2012 Wisconsin Senate recall elections

The 2012 Wisconsin Senate recall elections were a set of recall elections for four Wisconsin state senators held on June 5, 2012. Four of the 33 seats in the Wisconsin Senate were up for election—all odd-numbered districts. Before the election, four of these seats were held by Republicans. The primary election was held on May 8, 2012.

2012 Wisconsin Senate recall elections

← 2011 (recall) June 5, 2012 (2012-06-05) 2012 →
4 of the 33 seats in the Wisconsin State Senate 17 seats needed for a majority
Majority party Minority party   Leader Mark Miller Scott Fitzgerald Party Democratic Republican Leader since January 12, 2011 January 1, 2007 Leader's seat 16th–Monona 13th–Juneau Last election 6 seats, 40.54% 11 seats, 59.11% Seats before 16 17 Seats won 1 3 Seats after 17 16 Seat change 1 1 Popular vote 127,409 166,528 Percentage 43.3% 56.7%
Results of the elections:      Democratic gain      Republican hold      No election Voteshare: Democratic:      50–60% Republican:      50–60%      60–70%
President before election Michael Ellis Republican Elected President Fred Risser Democratic

These recall elections followed the largest group of recall elections in U.S. history during the previous year, in which Republicans kept control of the Wisconsin Senate. Democrats flipped one Republican-held seat, regaining control of the chamber for the first time since 2008.

After the elections, Democrats entered the remainder of the 100th Wisconsin Legislature with 17 of 33 seats.

Background

Voters put four state senators up for recall, all Republicans, because of the budget repair bill proposed by Governor Scott Walker and circumstances surrounding it. Democrats targeted Republicans for voting to significantly limit public employee collective bargaining. Scholars could cite only four times in American history when more than one state legislator has been recalled at roughly the same time over the same issue. The recall elections occurred on June 5, with May 8 being the date of the primary election.^[1]

These recall elections followed the largest group of recall elections in U.S. history during the previous year, in which Republicans kept control of the Wisconsin Senate. In the June 5, 2012 recall elections, Democrats appeared to have taken over one seat from Republicans.

Results summary

Seats		Party (majority caucus shading)		Total
		Democratic	Republican
Last election (2010)		6	11	17
Total after last election (2010)		14	19	33
Total before this election		16	17	33
Up for election		0	4	4
of which:	Incumbent retiring	0	0	0
	Vacated	0	1	1
	Unopposed	0	0	0
This election		1	3	4
Change from last election		5	8
Total after this election		17	16	33
Change in total		3	3

Close races

Seats where the margin of victory was under 10%:

1. State Senate district 21, 1.14% (gain)

Outgoing incumbents

Vacated office

• Pam Galloway, representing district 29 since 2010, resigned on March 12, 2012, to take care of her family

Campaign

Recall petitions

Dist.	Incumbent			Recall petition
	Member	Party	First elected	Signatures required	Signatures approved (%)	Status
13	Scott L. Fitzgerald	Rep.	1994	16,742	18,282 (109%)	Recall held on June 5.
17	Dale Schultz	Rep.	1991 (special)	14,545	TBD	Recall not held.
21	Van H. Wanggaard	Rep.	2010	15,353	19,142 (125%)	Recall held on June 5.
23	Terry Moulton	Rep.	2010	14,958	18,657 (125%)	Recall held on June 5.
25	Robert Jauch	Dem.	1986	15,270	TBD	Recall not held.
29	Pam Galloway	Rep.	2010	15,647	18,511 (118%)	Recall held on June 5.

District 17

On March 19, 2012, paperwork was filed with the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board to create a committee to explore recalling Dale Schultz (R-Richland Center). To initiate a recall against Schultz, organizers would have had to submit 14,545 signatures to the G.A.B.. The effort was launched due to Schultz opposing a bill the week prior that would have helped Gogebic Taconite, a Florida-based mining company, set up an iron mine in northwestern Wisconsin.^[2]

District 25

On March 19, 2012, paperwork was filed with the G.A.B. to authorize a recall petition against Robert Jauch (D-Poplar). To initiate a recall against Jauch, organizers would have had to submit at least 15,270 signatures to the G.A.B.. The effort was launched due to Jauch opposing a bill from the previous week that would have helped Gogebic Taconite set up an iron mine in northwestern Wisconsin.^[2] Proponents of the recall argued that Jauch had cost Ashland County and Iron County jobs that would have alleviated unemployment.^[3] The recall effort was ultimately suspended on May 11, with organizers redirecting their attention to supporting Scott Walker in the gubernatorial recall election.^[4]

'Placeholder' candidates

Similarly to the previous recalls in 2011, the Republican Party backed primary challengers – known as "fake Democrats" due to being Republicans who ran in Democratic primaries – to all Democratic candidates running against Republican incumbents. The stated purpose of this was to prevent the recall elections from being held on the same day as the Democratic primary in the gubernatorial recall election and to give Republican incumbents and candidates more time to campaign.^[5]

Polling

Dist.	Date of poll	Candidate	Result in most recent poll	Poll information
13	April 13–15	Scott Fitzgerald (R-inc.)	54%	Conducted by PPP[6]
		Lori Compas (D)	40%
21		Van Wanggaard (R-inc.)	48%
		John Lehman (D)	46%
23		Terry Moulton (R-inc.)	51%
		Kristen Dexter (D)	41%
29		Jerry Petrowski (R)	51%
		Donna Seidel	37%

Aftermath

Although the victory gave Democrats control of the Senate, the state legislature would not be in regular session again until after the November 2012 election when control of the legislature would again be contested.^[7][8] After the November 2012 election, Republicans regained control of the state Senate due to the resignation of one Democrat and two losses by Democrats to Republicans.^[9]

Race summary

Dist.	Incumbent			This race
	Member	Party	First elected	Status	Candidates
13	Scott L. Fitzgerald	Republican	1994	Incumbent retained	▌Y Scott Fitzgerald (Rep.) 58.31% ▌Lori Compas (Dem.) 40.70% ▌Terry Virgil (Lib.) 0.94%
21	Van H. Wanggaard	Republican	2010	Incumbent recalled. New member elected. Democratic gain.	▌Y John Lehman (Dem.) 50.53% ▌Van Wanggaard (Rep.) 49.39%
23	Terry Moulton	Republican	2010	Incumbent retained	▌Y Terry Moulton (Rep.) 56.57% ▌Kristen Dexter (Dem.) 43.29%
29	--Vacant[a]--			Previous incumbent resigned Mar. 16, 2012. New member elected. Republican hold.	▌Y Jerry Petrowski (Rep.) 61.34% ▌Donna J. Seidel (Dem.) 38.58%

Detailed results

District 13

Incumbent Republican Scott Fitzgerald ran for re-election. He defeated Democrat Lori Compas and Libertarian Terry Virgil in the recall election and was retained in office.

District 13 Democratic recall primary^[10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Lori Compas	21,257	71.47
	Democratic	Gary Ellerman	8,213	27.47
	Write-in		273	0.92
Total votes			29,743	100.0

District 13 recall election^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Scott Fitzgerald	47,146	58.31
	Democratic	Lori Compas	32,909	40.70
	Libertarian	Terry Virgil	763	0.94
	Write-in		33	0.04
Total votes			80,851	100.0

District 21

Incumbent Republican Van H. Wanggaard ran for re-election. He was defeated by Democrat John Lehman and recalled from office.

The initial results for the race were too close to call, with Lehman appearing to lead Wanggaard by less than 800 votes. The subsequent election canvas the following week confirmed Lehman's lead. Despite this, Wanggaard requested a recount, citing potential election irregularities involving potentially thousands of voters.^[12] The recount, held from June 20–July 2, decreased Lehman's margin by 15 votes. Due to the close results, several Republicans, including future Speaker of the Assembly Robin Vos, made false claims of voter fraud to explain Lehman's victory over Wanggaard.^[13] In the end, Wanggaard conceded to Lehman on July 10, 2012.^[14]

District 21 Democratic recall primary^[10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	John Lehman	20,284	67.79
	Democratic	Tamra Varebrook	9,513	31.80
	Write-in		122	0.41
Total votes			29,919	100.0

District 21 recall election^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	John Lehman	36,358	50.53
	Republican	Van H. Wanggaard (incumbent)	35,539	49.39
	Write-in		58	0.08
Total votes			71,955	100.0

District 23

Republican Terry Moulton ran for re-election. He defeated Democrat Kristen Dexter in the recall election and was retained in office.

District 23 Democratic recall primary^[10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Kristen Dexter	17,651	63.77
	Democratic	James Engel	9,736	35.17
	Write-in		292	1.05
Total votes			27,679	100.0

District 23 recall election^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Terry Moulton (incumbent)	39,864	56.57
	Democratic	Kristen Dexter	30,504	43.29
	Write-in		100	0.14
Total votes			71,909	100.0

District 29

Incumbent Republican Pam Galloway resigned on March 12 due to personal reasons, leaving the district open. Republican Jerry Petrowski defeated Democrat Kristen Dexter and retained the seat for Republicans.

District 29 Democratic recall primary^[10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Donna J. Seidel	17,930	63.48
	Democratic	Jim Buckley	10,099	35.75
	Write-in		217	0.77
Total votes			28,246	100.0

District 29 general election^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Jerry Petrowski	44,107	61.34
	Democratic	Donna J. Seidel	27,744	38.58
	Write-in		58	0.08
Total votes			71,909	100.0

See also

• 2011 Wisconsin protests
• 2011 Wisconsin Act 10
• 2012 Wisconsin elections
  • 2012 Wisconsin gubernatorial recall election
  • 2012 Wisconsin lieutenant gubernatorial recall election

Notes

1. Pam Galloway (R) resigned March 16, 2012