With less than one-third of precincts reporting, ABC News and Fox News project that incumbent Republican governor Scott Walker has defeated Democratic challenger Mary Burke. While most of the polls showed a tight race (except for the Marquette poll that showed Walker winning by 7 points), Walker will likely win by a commanding margin.
With a lot of votes left to be counted Walker leads Burke 58 percent to 41 percent. Walker’s lead will shrink considerably as the votes are tallied, but he may be on track to win by a greater margin than he did during the 2010 Republican wave.
Walker, who survived a 2012 recall election, which was spurred by backlash to his budget reforms, has now won election in Wisconsin (a state Obama carried twice) three times in four years. He now stands poised to be a serious contender for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination.
