Thaindian News

Wisconsin, Aug 10 (THAINDIAN NEWS) Labor unions and Democrats in Wisconsin and throughout the United States were left disappointment on Tuesday when four incumbent Republicans survived recall votes. Six recall votes took place and at the end of the polls, two lost and four survived.

Before the elections, three Republicans were in real danger of losing their seats primarily because of the voting trend in their areas. Randy Hopper, Alberta Darling and Dan Kapanke narrowly won their seats in the race in 2008 and it was a huge test for their popularity as the recall votes came up. At the end of voting on Tuesday, Hopper and Kapanke failed to hold on to their seats and lost the election.

Darling however survived the vote winning 54 percent of the total votes cast. The three other lawmakers who survived the vote on Tuesday were Sen. Robert Cowles, Sen. Luther Olsen and Sen. Sheila Harsdorf. The outcome of the election means the Republicans will still maintain the control of Wisconsin’s Senate.

Before the vote, the Republicans were controlling the Senate with 19 seats while the Democrats had 14. If the Republicans had lost three of the votes, the Democrats would have taken control of the House.

Some analysts see the outcome of Tuesday’s vote as a big win for Gov. Scott Walker who earlier in the year controversially introduced reforms that took away most of the bargaining rights of labor unions in the state.