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Darling Supporters Endure Long Night, but Keep Four Seats and Control

It was a long night for supporters of Republican state Sen. Alberta Darling. The incumbent survived her recall, defeating Democratic Rep. Sandy Pasch 54 to 46 percent. WUWM’s Marti Mikkelson attended Darling’s victory party in Thiensville.

It was a nail-biter for the incumbent and about 200 supporters who gathered at Shully’s Café. Sen. Darling jumped out to an early lead, but then saw the numbers flip in favor of her opponent Sandy Pasch for most of the remainder of the evening. Just before midnight, the results turned again in Darling’s favor, and that’s how the night ended. She told the cheering crowd that voters seem satisfied with the changes Republicans brought when they took control of the Legislature and governor’s office last November.

“We did what you wanted us to do. We got control of the spending and the debt and the deficit. We balanced this huge deficit without raising taxes on you and that’s what we’ve got to do. We stood up for you,” Darling says.

Fellow Republican Sen. Leah Vukmir of Wauwatosa turned out to support Darling. Vukmir believes the recalls backfired on Democrats and predicts they will not pursue efforts to recall Gov. Scott Walker.

“I hope the Democrat leaders will finally say let’s put this to rest and move forward because if we find ourselves in a continual mode of campaigning like this and recalling we’re never going to move forward. This has been a big distraction,” Vukmir says.

Vukmir says she would like to see Democrats and Republicans work together on job creation for the remainder of the session.

Marti was a reporter with WUWM from 1999 to 2021.