Harsdorf holds onto District 10 seat

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Voters were lined up early at the New Richmond Civic Center to cast their ballots.

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Incumbent State Senator Sheila Harsdorf (R-River Falls) will remain as the Senate District 10 senator following Tuesday's recall election.

With 100 precincts reporting at 11 p.m., Harsdorf carried 37,099 votes to Democrat Shelly Moore's 27,250. It was a lopsided victory for Harsdorf, who picked up about 58 percent of the vote compared to 42 percent for Moore.

As a comparison, in Harsdorf’s November 2008 re-election bid, she picked up about 56 percent of the vote compared to her challenger’s (Allison Page’s) 44 percent.

“Today, we proved that leaders can do what the people elected them to do — get our fiscal house in order and reform government,” Harsdorf said in a statement Tuesday night, “and win with the strong support of the silent majority that yearns for strong leadership. As the whole nation watched, Western Wisconsin did not back down.”

Harsdorf thanked the volunteers who worked to bring about the positive result, and said she’s anxious to continue her work in Madison.

“I look forward to getting back to work, working with my colleagues, and most importantly, to do what the citizens of Western Wisconsin expect and deserve,” she said.

Voters were lined up by 7 a.m. to cast the first ballots in Tuesday’s recall election in Senate District 10. The initial crush of voters at New Richmond Civic Center was a harbinger of things to come throughout the day Aug. 9. Turnout was strong for an election that only had one race on the ballot.

The race drew national attention, and plenty of state and national funding.

The recall election effort was launched after Harsdorf backed efforts by Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker to limit the collective bargaining power of public employee unions. The move was designed to save municipal governments and school districts thousands if not millions of dollars in health insurance and pension costs.

But union supporters saw the effort as an attack on the working class. Recall petitioners sought to tip the balance of power in the Senate to the Democrats by booting out a number of Republican incumbents.

As election results from around the state crawled in Tuesday night, four Republican incumbents and two Democratic challengers had apparently been elected to the Senate. The Republicans needed to win four of the seats to retain control of the Wisconsin Senate. The Republicans now hold 17 seats in the Senate and the Democrats have 16.

Next week, two Democratic incumbents face recall elections in their districts.

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