Democratic Gov. Tony Evers outperformed Democratic Senate candidate Mandela Barnes in every Wisconsin county in the 2022 midterm elections, according to an analysis of election results by the NBC News Political Unit.
Overall, Evers received more than 48,000 votes than Barnes did, with Evers defeating Republican Tim Michels in the gubernatorial contest, 51.1%-47.8%, while Barnes lost to incumbent Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., in the Senate contest, 50.4%-49.4%.
Evers outperformed Barnes the most in small, rural counties in the southwest part of the state, such as Crawford and Lafayette counties near the border with Iowa.
In Crawford, for example, Evers won 48.9% of the vote, while Barnes received only 45.5%.
Barnes, on the other hand, came closer to Evers in Milwaukee, where Barnes was born and raised. In Milwaukee County, Evers only topped Barnes by 2,435 votes — or 0.9%.
Milwaukee County had the highest total of votes cast in Wisconsin.
Although Evers outperformed Barnes in November, it’s a reversal from 2018, when Evers defeated incumbent GOP Gov. Scott Walker by just 1 percentage point, while incumbent Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., won re-election by more than 10 points.
