A Wisconsin recall election produced major wins for Wisconsin Democrats Tuesday, resulting in all six Wisconsin Democrats winning their recall primaries, easily fending off challenges from “protest” candidates.
The recall election, which was launched after a series of contentious collective bargaining law was passed by the Wisconsin Legislature and signed into law by Wisconsin governor Scott Walker, received national attention as Democrats and Republicans attempted to spin the election into a referendum.
The six Republicans being challenged were supposed to defend their seats Tuesday, however Wisconsin Republicans, in an attempted to buy state senators additional time, put up protest candidates in all six districts, forcing a primary and putting off a general election until August 9. Unlike many other U.S. states, Wisconsin has open primaries and no official party registration, allowing Republicans to run as Democrats and vote in Democratic primaries, and vice versa for Democrats.
Wisconsin Republicans had issued a compliant, saying the timing of the recall election, which takes place just weeks after lawmakers adjourned, presented Republican lawmakers with too little time to campaign.
That said, turnout for the recall election well exceeded average turnout, with some districts recording record turnout for a summer election. Tuesday’s turnout was 55 to 88 percent of that in the Supreme Court race, the Christian Science Monitor reported.
Wisconsin Democrats said the primary election was a major victory, adding that they expect to defeat all six Republicans in the August election.
“The voters of Wisconsin have rejected the Republicans’ dirty tricks, despite their best efforts to turn out voters in these primaries for fake candidates,” said Democratic Party spokeswoman Gillian Morris.
Whether Democrats can continue the momentum remains unclear. Three Democratic state senators also face recalls this summer. Next Tuesday is the general election against state Sen. Dave Hansen and Republican primaries to take on Democratic state Sens. Robert Wirch and Dave Hansen, the Washington Post reports.
