2012 Wisconsin Senate recall elections

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4 of the 33 seats in theWisconsin 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 ElectedPresident Fred Risser Democratic

The2012 Wisconsin Senate recall elections were a set ofrecall elections for fourWisconsinstate senators held on June 5, 2012. Four of the 33 seats in theWisconsin 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.

These recall elections followed thelargest group of recall elections in U.S. history during the previous year, in which Republicans kept control of theWisconsin 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 the100th Wisconsin Legislature with 17 of 33 seats.

Voters put four state senators up for recall, allRepublicans, because of thebudget repair bill proposed byGovernor Scott Walker and circumstances surrounding it. Democrats targeted Republicans for voting to significantly limit public employeecollective 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 thelargest group of recall elections in U.S. history during the previous year, in which Republicans kept control of theWisconsin Senate. In the June 5, 2012 recall elections, Democrats appeared to have taken over one seat from Republicans.

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

Seats where the margin of victory was under 10%:

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

• Pam Galloway, representing district 29 since2010, resigned on March 12, 2012, to take care of her family

On March 19, 2012, paperwork was filed with theWisconsin Government Accountability Board to create a committee to explore recallingDale 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 helpedGogebic Taconite, a Florida-based mining company, set up an iron mine in northwestern Wisconsin.^[2]

On March 19, 2012, paperwork was filed with the G.A.B. to authorize a recall petition againstRobert 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 costAshland County andIron 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 thegubernatorial recall election.^[4]

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]

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]

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

Incumbent RepublicanVan H. Wanggaard ran for re-election. He was defeated by former Democratic senatorJohn 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 futureSpeaker of the AssemblyRobin 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]

RepublicanTerry Moulton ran for re-election. He defeated former Democratic legislatorKristen Dexter in the recall election and was retained in office.

Incumbent RepublicanPam Galloway resigned on March 12 due to personal reasons, leaving the district open. Republican state representativeJerry Petrowski defeated Democratic legislatorDonna J. Seidel and retained the seat for Republicans.

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

• Elections & VotingArchived November 7, 2012, at theWayback Machine at the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board
• Database of Governor Walker and state senator recall petitions

• 2012 Wisconsin elections
• Recall elections in the United States
• Wisconsin Senate elections
• 2012 state legislature elections in the United States

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