Wisconsin Votes On Recall Of Two Democratic State Senators

Voters went to the polls Tuesday to decide two Wisconsin state Senate races, the latest battle in the national fight over curbing the role of unions representing public employees.

The two special elections, seeking to recall two Democrats, are the final steps in the fierce fight over Gov. Scott Walker’s proposal to limit collective bargaining rights for many public employees. Sens. Jim Holperin and Robert Wirch, were among the Democrats who fled the state for weeks earlier this year in an unsuccessful effort to prevent the Legislature from passing Walker’s package of bills seen by their party as being anti-labor.

The races are the last of nine recall elections instigated by angry partisans. Regardless of Tuesday’s outcome, the GOP will keep control of the Senate, which they already run with a 17-16 edge. In the first six recall elections, Democrats failed to win three of the six contested races needed to shift the balance of power.

Of the two races being decided Tuesday, local political observers said Holperin faced the toughest fight against Kim Simac, a founder of the Northwoods Patriots, a “tea party” group. The tea party movement held counter-demonstrations and opposed union efforts to block Walker’s package of bills.

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