Evening Focus: Wisconsin State Senate Recall (Live Blog)
The progressive blogosphere turns its eyes toward Wisconsin tonight. Polls close at 8pm local time in 6 state senate districts. (More)
At stake is control of the Wisconsin state senate which can provide needed checks to the power of AFP-backed Governor Scott Walker (R), Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R) and Assembly Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald (R).
Democrats need to gain a net of 3 seats with 6 races today pitting our candidates against Republican incumbents. Next week on August 16th, Democrats defend two seats.
The polls show the Democrats ahead in two of the races, the Republicans ahead in two of the races and the other two races a toss-up.
From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
Stories from other state newspapers:
Fond du Lac
Oshkosh
Appleton (Fox Cities)
HEMMED In update from today.
Some tidbits:
- Turnout in Fond du Lac is expected to be 80%
- No state legislature has flipped control via recalls
- Only 13 successful recall elections in U.S. history
- All the Republicans won their seats in 2008 and the winner will have to run again in 2012
- Jessica King lost to Randy Hopper by 160 votes in 2008
(Dave Hansen already won his recall)
+++
Results: (Madison.com, JSOnline.com)
SENATE DISTRICT 2
August 09, 2011 – 09:20PM CT
Wisconsin – 73 of 90 Precincts Reporting – 81%
Name Party Votes Vote %
Cowles , Robert (i) GOP 18,718 58%
Nusbaum , Nancy Dem 13,292 42%Race called for Cowles.
SENATE DISTRICT 8
August 10, 2011 – 05:23AM CT
Wisconsin – 81 of 82 Precincts Reporting – 99%
Name Party Votes Vote %
Darling , Alberta (i) GOP 39,471 54%
Pasch , Sandra Dem 34,096 46%Race called for Darling
SENATE DISTRICT 10
August 09, 2011 – 09:20PM CT
Wisconsin – 85 of 114 Precincts Reporting – 75%
Name Party Votes Vote %
Harsdorf , Sheila (i) GOP 23,670 58%
Moore , Shelly Dem 16,949 42%Race called for Harsdorf
SENATE DISTRICT 14 at 8:18pm
August 09, 2011 – 09:59PM CT
Wisconsin – 121 of 126 Precincts Reporting – 96%
Name Party Votes Vote %
Olsen , Luther (i) GOP 24,321 54%
Clark , Fred Dem 20,690 46%Race called for Olsen
SENATE DISTRICT 18
August 09, 2011 – 10:40PM CT
Wisconsin – 108 of 108 Precincts Reporting – 100%
Name Party Votes Vote %
King , Jessica Dem 28,188 51%
Hopper , Randy (i) GOP 26,937 49%Called for Jessica King!!!
SENATE DISTRICT 32
August 09, 2011 – 10:05PM CT
Wisconsin – 98 of 119 Precincts Reporting – 82%
Name Party Votes Vote %
Shilling , Jennifer Dem 19,928 55%
Kapanke , Dan (i) GOP 16,537 45%Called for Jennifer Shilling!!!
(Note: The North Central Blogistan Campus has been suffering intermittent Internet outages all day. Please feel free to add updates in the comments. As I can be online, I will update the article)
Reader Comments are Welcome
Here are some tweets you can follow:
#WeRWisconsin They will be hosting a live chat on their web site when the polls close.
Jessica King running against The Randy Hopper.
Flip the Senate is another good one.
Polls are closed.
Why aren’t the results in? It has been 11 minutes!!!!!!!
Wisconsinites do realize the old joke about counting feet and dividing by two is just a joke, right? C’mon … it’s been 26 minutes….
It’s been 14 minutes. I expected answers by now. Is Wisconsin always this slow?
Yes, we had to go get a beer.
I’ve aged cheese faster than this.
Admittedly, it was awful cheese, but still….
Cowles (R) leading Nusbaum (D) by 88 points in District 2. Well, with one precinct in and 35 votes counted….
Its 94% now.
Cowles lead down to 20 points with 4 precincts counted….
This is when we nod sagely and say “We have to count all the votes”.
Unfortunately I don’t know any of the precincts and what they mean. If this was Dane County I could tell you how each precint should be voting.
August 09, 2011 – 09:23PM CT
Wisconsin – 73 of 90 Precincts Reporting – 81%
Name Party Votes Vote %
Cowles , Robert (i) GOP 18,718 58%
Nusbaum , Nancy Dem 13,292 42%
Cowles declared winner by AP
Clark (D) leading Olson (R) by 12 points in District 14. With one precinct in and 116 votes counted….
Clark now leads by 4 points (12 votes) with 2 precincts in and 192 votes counted….
August 09, 2011 – 09:59PM CT
Wisconsin – 121 of 126 Precincts Reporting – 96%
Name Party Votes Vote %
Olsen , Luther (i) GOP 24,321 54%
Clark , Fred Dem 20,690 46%
Olsen declared winner
August 09, 2011 – 10:11PM CT
Wisconsin – 47 of 82 Precincts Reporting – 57%
Name Party Votes Vote %
Pasch , Sandra Dem 18,033 58%
Darling , Alberta (i) GOP 13,112 42%
August 09, 2011 – 10:14PM CT
Wisconsin – 52 of 82 Precincts Reporting – 63%
Name Party Votes Vote %
Pasch , Sandra Dem 20,562 51%
Darling , Alberta (i) GOP 19,675 49%
[CONTINUED AT END OF COMMENT THREAD]
August 09, 2011 – 09:44PM CT
Wisconsin – 25 of 108 Precincts Reporting – 23%
Name Party Votes Vote %
King , Jessica Dem 8,508 52%
Hopper , Randy (i) GOP 7,890 48%
August 09, 2011 – 10:05PM CT
Wisconsin – 94 of 108 Precincts Reporting – 87%
Name Party Votes Vote %
King , Jessica Dem 24,458 50%
Hopper , Randy (i) GOP 24,321 50%
[CONTINUED AT END OF COMMENT THREAD]
August 09, 2011 – 10:08PM CT
Wisconsin – 98 of 119 Precincts Reporting – 82%
Name Party Votes Vote %
Shilling , Jennifer Dem 19,928 55%
Kapanke , Dan (i) GOP 16,537 45%
Race called for Shilling!!!
It’s a trend and I hope it holds.
I reallized I should show two slices. She just went back up.
August 09, 2011 – 09:10PM CT
Wisconsin – 73 of 114 Precincts Reporting – 64%
Name Party Votes Vote %
Harsdorf , Sheila (i) GOP 19,117 58%
Moore , Shelly Dem 13,623 42%
Harsdorf declared winner by AP
As of 9.30pm ET, not looking good. Only one Democrat leading: Shilling in District 32.
These are all rural districts. Cities take longer to count. On April 5th, Fond du Lac came in 3 hours after everyone else.
I am laughing so hard, I can’t keep up. This is history in the making, is only for the sheer number of recalls. I will be patiently waiting for the cheese to mature, for the beer to ferment and for the tallies to come in.
I am glad you are here adding your wisdom. SOMEONE is getting a little impatient.
::tap tap tap tap tap tap tap::
It’s also difficult to tell anything unless we know where that 1% (or whatever) comes from. Often some of the smallest areas come in first, which means they’re more rural, often more conservative. But I haven’t seen any maps, so I would hesitate to infer anything about the areas. I will try to look for electoral maps. Since my eyes are a bit challenged right now, I’ll likely go off line. Wish I could spend the night with you. Thanks for what you’re doing.
I was thinking that. Some of the early results were on the order of: 1 Precinct Counted, X 13 votes, Y 5 votes. Okay … is that a precinct or a road bar?
Pay no attention to that tap tap tapping, bleeding heart. It is a cross we bear.
Bleeding heart, you may however
Thanks for stopping by, bh. If people are mean on the GOS, you can check here for results.
I strongly suspect that my morning coffee will finish brewing at about the time someone calls the results. Who will call them BTW? Where is Tim Russert with his white board when we really need him?
Okay sometime this weekend when my cell minutes were free I was dfa calling for Wisconsin. Twice I got a message machine that said, “We have already voted and we voted Democratic. Thanks for calling and have a good day.”
How very ingenious is that message? I intend to copy it myself in future elections. Although I once answered my cell in a phone bank and could hear the woman on the other side of the wall talking to me. Big giggles for the rooms full of phoners. Stress relief and a very friendly voice… what more could a caller want?
Brewers 2, Cardinals 0 in the 5th inning.
Brewers 5, Cardinals 3 in the 10th inning (Final)
Just heard on the Ed Show that some of the polls did just close because there were hour lines left when the polls closed at 8:00. These were in precincts that were expected to go Democratic. I hope so.
Also, one of the experts he has on the show repeated what Jan said earlier about the early results being from rural areas that tend to go Republican, so it is still difficult to determine how the results will end up.
Thanks for that news about the lines. That makes a lot of sense and those are probably in the cities.
I just posted an AP feed below but counties are not useful. I know my county and I could tell you the precincts that are Democratic and Republican but you would have to be an expert to read these.
Notice that the Darling-Pasch race had been stuck at 9% reporting for about an hour and finally got some real numbers.
Ed just announced that Pasch just went into the lead. I hope that it holds!
I just saw that.
Out of all the tossup races, that one would be the most satisfying victory. She is a Paul Ryan buddy and was the chair of the finance committee … the one that took an axe to education. She was probably chortling while she was doing it.
Here is the AP link: Results by County
County does not really help much more than precint. We need to know rural versus urban. Democrats will win in the cities. If they can win a fair amount of the country they have a good chance. One of the things that the Fitzwalkers did was defund BadgerCare which is the only health care farmers can afford. If farmers are paying attention, they will vote Democrat. If they are not, they will find a cancellation letter in the mailbox one day and wonder what happened. Just like the families who walk into school on September 1st and wonder how come the class sizes went from 22 to 40 because the GOP defunded schools by nearly a billion dollars. They will wish they had voted.
For MN and Missouri, I know to go to the secretary of state’s web site to get a better look at precincts and where the counted votes are coming from. My WI search didn’t show me what I was looking for. Are these results from the jsonline?
Yes, these are JSOnline. Each county has a web site … there is no statewide site. The GAB will show the totals but only after they are called in.
AP has called for the incumbents in District 2 and District 10.
Cowles and Harsdorf. These are the two we expected to lose.
Jessica King just went ahead!!!
I saw that. What does it mean that Fond Du Lac hasn’t reported any results yet? Is that a good sign or not? (Am I going to have to start reading tea leaves?)
Fond du Lac is a tossup. The Randy Hopper’s jilted wife lives there but he is from there. King is from Oshkosh.
I so admire Hopper’s wife for coming to the door and saying, he does not live here anymore, he lives with his mistress. That must have taken some courage on her part and I hope Hopper loses. Cosmic justice or karma or the scums lose.
Yes. We need an unprecedented three wins.
Hopper just went back into the lead as Fond Du Lac is now all reported. It’s up to Winnebago County now.
I saw that. Winnebago County is Oshkosh.
The Pasch lead is incredible. If it holds there will be dancing in the streets in Whitefish Bay.
Down to three: King, Pasch and Shilling. Can we do it?
AP called for Olsen. That only leaves three districts left. Up in two of them. The other one is about 500 votes different. Go Oshkosh!
King just went back up. Pasch still ahead with Milwaukee yet to report. Shilling should be called soon.
And Kapanke goes down!
Did something weird just happen on the AP site for District 8? Pasch was quite a bit ahead it seemed, then I refreshed, and the lead was almost gone, but none of the counties underneath had changed enough to account for the change. Or am I just getting tired and seeing things?
Never mind. It must have been results from Ozaukee.
Ozaukee is very very Republican. Milwaukee County still has a lot of precincts out. They dislike her very much there.
Returns stuck at 87% in King-Hopper and 63% in Pasch-Darling
Might be city votes coming in. 10 Waukesha County precints, 5 Ozaukee County precints (probably all Darling) and then 15 precincts from the city of Milwaukee.
King is winning Winnebago County 54 to 46. If the remaining 14 precints break the same way, she will have the votes she needs. The rest of the district is in.
August 09, 2011 – 10:31PM CT
Wisconsin – 105 of 108 Precincts Reporting – 97%
Name Party Votes Vote %
King , Jessica Dem 27,123 51%
Hopper , Randy (i) GOP 25,951 49%
That should do it. Should be called soon. 3 precincts left.
King wins!!!!!
August 09, 2011 – 10:40PM CT
Wisconsin – 108 of 108 Precincts Reporting – 100%
Name Party Votes Vote %
King , Jessica Dem 28,188 51%
Hopper , Randy (i) GOP 26,937 49%
August 09, 2011 – 10:34PM CT
Wisconsin – 55 of 82 Precincts Reporting – 67%
Name Party Votes Vote %
Pasch , Sandra Dem 23,451 52%
Darling , Alberta (i) GOP 21,713 48%
Still 10 missing precincts from Waukesha, 12 from Milwaukee, 5 from Ozaukee
Hi Jan……I’m following along, and thinking of you and Wisconsin. Thanks for your analysis.The whole Wisconsin story is a moving tribute to our democracy regardless of the outcome.
Thanks, princesspat. I could tell some people were following (I could hear the breathing. Ha!)
I met Jessica King and she was talking about her dad who is in a nursing home and how the staff there told her they were pulling for her. He will be in Madison for the swearing in even though he is disabled and it is hard for him to get around.
Possibility of weirdness from Waukesha again? According to DailyKos, there has been a Tweet that indicated that Waukesha County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus will not report results for at least 1 hour.
I thought she was on a leave of absence. This would be too sickening.
These would be funnier if the history were not so awful:
10 Waukesha County precincts came in.
August 09, 2011 – 11:06PM CT
Wisconsin – 65 of 82 Precincts Reporting – 79%
Name Party Votes Vote %
Darling , Alberta (i) GOP 30,394 52%
Pasch , Sandra Dem 27,766 48%
Still 12 precincts in Milwaukee and one in Waukesha and 4 in Ozaukee. Waukesha and Ozaukee can be expected to go R.
It looks like it will be very close. And I still don’t trust Waukesha. They found votes last time during the recount. I would hope that there are Democratic lawyers watching all the vote counting there like a hawk this time.
I am not sure what triggers a recall in a race like this. 2628 votes out of 58,160 is 4% so that is a pretty healthy lead. This late vote reporting is becoming a habit.
4 R precincts out and 12 D precincts. But they may be empty so we don’t know what is left.
Darn.
Democratic Party of Wisconsin is accusing the Waukesha County Clerk of election tampering. From Mike Tate, chair of Democratic Party of Wisconsin:
Good for him. Too coincidental.
.
It is officially past my bedtime. It looks like the Alberta Darling race will be up in the air for a while.
The union busting bill passed 18 to 1 in the state senate back in March with the 14 Democrats out of state and Sen. Dale Schultz (R) voting against it. That means that if Darling retains her seat, the senate is 17(R) to 16(D) with the possibility of peeling Sen. Schultz off if any bill represents Scott Walker overreaching. That is cause for hope.
That is not the only thing to take away from this tonight. The fact is that Wisconsin has shown the rest of the country that we can fight back against what is happening. The number of recalls that Wisconsin was able to put through in this situation was totally unprecedented. And the fact is that the Democrats were able to win two out of the six is incredible, when most recall votes result in the retention of the congressperson being recalled.
So while I’m sure that Republicans will be crowing about their “victories”, we need to remember that they shouldn’t have been having to have these elections at all.
Thank you Wisconsin for showing the rest of the country that it CAN be done.