Gov. Scott Walker Wins Re-election in Wisconsin, and Hope of Higher Office

WEST ALLIS, Wis. — Scott Walker, the Republican who made a national name for himself by clashing with labor unions, won a second term as governor of this state on Tuesday, keeping alive the possibility that he may be among the candidates for president in 2016.

Mr. Walker’s victory after a battering, intense campaign was his third successful election in just four years: In 2012, he became the nation’s first governor to survive a recall election. On Tuesday, Mr. Walker beat Mary Burke, a Democrat who was little known statewide until recently and whose only previous campaign had been for a seat on Madison’s school board.

In a rousing 10-minute victory speech, Mr. Walker described the challenges of the past few months, as well as those of the past few years, seemingly referring to his battle with the unions and the subsequent recal“There was a group out of Washington — Washington-based special interests — who thought they could spend a lot of money and a lot of time in the state and somehow convince the people of this state to be against something,” Mr. Walker told hundreds of supporters at an exposition center at the State Fair Park.l.

“I’ve got to tell you, I’m an optimist. I believed all along if we got a positive message out that in the end people of the state wanted to be for something not against something, and look what happened,” he said.

The race, which had been extremely close for months, was largely a referendum on Mr. Walker and a first term that brought sweeping changes to Wisconsin.

Since 2011, when Mr. Walker took office and Republicans won control of both chambers of the State Legislature, Wisconsin voters have been split over policy shifts that began with cuts to collective bargaining rights for most public workers. Mr. Walker and his colleagues went on to cut taxes, expand school vouchers, permit concealed weapons and limit early voting.

In a state traditionally accustomed to polite negotiation across party lines, some in Wisconsin said residents over the past four years seemed more divided than ever. Democratic lawmakers fled the state at one point in an effort to block the vote on union bargaining rights, recall elections were held for officeholders from both parties, and families and friends chose sides — sometimes opposing ones.

Mr. Walker’s push to cut bargaining rights and to require most public sector workers to pay more for their health care and pensions drew tens of thousands of protesters to Madison, the state capital, in early 2011. But in recent months, the state’s economy was the single largest focus of the governor’s race.

Mr. Walker promised to bring 250,000 new jobs to the state during his first term, but fewer than half that have materialized. Ms. Burke laid out an economic plan, “Invest for Success,” but the document caused embarrassment when it was discovered that portions of it were exactly the same as sections of other economic plans from candidates in other states. Ms. Burke’s campaign soon said it had cut ties with a consultant who had worked on the other races.

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Through the campaign, Ms. Burke, 55, portrayed herself as a clear alternative to Mr. Walker. She said she would bring to state government her business expertise, which includes a degree from Harvard Business School and time as an executive at Trek Bicycle Corporation, a company founded by her father.

Mr. Walker, 47, served as a state lawmaker before becoming the Milwaukee County executive, then governor. At times, criminal investigations — one related to activity in the county executive’s office, the other to possible collaboration between conservative groups and his campaign during the recall effort — have clouded his political future. But he was not charged in either investigation.

Just after Mr. Walker won the recall election, Republicans began mentioning him among a list of possible candidates for president in 2016. Mr. Walker’s success at pushing through a conservative agenda, then surviving a recall challenge in a state that twice favored President Obama gave him a résumé Republicans saw as appealing for a White House run.

Yet Mr. Walker needed to win a second term as governor on Tuesday to remain viable in that regard, and some political analysts said a decisive margin of victory was needed to bolster the case for a future presidential run.