NATIONAL ELECTION RETURNS : EDITION-TIME COMPILATIONS : State-by-State Election Reports of Key Races and Issues : Wisconsin
Republican Tommy Thompson, the Assembly minority leader, upset Democratic Gov. Anthony Earl after a hard-hitting campaign in which he accused the incumbent of not doing enough for the state’s economy.
Republican Sen. Robert Kasten won a second term, fending off an aggressive challenge from Democrat Ed Garvey, a former state assistant attorney general and executive director of the National Football League Players Assn.
Kasten, elected in 1980, ran as a Reagan Republican who was independent enough to have a record of strong support for agriculture and the environment.
Garvey, a liberal who knocked Reagan Administration defense policies, focused on Kasten’s pre-Senate business dealings and the senator’s arrest for drunken driving.
The state’s congressional delegation consisted of five Democrats and four Republicans.
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