NEWS

Update Wisconsin: Sweep!

07/15/11

Workers’ candidates in Wisconsin went six for six in primary elections July 12 against conservative opponents masquerading as Democrats. The Republican state party admitted to running fake Democrats in the primary to buy time for their candidates at a cost to Wisconsin taxpayers of more than $425,000.

Six Republican senators were targeted for recall by grassroots activists because of their support of Gov. Scott Walker’s radical agenda to dismantle the middle class and weaken GOP political opposition by destroying workers’ unions.

Tuesday’s victors (the real Democrats) will face off against the Republican state senators, who voted to eliminate collective bargaining rights for public-sector workers, in general elections July 19, Aug. 9 and Aug. 16. Three Democratic senators targeted for recall by Republicans (for leaving the state to prevent a vote on the union-busting bill) also will need to be re-elected in the general elections.

Here’s a complete schedule of labor-endorsed candidates and election dates:

District	Location	Union-Endorsed Candidate	Primary Election Date	General Election Date
2	Green Bay area	Nancy Nusbaum	July 12	August 9
8	Milwaukee area	Sandra Pasch	July 12	August 9
10	Hudson/River Falls/Menomonie area	Shelly Moore	July 12	August 9
12	Rhinelander area	Jim Holperin	July 19	August 9
14	Ripon/Baraboo area	Fred Clark	July 12	August 16
18	Fond du Lac/Oshkosh area	Jessica King	July 12	August 9
22	Kenosha area	Bob Wirch	July 19	August 16
30	Green Bay area	Dave Hansen	None	July 19
32	La Crosse area	Jennifer Shilling	July 12	August 9

Democrats will need to pick up three seats to retake control of the Senate.

The Republican-forced primaries also gave GOP leaders time to quickly redraw the state’s districts to grab even more power and better their chances in future elections. According to the Wisconsin AFL-CIO, the GOP’s new map places Bob Wirch, Nancy Nusbaum and Fred Clark outside of their own districts. It also eliminates heavily Democratic areas and adds heavily Republican areas to District 8, where Republican Sen. Alberta Darling faces a tough challenge from Democrat Sandra Pasch.

Republican leaders have scheduled an "extraordinary session," which has only been used 10 times since it was instituted in 1977, for July 19 to push through their redistricting plan before Democrats have a chance to retake the Senate. While the redistricting is not expected to affect the outcome of this summer’s recall elections, it will give state Republicans – as well as Sen. Paul Ryan and Rep. Sean Duffy – a formidable advantage in 2012.