Wisconsin Republicans will keep control of the state Senate, after a round of recall elections that were largely viewed as a referendum on Gov. Scott Walker’s policies.
Republican incumbents reportedly won four of six recall elections held yesterday, while Democrats were successful in ousting two GOP officeholders. Even though two more recall elections are slated to be held a week from now, Democrats currently hold those seats, and so the party’s net gains would not be enough for them to wrest control of the state Senate, where Republicans had held a 19-14 edge going into these elections.
Partisans on both sides had organized the recall elections in the wake of the furor surrounding the state legislature’s passage of legislation limiting collective bargaining for teachers and other employees, a bill signed into law by Walker.
Will the results embolden Republican lawmakers to push forward with similar legislation challenging unions in other states? Or will lawmakers take a more cautious and bipartisan approach, after having seen the anger generated in Wisconsin?