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Wisconsin Ag News Headlines |
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Republicans Hold on to Control of State House
Wisconsin Ag Connection - 08/10/2011
Four of the six Republican State Senators that were being challenged for their seats in Tuesday's recall election have won their races, meaning the GOP will continue to hold the majority of both chambers of the State Capitol. Voters chose to re-elect Rob Cowles, Allouez, 2nd Senate District; Alberta Darling, River
Hills, 8th Senate District; Sheila Harsdorf, River Falls, 10th Senate District; and Luther Olsen, Ripon, 14th Senate District. But Sen. Dan Kapanke from La Crosse in the 32nd Senate District lost his re-election bid to challenger Representative Jennifer Shilling; and Democrat Jessica King, a former deputy mayor of
Oshkosh, ousted first-term incumbent Sen. Randy Hopper from Fond du Lac with her win.
The Republicans will continue to hold a 17-16 majority in the Senate, but could win seats back in next week's Democratic recall election.
Several of the winning candidates had the backing of various Wisconsin farm organizations. The Wisconsin Corn Growers Association had endorsed Olsen, Harsdorf and Kapanke in the election; while the Wisconsin Farm Bureau's Volunteers for Agriculture Committee backed Cowles, Darling, Harsdorf, Olsen
and Kapanke.
The recall effort was sparked after newly-elected Governor Scott Walker proposed new policies that put limits on public union bargaining rights for most state workers. That prompted all of the state's Democrat Senators to leave the state in order to hold up a vote on the issue. Walker said in a statement last night
that he remains confident that the state is heading in the right direction.
"Last November, the voters sent a message that they wanted fiscal responsibility and a focus on jobs," Walker said. "In our first months in office we balanced a $3.6 billion deficit and our state created 39,000 new jobs. It's clear the voters also want us to work together to grow jobs and improve our state."
He also said he called the leaders of the Republican and Democrat committees in the Assembly and State Senate on Tuesday evening and said he wanted to work together to grow jobs and improve the state's business climate.
Many say the recall election results will now help the state's GOP agenda regain momentum through next year's presidential race, of which Wisconsin is often considered an important swing state.
Next week, Democratic Sens. Bob Wirch of Pleasant Prairie and Jim Holperin from Conover face GOP challenges in their district.
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