There was little question that Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, a Democrat, would carry the Madison area in Tuesday’s election for governor, but the size of his margin over U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, the Republican candidate, was greater than what we’ve seen in recent statewide races.

In Madison, Crowley collected nearly 90% of the vote, about five points better than U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris managed in the 2024 presidential election and nearly two points better than Gov. Tony Evers received in 2022.

Tiffany proved what many political pundits — and President Donald Trump himself — have long argued: if Trump isn’t on the ballot, Republican candidates suffer. Trump scored over 15% of the Madison vote in 2024, while Tiffany was stuck below 11%.

All results can be found on the Dane County clerk’s website.

Some other observations after reviewing Madison turnout numbers:

Tiffany fared best in Ward 113, on Madison’s far southwest side. The ward includes Hawk’s Landing Golf Club and was one of just five wards to collect over 2,000 total votes. Tiffany scored 521 votes there, good for nearly 25%, to Crowley’s 1,587.

Crowley’s best Madison ward in terms of raw votes was just to the north, in 114. That neighborhood is located on the south side of Mineral Point Road, near Blackhawk Church. It’s home to Full Compass Systems and rows of recently built houses. Crowley’s 2,313 votes earned over 83% of the vote, while Tiffany collected 455 for over 16%. These are the closest neighborhoods within the city limits to Epic Systems’ sprawling Verona campus.

Ward 19, on Madison’s east side, can continue to boast its status as Madison’s votingest neighborhood. The Olbrich Gardens polling place processed 2,201 voters, nearly 87% of the ward’s voters registered as of Nov. 1 (note: voters can register at the polls on Election Day and those numbers aren’t reflected in the Nov. 1 counts). Ward 114 is a worthy contender for that title and worth watching in the future.

Ward 80, representing much of the Nakoma neighborhood, turned out 2,254 voters and over 84% of its registrants. And Ward 40, which neighbors 19 to the west along Eastwood Boulevard, brought in 2,129 and nearly 84%. West-side neighborhoods like Westmorland, Sunset Village and Hill Farms turn out a lot of voters, as do Marquette and Tenney-Lapham on the east side. 

In the student wards downtown, 46 (Mansion Hill) and 54 (Bassett) put up respectable numbers, with over 1,600 voters each, but suffer from relatively low percentages, likely due to the itinerant nature of their residents.