Ryan retains seat in 1st District
Election 2012
Click here for all of the election results with stories, galleries, podcasts and more.
Election 2012
Click here for all of the election results with stories, galleries, podcasts and more.
U.S. Congress 1st District
Paul Ryan (I) 199,715
Rob Zerban 157,721
Keith Deschler 6,026
Paul Ryan on Tuesday withstood the best-financed, most professional challenge to his House seat since he was first elected in 1998.
Ryan spent most of the fall campaign outside the district as he campaigned as Mitt Romney's vice presidential candidate. Nevertheless, the Janesville Republican held onto Wisconsin's 1st Congressional District.
Final results were not available by press time early Wednesday morning.
Democrat Rob Zerban of Kenosha said late Tuesday night that he expected he would lose by fewer than 10 percentage points. He said he considers that a strong showing that should garner national attention.
"We should be proud of the race we ran and everything we did. We showed this is a battleground district, a district that is a winnable seat (for the Democrats)," Zerban said.
Ryan did not respond Tuesday to requests for an interview.
Zerban pounded repeatedly on Ryan's proposed budget and plans for Medicare, saying Ryan's ideas would destroy the programs that so many Americans rely on.
Ryan said that without the major changes he proposed, Medicare would be unsustainable, and mounting debt would mean a much poorer future for voters' grandchildren.
Zerban called for a debate on the issues, but Ryan declined, like vice presidential candidates before him who ran simultaneously for Congress.
Ryan barely acknowledged that he had an opponent in the race.
Zerban said it will take time to figure out what could have been done to defeat Ryan.
Asked whether he will run again in two years, Zerban said: "Give me a little time off and then ask me that question. … We'll just have to see. One thing I've learned is, you never say no."
In his official statement, Zerban indicated he would remain a factor in the Democratic opposition to Ryan: " … The people of the 1st District deserve representation that belongs to them, not to the moneyed and powerful special interests. You have my word, I will remain a part of that fight."
Latest results showed Zerban beating Ryan in Ryan's home county, where Zerban had about 51 percent of the vote, with 39 of 42 precincts reporting.
Zerban, who had been a Kenosha County Board member, also won his own home county, with 52.3 percent of the vote.
Ryan had never lost an election until Tuesday. Observers are saying he is a frontrunner, if not the frontrunner, for the Republican bid to take back the presidency in 2016.
Zerban said he wants to spend time with his wife and think about what's next for him.
Nov 8, 2012 at 7:58 p.m.
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Bit from the article.
"what played even worse [in Janesville] was Ryan’s attempt to play politics with the most traumatic event in the recent history of Janesville: the closing of the General Motors plant that for the better part of a century was the city’s top employer.
Ryan knew the plant closed at the end of the Bush years, yet he tried to suggest in his speech to the Republican National Convention that Barack Obama had something to do with it."
Nov 8, 2012 at 7:48 p.m.
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Regarding Paul Ryan's Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Election Day.
http://www.thenation.com/blog/171135/pau...
Nov 8, 2012 at 5:56 p.m.
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Didn't Biden also run for two offices at the same time?
Nov 8, 2012 at 3:32 p.m.
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AndrewJackson, it's a Wisconsin state law (NOT constitution) dating back four decades, never used until now of course. You could always ask your legislators to change it; there's no reason they have to allow it. But then I don't see much reason for them to disallow it either. Given that it helped a Republican, it's unlikely the Republican-run state government is interested in making that change.
Nov 8, 2012 at 2:52 p.m.
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Congrats to the republicans for regaining the majority in Wisconsin!
Nov 8, 2012 at 2:48 p.m.
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Please Mr. Ryan, bring some pork back to your own district. We need jobs!
Nov 8, 2012 at 12:44 p.m.
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Contrary to "Entitlement Society" Rhetoric, Over Nine-Tenths of Entitlement Benefits Go to Elderly, Disabled, or Working Households"
http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=vie...
Nov 8, 2012 at 10:23 a.m.
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"The people of the 1st District deserve representation that belongs to them, not to the moneyed and powerful special interests."
--Rob Zerban
So the unions won't be supporting the Democrats anymore? I highly doubt it.
Nov 8, 2012 at 10:16 a.m.
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AJ-Since Paul Ryan won the "primary" voting for his party for the Congress prior to him accepting the nomination for VP, he was bound by law to stay on the ballot. It is written into the Wisconsin constitution for this exact reason. The only way Paul Ryan would have been able to be removed from the election for Congress would be by his death. Had he won both the VP and the Congressional race, there would have been a special election for his Congressional seat.
Nov 8, 2012 at 9:59 a.m.
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Why are people allowed to run for two positions at once? Seems wrong to me.
Nov 8, 2012 at 9:58 a.m.
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No surprise he wouldn't respond for an interview-still crying about the LOST ELECTION!!!And to think Rock Cty. didn't even vote for him=that tells you something right there and to thatwaseasy-get over it-Obama/Biden won HANDS DOWN!!!!!
Nov 8, 2012 at 9:02 a.m.
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old_badger You get it! To bad the rest can't. thatwaseasy. You do not get it and blame away, as he won by far more then the Military vote. The people of Rock Co. and mostly Janesville, Know Ryan and They know the truth about this area and Paul WELL YOU KNOW, LIED!!!!! Congrats to all the Winners,
Nov 8, 2012 at 7:43 a.m.
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The people that know Ryan best re-elected him to his Congressman seat.
The takers from the makers re-elected Obama with the help of disenfranchisinig (hiding)hundreds of thousands of military ballots.
Nov 8, 2012 at 7:30 a.m.
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Interesting how the people who know him best, the people of Janesville and Rock County, didn't give Ryan the majority vote.
Nov 8, 2012 at 6:09 a.m.
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First thing Rob needs to do is repudiate the Chicago Bears and become a Packer fan.
I also was born & raised in Illinois. When do we stop being a fib and become a true Wisconsin Badger?
I think it is when we see the light, and become born again.
We no longer root for the bears, check.
We no longer root for the fighting Illini, check.
We no longer drink Bud, and drink Miller, (still working on that one).
Just don't try to deceive people that you are not from Chicago, like in your political ads you mentioned you were born in small Illinois town down by St.Louis, and was a small business man before selling the business and moving to Wisconsin.
Nov 8, 2012 at 5:38 a.m.
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Congrats to Paul Ryan, who will continue to work for the people he represents.
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