Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker (R) will face Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett (D) in the general recall election on June 5, 2012, after both won primary recall elections in their respective parties. Walker previously defeated Barrett in the 2010 governor’s race by 5 percentage points.
Ballotpedia reports that incumbent Scott Walker received 96.9 percent of the vote in the Republican primary, or 613,597 votes. Tom Barrett received 58.1 percent in the Democratic primary, or 377,879 votes; union-picked far-left candidate Kathleen Falk received 34.2 percent. Wisconsin political commentator Charlie Sykes writes on the “very bad night for the unions”:
….Make that a very, very bad, actually horrible night. Not only did their handpicked candidate get crushed in the Democrats’ own primary — after unions dumped $4 million or more into her candidacy — but the vote had an unexpected twist: Even though he faced only token opposition, and despite some GOP crossovers to vote for Kathleen Falk, Governor Scott Walker got MORE votes than Tom Barrett and Falk COMBINED. How shocking was that?
Now, Walker and Lieutenant Governor Rebecca Kleefisch will enter the homestretch to the June 5 recall election. While Walker has been successful in garnering national attention on his fight, Kleefisch’s lesser known battle needs just as much support.
Kleefisch faces challenger Mahlon Mitchell, head of the Wisconsin Firefighters union, in her recall battle.
Mitchell received 52.2 percent of the vote in his primary yesterday, or 384,208 votes. That is 6,329 more votes than Walker challenger Barrett and shows how contentious her fight will be.
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