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Republican Gov. Scott Walker defeated Democrat Mary Burke Tuesday, ensuring himself a second term in Madison and raising the prospect of a political future at the national level.

In his third statewide victory in four years, the Republican governor beat the former Trek Bicycle executive in a closely contested campaign that drew attention from around the country. Walker's trio of victories in this pale blue state are already firing speculation about whether he will seek the GOP presidential nomination in 2016.

The governor's victory speech stoked those fires by focusing on the strengths of America as much as those of Wisconsin and by aiming his attacks at Washington, D.C. His ever-present foil from the campaign trail — the liberal city of Madison — was absent from the speech at State Fair Park in West Allis.

He spoke of immigrants seeking promise in America — something he rarely did during the governor's race.

"That's the difference between what we believe here in Wisconsin and what they're (selling) in Washington. We believe the opportunity is equal but the outcome is up to each and every one of us," Walker told a cheering crowd of more than 1,000 people.

First elected in 2010, Walker achieved national prominence for his 2011 legislation to severely limit collective bargaining for most public workers, his spending and tax cuts and his historic recall election victory the next year.

Burke provided his most difficult challenge so far as a statewide candidate, pouring $5 million of her personal wealth into a race in which she also drew support from women's groups, unions and Democratic heavyweights such as President Barack Obama and former President Bill Clinton. Throughout his campaign, Walker had to frequently respond to reports about a stalled investigation into the 2012 recall election, even though it has not resulted in any charges.

But drawing on his record and relentless drive, massive donor list and a national mood that favored Republicans, Walker and outside conservative groups managed to maintain his lead and built it into a comfortable margin. Along with Walker, Republican Rebecca Kleefisch was elected on the joint ticket to a second term as lieutenant governor, prevailing over Democratic state Sen. John Lehman of Racine.

Standing behind a lectern emblazoned with a "Continuing Wisconsin's Comeback" logo, the governor made clear in his speech that he has big ambitions for both the state and for his own career.

"The folks in Washington like this top-down approach that's old and artificial and outdated that says the government knows best. We believe that you should build the economy from the ground up that's new and fresh and organic, and that's what we're going to do," Walker said.

In the campaign, Walker promised to keep to his record of holding down taxes and opposing close cooperation with the federal government on policies such as the Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as Obamacare. In the end, voters accepted the fact that 111,000 jobs were created in the state during his first term, short of his promise that 250,000 would be added over those four years.

In her concession speech at the Overture Center in Madison, Burke recalled Packers great Vince Lombardi's admonition to rise again after being knocked down.

"No election outcome or political fight matters as much as the values we hold near and dear," Burke said. "We know we are all better off when everyone in every community across this great state gets a fair shot to get ahead."

Like Burke, Walker left many of his proposals vague for the next four years, giving few details on how he would rescue the state's road fund and how much he would cut taxes and increase spending on education. That gives him flexibility as he looks ahead to a difficult two-year budget and considers his ambitions for the state and his career.

Walker raised more than $25 million compared with the $15 million raised by Burke, including her own money, but outside spending groups helped keep ad spending in the race much more competitive between the two sides than it was during the 2012 recall. That, combined with a polarized electorate that shifted little, kept most of the polls in the race within the margin of error in recent months.

An analysis by the Wesleyan Media Project found that Wisconsin's race for governor was the most negative in the country in September, and it closed with a strongly negative chorus.

Late in the race, conservatives aired claims that in 1993 Burke had been forced out of Trek, her family company, a contention that struck at the heart of Burke's campaign message about her private-sector experience. Walker argued that he was not behind the claims, but Burke responded with a blistering ad that tried to link the governor to one of the former Trek employees making the allegations against her.

In the campaign, solid majorities of voters thought the state is on the right track and Walker is a governor who gets things done, and more of them saw the state budget as stronger now than a few years ago. But voters weren't enthused about the state's economic growth, thought other states are creating jobs faster and were more likely to say Burke cares about people like them.

Under Walker, the state unemployment rate dropped to its lowest levels since the fall of 2008. But the state has not broken the longtime trend of Wisconsin's economy lagging behind that of the rest of the nation — a trend that extends back into the tenure of Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle, including the years from 2005 to 2007 in which Burke served as Doyle's commerce secretary.

Walker turned down federal tax dollars for building an $810 million train line between Milwaukee and Madison and for expanding the state's BadgerCare health programs for the needy, saying that taking the help now could lead to more state spending in future years.

The BadgerCare decision meant forgoing more than $100 million in federal funds in the current two-year budget to expand health care for the needy under Medicaid. But Walker said that he doesn't trust the federal government to continue the payments in the future and that could leave state taxpayers holding the bag.

When the governor took office in January 2011, he faced a projected budget shortfall of $3 billion over the following two years — a challenge that could have blocked tax cuts. It didn't. With Republican lawmakers, Walker has passed several rounds of tax cuts adding up to more than $1.9 billion from July 2011 to June 2015.

To make those tax cuts possible, the governor and his allies in the Legislature cut state aid to schools by nearly $800 million in the 2011-'13 budget. Those state cuts to schools were the largest in the nation that year, though they still left per-pupil school funding in Wisconsin 7% above the national average.

Walker expanded taxpayer-funded private voucher schools out of Milwaukee, first to Racine and then later statewide. In his next budget, he wants to lift or simply eliminate the 1,000-student cap on the statewide vouchers program.

Over the past two years, the state's finances have gotten shakier, with the latest projections from the Legislature's nonpartisan budget office estimating a $1.8 billion shortfall in the 2015-'17 budget. Burke blamed Walker's tax cuts and promised a more cautious approach, while the governor argued for remaining aggressive on tax cuts, saying that the gap can be closed with spending cuts and an uptick in the economy.

Burke built her candidacy on her business know-how and her experience establishing and growing Trek's European sales, a key part of the company's evolution into a global bicycle company. But she faced some questions about her jobs know-how before the latest allegations about her 1993 exit from the company and return in 1995.

Burke cut ties with a campaign consultant after her jobs plan — the centerpiece of her campaign — contained nearly verbatim passages lifted from the plans of other Democratic candidates that the consultant had advised.

Meg Jones in West Allis and Tom Kertscher in Madison contributed to this story.

(83% of units reporting)

✔Scott Walker (R), inc. — 1,043,023

Mary Burke (D) — 910,012