MILWAUKEE — Wisconsin held true to its 'purple' label during the midterm elections, maybe even more so than in recent years. For the first time since 1998, Wisconsin voters split on the two top races, reelecting Democrat Governor Tony Evers and also reelecting Republican U.S. Senator Ron Johnson.
Our Milwaukee affiliate asked viewers on Facebook if they were some of the voters that voted for both Evers and Johnson. Several of you reached out.
Matthew Ihlenfeldt from Green Bay said voting in this election was sort of like having to pick between his two least favorite football teams.
"If I could put it in the most Wisconsin terms ever, it's like the freaking Lions playing the Bears. They both suck and nobody likes them but you gotta pick one," Ihlenfeldt said.
So when he goes to the ballot box, he's not necessarily looking at the party but more so at each individual candidate.
"Whether it's blue or red, we've got to figure out who the best candidate is for that position," Ihlenfeldt said. "I also like to have a split in our government because then there's balance there."
Milwaukee voter Adam Cooper said voting for Evers and Johnson was less about the particular candidates and more about making sure neither party would have too much power.
"I don't think Johnson deserves my support per se. It was a vote against the agenda of the Democratic party federally," Cooper said. "With regard to Evers, again, he's holding the line against a Wisconsin Republican party that I think has behaved really poorly in the past."
Ihlenfeldt said there were specific issues that determined his votes in each race. For example, the topic of abortions is one of the issues that led him to vote for Evers. He said Tim Michels, the Republican candidate, drew too hard of a line on the issue.
"I don't personally necessarily like the abortion topic, but hard lining that hard for years and years up until a month before, it's like okay, you're just saying that to get the vote," Ihlenfeldt said. "I have a wife and a kid and you're not allowing exceptions so she's gonna die, like, what are we doing?"
In the race for senate, one of Ihlenfeldt's deciding factors was gun control. He said he worried Democratic candidate Mandela Barnes would go too far when it came to banning firearms.
"I'm a big gun advocate, so if [Barnes] was a little lighter on that talking about certain firearms."
Ihlenfeldt said the rest of his ballot was also pretty purple, with a mix of votes for Democrat, Republican, and Independent candidates. Meanwhile, Cooper said the rest of his ballot was blue.
