In what marked the first of the summer’s four rounds of recall elections, six Democratic Senate candidates won their primary recall elections against Republicans posing as contenders.

After controversy erupted surrounding Gov. Scott Walker’s budget repair bill to end collective bargaining for state employees, enough signatures were gathered to trigger recall elections for senators in nine districts, three of them currently led by Democrats and six led by Republicans.

Republicans made a strategic maneuver to delay the elections by planting candidates running as Democrats in the primaries, causing the general election to be moved back a month to Aug. 9.

“This is just one more piece in a highly unusual political season,” University of Wisconsin political science professor Barry Burden said. “I don’t remember a case where fake candidates were run before.”

Although Burden said it is more realistic the Democrats will pick up one or two seats in the Senate, if the party manages to net three seats, they stand to seize control of the body.

While the real Democrats came out on top in the primaries, a substantial number of voters turned out to support the planted candidates.

What was originally labeled by critics as a strategy to delay elections is now being viewed by some as a redistricting race.

“This is a very costly and cynical ploy that makes a mockery of democracy,” former Brown County Executive Nancy Nusbaum said. “[Republicans] are willing to spend over $500,000 taxpayer dollars running fake primaries in order to slam through their version of the redistricting plan.”

Nusbaum won her primary for the District 2 seat against former GOP state representative Otto Junkerman. The District 2 seat is currently held by Sen. Robert Cowles, R-Green Bay.

Burden called the Republican redistricting maps “clear efforts at partisan gerrymandering” and said at least two districts were redrawn so the winning Democrat would no longer reside in the district in which they were running.

The redistricting maps have proven a cause for concern for Democrats because Republicans have the votes to pass their version of the redistricting plan through the Legislature.

“[The Republican’s] are rewriting the lines with the sole purpose of maintaining a monopoly on power,” Democratic Party of Wisconsin spokesperson Phil Walzak said. “But there’s a real hunger for change. These people are frustrated.”

Rep. Sandy Pasch, D-Whitefish Bay, said Republicans are ignoring a lot of due process by not providing time for the public and local counties to oversee the redistricting process.

Pasch will run against Sen. Alberta Darling, R-River Hills, in August and said she anticipates a very positive election.
Of the six Republican senators up for recall, none returned phone calls to The Badger Herald to comment on the election results.

The primary elections for the three recalled Democrats is set for July 19 with the general election to follow on Aug. 16.
In a special Assembly election, Planned Parenthood Public Policy Director Chris Taylor also won the 48th district seat vacated by now-Dane County Executive Joe Parisi.

-The Associated Press contributed to this report.