Three votes.That is the margin that helped launch one of the most consequential political careers in modern Wisconsin state government.In September 2010, Tyler August was a 27-year-old candidate running in a six-way Republican primary for an open seat in the Wisconsin State Assembly.When election night ended, it appeared he had lost.
Adam Gibbs was reported ahead by four votes.FOX NEWS POWER RANKINGS: AS THE HOUSE FALLS, THE SENATE STAYS IN PLAYThen came the recount.People cast their ballots during early voting on Saturday, Oct.25, 2025, in New York.
(Olga Fedorova/AP)When it was finished, August had won 1,760 votes to Gibbs’ 1,757.Three votes.Out of more than 7,300 cast.Fewer people than fit around most kitchen tables separated winning from losing.GEORGIA VOTERS SET EARLY-VOTING RECORD AS MIDTERM ELECTIONS HEAT UPAugust went on to win the general election that November.
Sixteen years later, he serves as majority leader of the Wisconsin State Assembly, one of the most powerful positions in state government.Think about everything that had to pass through that three-vote doorway first.Every vote he has cast in the legislature.Every bill he has introduced.
Every budget he has helped shape.Every negotiation, committee assignment and leadership decision that came afterward.
Every Wisconsin family, worker or business affected by legislation enacted during his time in office.None of it happens the same way if that primary ends differently.That is the part we tend to forget when we say our vote "doesn’t matter."August went on to win the general election that November.Sixteen years later, he serves as majority leader of the Wisconsin State Assembly, one of the most powerful positions in state government.We imagine elections as enormous things.
Millions of people.Billions of dollars.
Television ads, polling averages, consultants, candidates and endless political noise.Against all of that, one person standing in a voting booth can feel almost comically insignifican...