Wisconsin GOP Holds onto Majority in State Senate Recall Elections
Republicans are still in control of the Wisconsin Senate, after beating back four Democratic challengers in a recall election. The Wisconsin GOP overcame a major political backlash against Gov. Scott Walker's efforts to curb the power of the state's public employees' unions.
Fueled by millions of dollars from national labor groups, the attempt to remove GOP incumbents served as both a referendum on Walker's conservative revolution, and it could serve as an indicator of the public mood less than a year after Republicans made sweeping gains in this state and many others.
Two Democratic incumbents also face recalls next week, but even if they win Democrats will still be in the minority.
The stakes in Wisconsin were clearly bigger than control of the Senate. Democrats say the recall results, in which they picked up two seats, are a rebuff of the Republican revolution started by Walker, but that wasn't all that they wanted.
Both parties were testing messages ahead of the 2012 presidential race, in which Wisconsin is expected to be an important swing state.
Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus said the party was "all in" to win the state recall races. The GOP was up against a coalition of national unions that spent millions on attack ads and other campaign activity to wrest seats from the Republicans.
There is historic irony in the fact that this conservative backlash against public employee unions is happening in Wisconsin, a state that has historically been dominated by labor unions and their "progressive" agendas.
The legendary liberal Wisconsin politician and labor supporter Robert "Fighting Bob" LaFollette is spinning in his grave today.
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