Alberta Darling was one of four Republican victors in Tuesday's recall elections. Wisconsin GOP holds on to Senate

Wisconsin Republicans withstood a Democratic campaign to take control of the state Senate on Tuesday, surviving in four of six recall elections that were sparked by Gov. Scott Walker’s contentious push for public labor law reforms.

Democrats needed to win at least three races to capture control of the narrowly divided chamber.


“This was a referendum on Scott Walker,” state Sen. Luther Olsen, one of the winning Republicans, told POLITICO. “They tied us right to Scott Walker. They thought that would flip us and make us lose, but I knew my district supported the governor and what we did.”

The vote counting stretched into Wednesday morning before the last race was finally called. While one vulnerable Republican fell as expected and another lost by a razor-thin margin, Democrats failed to break away in the battleground districts they and outside groups had most heavily targeted. Closing up shop on his election night party in Madison before the final results were in, state Democratic Party Chairman Mike Tate tried to claim some measure of victory, and promised to keep up efforts to recall Walker.

“We will not stop, we will not rest, until we recall Scott Walker from the state of Wisconsin,” Tate said.

Walker looked to move beyond the contentious days when his push to strip many public employees of collective bargaining rights led to an explosion of protest in Madison, with a muted statement that didn’t even celebrate his party’s win.

“Earlier this evening, I reached out to the leadership of both the Republicans and Democrats in the Assembly and state Senate,” Walker said in a statement. “I shared with them that I believe we can work together to grow jobs and improve our state. In the days ahead, I look forward to working with legislators of all parties to grow jobs for Wisconsin and move our state forward.”

Democrats had still held out some hope of winning the chamber late into Tuesday night, when Democratic state Rep. Sandy Pasch narrowly led state Sen. Alberta Darling in a battleground, suburban Milwaukee district. But as the final returns poured in, Darling’s lead grew to more than 7 points.

Republican state Sen. Robert Cowles cruised past Democratic challenger Nancy Nusbaum, and state Sen. Sheila Harsdorf topped Democrat Shelly Moore by a wide margin. State Sen. Luther Olsen beat Democratic state Rep. Fred Clark in a critical battleground race. State Sen. Dan Kapanke fell to Democratic state Rep. Jennifer Shilling, and state Sen. Randy Hopper lost to Democratic challenger Jessica King by a razor-thin margin after being dogged throughout the campaign by reports that he cheated on his wife with a staffer.

Two Democratic state senators still face recall elections next Tuesday.

“Tonight’s results demonstrate that responsible budgeting measures and job creating policies can prevail over mountains of liberal special interest money from those fighting to maintain the unsustainable status quo,” said Chris Jankowski, president of the Republican State Leadership Committee, one of the many outside groups whose spending on the recalls made them a national affair. “This tremendous victory is a significant step toward returning government to the people and protecting the hard-working American family and businessperson. By beating back countless liberal special interest dollars and paid supporters, the strength of responsible Republican ideals is obvious and foreshadows continued Republican victories in 2011, 2012 and beyond.”

The recall elections marked Democrats’ first big chance to make Republicans pay a political price for supporting Walker’s push to weaken organized labor, six months after Madison exploded in protest.

Polls closed at 8 p.m. CST, amid reports of high turnout across the state.

“Some areas are looking at presidential-year turnout, but certainly we’re at least looking at gubernatorial-year turnout,” said John Hogan, head of campaign efforts for the state Senate Republicans.

The run-up to the recalls saw unprecedented amounts of money poured onto Wisconsin airwaves, with the candidates and independent groups combining to spend well over $30 million. The conservative Club for Growth, Democratic-leaning We Are Wisconsin, the Republican State Leadership Committee and the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee are among more than 10 outside groups that bought TV time leading up to the recalls.

Hundreds of activists on both sides spilled into the state in the closing days to pump up turnout.

Kory Kozloski, executive director of the state Senate Democrats’ campaign arm, said the large number of signatures collected to spur the recall efforts was an achievement in its own right.

“The people of Wisconsin have very clearly spoken throughout this process,” he said. “They’re not happy with how this was jammed through the Legislature.”

David Catanese contributed reporting from Madison, Wis.