After months of hard work, thousands of phone calls and hundreds of knocked doors, last Tuesday’s election results brought a disappointing end to the Mary Burke campaign. The hard-fought race ended with Gov. Scott Walker pulling ahead with 52 percent of the vote over Burke’s 47 percent. The people of Wisconsin have spoken, and though we may not agree with what they had to say, it is now time to pick ourselves up and continue to look forward.
How Scott Walker won his third governor’s race in four years
Although there wasn’t much for Democrats across Wisconsin to celebrate on election night, we should be celebrating the incredible turnout of voters. In Madison alone, turnout reached 69 percent, a number nearly unprecedented in midterm elections. Overall, the Government Accountability Board had projected statewide turnout to reach 56 percent. To put this in perspective, turnout in Wisconsin for the 2012 presidential election was more than 70 percent, and was only 49 percent in the 2010 midterms. It is clear that Wisconsinites were passionate about this election, and regardless of party, we should celebrate that more voters this year were engaged and got out to the polls.
Even after disappointing results, it is important to remember the positives of this election; this was a tough race, but it was fought by an even tougher team. Burke was an underdog from start to finish, and the positivity and strength she displayed on the campaign trail is nothing short of admirable. Midterm elections are known to favor Republicans because of typically reduced Democrat turnout, and even with this year’s turnout increase, there wasn’t enough support.
Wisconsin made national headlines this election season, and with that came national financial contributions. This Milwaukee Journal Sentinel map shows from where the donations to the candidates’ campaign committees were made, showing that nearly half of the $29 million raised by Friends of Scott Walker came from outside of Wisconsin. Burke’s donations, comparatively, were nearly 80 percent from Wisconsin. This should not come as a surprise, since we clearly have a governor who is more focused on his own political gains and divisive games than what the people of Wisconsin need. With a $29 million campaign, not including the $7 million raised by the Wisconsin Republican Party, it isn’t really a surprise that Walker did well. What Democrats can be proud of, however, is that we know we had Walker scared. With the polls tied nearly until Election Day, the efforts from Team Burke kept her in this race until the very end. Walker would not have had to spend so much money or play so dirty if he didn’t see Burke as a legitimate threat. Even without winning the governor’s seat, we can and should be proud of everything Burke accomplished during this race.
Looking forward, the prospect of four more years under Walker should have everyone wary. He will continue to enact the failed policies of his first term, as well as propagate the divisive partisan strategies we have come to know so well. We can predict the Republican agenda will further restrict voting rights, abortion rights and women’s access to health care, as well as support voucher school expansion and right-to-work legislation.
This election, and the last four years, has been hard on Wisconsin’s Democrats, but we must not give up hope. To quote Burke, who gave her concession speech at the Overture Center Tuesday night, “We’re going to dust ourselves off and we’re going to get right back up.” Wisconsin deserves better than Walker, and we, as Democrats and Wisconsinites, must get right back up and continue to fight for a better Wisconsin.
