator Fred Thompson (R–TN), U.S. representatives Duncan L. Hunter (R–CA) and Tom Tancredo (R–CO), governors Mitt Romney (R–MA) and Jim Gilmore (R–VA), mayor Rudy Giuliani (R–NY), businessman John H. Cox, and perennial candidate Alan Keyes. In addition to the three remaining candidates, Romney, Giuliani, Thompson, Hunter, and Tacredo were also on the ballot in Wisconsin.

John McCain won the Wisconsin primary, receiving 55% of the popular vote and earning 34 of 40 pledged delegates from the state. Huckabee would with draw from the race less than a month later.

General election

The presidential election was held at the Fall general election, November–4, 2008. Barack Obama won the state with 56% of the vote, it was the largest majority the state had given to a presidential candidate since Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964.

Senate contests

The 16 even-numbered districts out of the 33 seats in the Wisconsin State Senate were up for re-election in 2008. Prior to the election Democrats held the majority with 17 seats, Republicans held 14 seats, and two seats were vacant. In the election, both parties regained their vacant seats and returned to the 18 seats held by Democrats and 15 seats held by Republicans which was seen after the prior election.

Assembly contests

All of the 99 seats in the Wisconsin State Assembly were on the ballot for the Fall general election, November 4, 2008. Prior to the election, 52 seats were held by Republicans, 47 seats were held by Democrats, and one seat was held by an Independent. In the election, Republicans failed to defend their majority and Democrats took a majority of seats for the first time in 14 years.

State Supreme Court

Judge Michael Gableman was elected with 51% of the vote, defeating incumbent Justice Louis Butler with 49% of the vote.^[1] The heavy spending of outside interest groups in this race, including Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce,^[2] inspired some to call for reforms to Wisconsin election law and the selection of judges.^[3] The ascendancy of Michael Gabelman to the bench shifted the Court in a more conservative direction.^[4]

State Court of Appeals

Three seats on the Wisconsin Court of Appeals were up for election on April 1, 2008.

State Circuit Courts

Thirty nine of the state's 261 circuit court seats were on the ballot for the Spring general election, April 1, 2008. Only 9 seats were contested. One incumbent justice faced a challenger and was subsequently defeated.

Prohibit Partial Veto Authority

By a margin of 335,969 votes, the Wisconsin voters chose to amend the state's Constitution to implement restrictions on the governor's ability to partially veto legislation.^[5] The purpose of the amendment was to reduce the veto power of the Governor, sometimes known as the "Frankenstein veto", which has been historically used by governors of irrespective of their party to rework legislation.^[6][7]

The line-item veto, also known as a Frankenstein veto is a historic fixture of Wisconsin politics and acted as a way for the governor to bypass the state legislature regarding legislation as the veto gave the governor the ability to strike out words, numbers, and even entire sentences from different bills, though this ability was reduced over time. The veto was used by governors of both parties, such as Patrick Lucey (D), Tony Earl (D), and Tommy Thompson (R) and Jim Doyle (D) during their terms. During all their terms, the veto was also restricted via judicial action, such as in State ex. rel. Wisconsin Telephone Co. v. Henry, which recognized the ability of the governor to use such a veto, and Risser v. Klauser, which prohibited the governor from using a write-in veto to alter monetary amounts which were not appropriated by the legislature The veto has also been restricted in prior constitutional amendments, such as in 1990, when voters approved an amendment to end the "pick-a-letter" veto, which was the selective vetoing of letters or numerical characters to form a new word.^[8]

Milwaukee Mayor

• A regularly scheduled mayoral election was held in Milwaukee, concurrent with the Spring general election. Incumbent mayor Tom Barrett defeated challenger Andrew J. Shaw and was re-elected to a second four year term.^[9]