Both parties claim victory in Wisconsin

Two men cast their votes for the 32nd Senate District recall election Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2011, at the OmniCenter in Onalaska, Wis. Six Wisconsin senators fought Tuesday to keep their jobs in a recall election, trying to beat back Democratic challengers who stoked a political backlash against Republican Gov. Scott Walker for his efforts to strip public employees of most union rights. (AP Photo/La Crosse Tribune, Rory O'Driscoll)

In Wisconsin, Democrats successfully recalled just two of the six challenged Republicans in the state senate, leaving the GOP in control of the chamber. The debate over what this means for the next round of recalls, as well as the national political environment, continues.

The most immediate result of Tuesday’s elections is that Democrats will not wrest control of the state senate away from Republicans. Democrats needed to win at least three new seats in the recall elections, while holding onto their own challenged incumbents’ seats. With a net Democratic gain of two, Republicans will remain in the majority.

Both sides are claiming victory.

“The wins last night are a huge victory for conservatives across the country,” said Tea Party Express communications director Levi Russell. “Governor Walker and the Republican senators did something that the federal government has failed to do: balance the budget and bring new private sector jobs to the state. That’s what makes the victory so satisfying – it’s not just about the election victories, it’s about the victory of economic prosperity over union bullying. Nationally, Wisconsin can hold its head high as an example to the rest of the country.”

Matt Seaholm, Wisconsin state director for Americans for Prosperity, called the results a rejection of the agenda of the Democrats and the labor unions.

“I think the election results last night amount to a very painful body blow to Democrats and unions in Wisconsin and across the nation,” he emailed. “This was supposed to be a repudiation of the policies passed by Gov. Walker and the GOP-controlled Legislature. I’m not sure how it can be viewed as anything other than an affirmation of those policies. Unions dumped tens of millions of dollars into these recalls and the best they could do was win two seats, one of which President Obama carried by 20 points and the other had a Republican Senator who had some personal baggage that didn’t allow him to get over the finish line.”

Groups on the left had a different take.

Jess McIntosh, communications director for EMILY’s List, said that ousting two Republican senators was part of a trend that favored Democrats.

“Last night we replaced two Republicans pursuing an anti-woman, anti-family agenda with two strong Democratic women. That’s something to celebrate. And when you add those to the victories of Kathy Hochul and Janice Hahn, a clear pattern emerges that voters are rejected the extreme positions of the GOP and women are leading the way back for Democrats,” McIntosh emailed.

Markos Moulitsas was similarly optimistic in a post on Daily Kos.

“[I]f tonight was a loss, I hope we have many more such ‘losses’ in 2012,” Moulitsas wrote. “We took the fight into red territory, and took two seats. What was a safe 19-14 GOP advantage is now a narrow 17-16. If we had those numbers going into 2011, the anti-labor bill would never have passed.”

The recalls were sparked by the highly charged debate over a bill signed into law by Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker that curtailed the collective bargaining rights of unions. Unions and Democrats circulated recall petitions for Republican state senators who voted in favor of the bill. Republicans, in turn, started petitions to recall the Democratic state senators who fled the state in order to prevent its passage.

NEXT: Tuesday's effects on next week's recalls