Scott Walker Wins; Kleefisch (Maybe) Wins; Lehman-Wanggaard Race Too Close to Call
With 85% of the vote in, it looks like Republican Governor Scott Walker has held off Democratic challenger Tom Barrett; the current vote percentages are Walker, 55%, Barrett 45%. I say that it looks like Walker has won because there are a lot of votes yet to be counted; the last voter in Milwaukee County, for example, cast his or her vote at 9:30 p.m. So the current voting percentage probably will narrow significantly — but there most likely are not the votes remaining for Walker to be defeated, which is why Barrett has conceded.
In addition, Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch (R) leads challenger Mahlon Mitchell (D) 54% to 46%. This is an apparent victory, but as it’s a percentage point closer to begin with, it’s possible that Mitchell may pull within 1% of the vote once every vote has been counted in Milwaukee, Racine, and LaCrosse counties. If that happens, a recount may come into play. So keep an eye on this race.
Three of the state Senate races have been decided in favor of the Rs, including the Scott Fitzgerald-Lori Compas race (where Fitzgerald won handily over Compas, 60% to 39%); these races are over.
The only recall race outstanding is the John Lehman-Van Wanggaard race, which remains too close to call at this hour due to the extremely high turnout in the City of Racine wards (right now, most of the vote that’s in is from Racine County, especially the Town of Mount Pleasant, which trends Republican; the City of Racine trends heavily Democrat). Right now, less than 1/3 of the wards in the City of Racine have been counted, possibly due to incredibly heavy turnout.
If Lehman prevails once the City of Racine has been counted, the Democrats will re-take the Wisconsin state Senate. This is an extremely important race, especially considering the statewide outcome; I’ll do my best to keep you posted as more results become available.
According to the Racine Journal-Times, as of 10:50 p.m. CDT, here are the results:
Van Wanggaard (R): 14566
John Lehman (D): 11881
33% of wards reporting
If you wish to look at the overall Wisconsin map, the Huffington Post map is probably the best. Take a look at it here.
Now, as to how I feel about Walker and Kleefisch apparently being retained? One word sums it up: disgusted.
More tomorrow, once I’ve caught my breath.
Barb Caffrey's Blog 
I smell shenanigans in Racine.
Racine was EXTREMELY late getting its precincts reports in – when other counties had 99% of their vote in, there was Racine, lagging @ 50%.
Everywhere else, Republicans handed Democrats their ass on a platter, and WALKER won Racine 53%-47%…but we’re expected to believe that – somehow – Lehman…one of the most liberal politicians in the State…was supposed to have beaten Van Wanggaard 51%-49%???
BullCRAP. I do not believe it. Time to thoroughly investigate what took place.
Subdermal
June 6, 2012 at 7:39 am
I’ve approved your comment because I believe in civil dissent, but you are wrong. There were long lines in Racine at 8 p.m. — I know this because I live here and saw it at three polling places. There were many absentee ballots. We had nearly an 80% turnout — a record — very, very, very high. City of Racine ran out of ballots at two polling places and people had to wait in lines, which they did. That, too, is why the vote counting came in late — mostly because Racine, unlike Milwaukee, was not willing to have pollsters say, “The election has already been decided. Go home.” (The people in Milwaukee didn’t go home, either, but that was a disgraceful thing to say and do. I’d say it even had Barrett won; sending voters home before they’ve voted is plain, flat wrong.)
What’s good for the goose is good for the gander, so they say. Which is why I understand why you’re upset; I’ve been upset for sixteen months or more. However, you are wrong in this instance; the City of Racine’s County Clerk is honest, fair-minded, and extremely thorough — I found this out during the Kloppenburg-Prosser recount, where I was an election monitor/volunteer.
There is absolutely no way Wendy Christensen would throw an election for Lehman, Wanggaard, or a Martian — she is honest, ethical, and fair.
The reason Lehman won was that he won 2-to-1 in the City of Racine, which is heavily Democratic. Wanggaard won in Mount Pleasant and (much more narrowly) in Sturtevant, the other two municipalities in Racine County that have significant populations (Mt. Pleasant has approximately 24,000, Sturtevant approximately 7,000). Wanggaard simply did not get enough votes considering the insanely high City of Racine turnout to win; he did win in the County, which was expected.
And — this is the biggest point, that you need to keep in mind — Van Wanggaard is a retired police officer _and_ a past union representative who voted against collective bargaining. He also is a retired County Board Supervisor. Many people in this area were absolutely disgusted with his vote on collective bargaining due to his past history — very, very disgusted. And we’ve recalled a Senator before for much less than this, _plus_ it’s very possible (according to the polls that I usually distrust) that people can support Walker _and_ support Lehman, just as apparently some pollsters believe some support both Walker _and_ Obama. (I can’t fathom it, but there it is.) In these cases, it’s possible that voters believed Walker hasn’t had enough time to prove himself (this happened in the Petak-Plache race, where some Ds voted for Petak and some disgusted Rs voted for Plache, possibly for the first and only time), but Wanggaard, who is a _known_ quantity in this area, has proven himself to be a hypocrite.
We don’t like hypocrisy in Racine County, and we don’t like people who say one thing and do something else, either. That’s likely why Wanggaard is out, but Walker still won the county.
You can disagree with the results all you want, but I’m betting that you were most likely one of those unhappy that Kloppenburg proceeded to a recount last year. If so, you may want to re-think your stance a mite . . . but if you approved of last year’s recount (even if you believed it futile, as I believe Wanggaard’s ultimately will be), then you have no problem with me even if we disagree. (I’m all for investigations. In this case nothing is there to be found except insanely long lines and a County Clerk unwilling to call an election before all voters have actually had their chance to cast a ballot.)
Barb Caffrey
June 6, 2012 at 5:05 pm