BOW counties
Politically notable region in Wisconsin
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The BOW counties (/baʊ/)[1] are three counties in the U.S. state of Wisconsin: Brown, Outagamie, and Winnebago.[2] The counties stretch from the western shore of Lake Winnebago down the Fox River to Green Bay. Cities in the BOW counties include Green Bay, De Pere, Appleton (part), Kaukauna (part), New London (part), Seymour, Neenah, Menasha (part), Omro, and Oshkosh. Also included is the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin. The region overlaps with the Fox Cities but includes the more populous Brown County,[3] and not Calumet County.[4] The region also excludes the similarly sized Fond du Lac County as it is more solidly Republican and last voted for a Democrat for president in 1964.[5] The term has been in use since at least 2018,[6] but only started being used by mainstream sources in 2020.[7][3]
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The area is one of the most purple (evenly divided) in the state,[8] and a key swing region.[9] These counties tend to be left-leaning compared to the more right-leaning WOW counties located near Milwaukee.[10] In the 2016 United States presidential election in Wisconsin, Donald Trump received the most votes for president in the BOW counties but with smaller margins than the WOW counties.[10] Trump had 52% of the vote in Brown County, 54% in Outagamie County and just over 50% in Winnebago County.[10] However, in 2020 it was one of 21 regions in the country identified that had an impact on Joe Biden's victory.[11] In addition to presidential elections, the region is watched in other elections, such as races for United States Senate[12] and Wisconsin Supreme Court.[2] In 2023, Outagamie voted for left-leaning Justice Janet Protasiewicz despite favoring Trump in the previous year.[13] This contributed to Democrats focusing on the region in the 2024 United States presidential election.[13]
Election history
The presidential election results for the BOW counties for recent elections is as follows:
| Total | Democratic votes | Democratic percentage | Republican votes | Republican percentage | Third party votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 Total | 356,636 | 162,035 | 45.43% | 189,138 | 53.03% | 5,463 |
| 2024 Brown[14] | 149,333 | 67,937 | 45.49% | 79,132 | 52.99% | 2264 |
| 2024 Outagamie[14] | 111,932 | 49,438 | 44.17% | 60,827 | 54.34% | 1667 |
| 2024 Winnebago[14] | 95,371 | 44,660 | 46.83% | 49,179 | 51.57% | 1532 |
| 2020 Total | 346,071 | 157,238 | 45.44% | 182,052 | 52.61% | 6,781 |
| 2020 Brown[15] | 144,017 | 65,511 | 45.49% | 75,871 | 52.68% | 2,635 |
| 2020 Outagamie[15] | 108,022 | 47,667 | 44.13% | 58,385 | 54.05% | 1,970 |
| 2020 Winnebago[15] | 94,032 | 44,060 | 46.86% | 47,796 | 50.83% | 2,176 |
| 2016 Total | 310,079 | 128,497 | 41.44% | 160,534 | 51.77% | 19,697 |
| 2016 Brown[16] | 129,011 | 53,382 | 41.38% | 67,210 | 52.10% | 7,944 |
| 2016 Outagamie[16] | 93,933 | 38,068 | 40.53% | 49,879 | 53.10% | 5,506 |
| 2016 Winnebago[16] | 87,135 | 37,047 | 42.52% | 43,445 | 49.86% | 6,247 |
| 2012 Total | 312,697 | 153,634 | 49.13% | 154,330 | 49.35% | 4,733 |
| 2012 Brown[17] | 128,928 | 62,526 | 48.50% | 64,836 | 50.29% | 1,566 |
| 2012 Outagamie[17] | 94,596 | 45,659 | 48.27% | 47,372 | 50.08% | 1,565 |
| 2012 Winnebago[17] | 89,173 | 45,449 | 50.97% | 42,122 | 47.24% | 1,602 |
| 2008 Total | 303,994 | 165,730 | 54.52% | 133,477 | 43.91% | 4,609 |
| 2008 Brown[18] | 124,754 | 67,269 | 53.92% | 55,854 | 44.77% | 1,631 |
| 2008 Outagamie[18] | 91,563 | 50,294 | 54.93% | 39,677 | 43.33% | 1,414 |
| 2008 Winnebago[18] | 87,677 | 48,167 | 54.94% | 37,946 | 43.28% | 1,564 |
| 2004 Total | 301,940 | 136,047 | 45.06% | 162,618 | 53.86% | 3,275 |
| 2004 Brown[19] | 123,294 | 54,935 | 44.56% | 67,173 | 54.48% | 1,186 |
| 2004 Outagamie[19] | 90,050 | 40,169 | 44.61% | 48,903 | 54.31% | 978 |
| 2004 Winnebago[19] | 88,596 | 40,943 | 46.21% | 46,542 | 52.53% | 1,111 |
| 2000 Total | 259,591 | 115,814 | 44.61% | 132,048 | 50.87% | 11,729 |
| 2000 Brown[20] | 107,769 | 49,096 | 45.56% | 54,258 | 50.35% | 4,415 |
| 2000 Outagamie[20] | 75,742 | 32,735 | 43.22% | 39,460 | 52.10% | 3,547 |
| 2000 Winnebago[20] | 76,080 | 33,983 | 44.67% | 38,330 | 50.38% | 3,767 |
| 1996 Total | ||||||
| 1996 Brown[21] | 47.1% | 42.5% | ||||
| 1996 Outagamie[21] | 44.4% | 42.8% | ||||
| 1996 Winnebago[21] | 45.3% | 42.7% |