“We wanted a different outcome, but Wisconsin forced the governor to answer for his efforts to divide the state and punish hard-working people," Trumka said.
Walker defeated Democratic challenger Tom Barrett by 7 points. Republican Lieutenant Governor Rebecca Kleefisch defeated Democrat Mahlon Mitchell, state Fire Fighters union president, and four Republican state senators also facing recall appeared to have won.
Walker set off the recall fight when, last year, he eagerly shoved through the new GOP-run legislature a law that killed collective bargaining rights for 200,000 state and local government workers.
Walker’s law was the spearhead of the nationwide attack on unions, workers and the middle class coordinated by Republican elected officials, corporate donors and the American Legislative Exchange Council.
The attack brought mass protests to Madison, the state capitol. Up to 100,000 people jammed the building, camped out – and erected a tent city – on the lawn, for weeks.
Democrats and unions gathered 1 million signatures on petitions for recalling Walker and mobilized their members. Both sides spent heavily on TV advertising, but Barrett was outspent by at least 10-1.
More than $63.5 million was spent in the election, a state record, the Washington Post reported.
“Tonight, working families across the country recognize the courageous journey that nurses, teachers, firefighters, snowplow drivers and other Wisconsinites led for more than a year,” Trumka said. “Though a seemingly impossible task, they refused to allow their voices be taken away by an overreaching and partisan governor.
“Whether it was standing in the snow, sleeping in the Capitol, knocking on doors or simply casting a vote, we admire the heart and soul everyone poured into this effort. Adding to this gargantuan challenge of recalling only the third governor in American history was the flood of secret corporate cash distorting our democracy – a dangerous example of a post-Citizens United America,” he added, referring to the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2010 ruling that unleashed unregulated and unaccountable corporate cash into U.S. elections.
“It’s time to work together to forge a new path forward. The challenge to solve a generation of economic policies and create an economy that celebrates hard work over a partisan agenda gained momentum today,” Trumka concluded.
This article is adapted from a report by Press Associates, Inc., news service.
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“We wanted a different outcome, but Wisconsin forced the governor to answer for his efforts to divide the state and punish hard-working people," Trumka said.
Walker defeated Democratic challenger Tom Barrett by 7 points. Republican Lieutenant Governor Rebecca Kleefisch defeated Democrat Mahlon Mitchell, state Fire Fighters union president, and four Republican state senators also facing recall appeared to have won.
Walker set off the recall fight when, last year, he eagerly shoved through the new GOP-run legislature a law that killed collective bargaining rights for 200,000 state and local government workers.
Walker’s law was the spearhead of the nationwide attack on unions, workers and the middle class coordinated by Republican elected officials, corporate donors and the American Legislative Exchange Council.
The attack brought mass protests to Madison, the state capitol. Up to 100,000 people jammed the building, camped out – and erected a tent city – on the lawn, for weeks.
Democrats and unions gathered 1 million signatures on petitions for recalling Walker and mobilized their members. Both sides spent heavily on TV advertising, but Barrett was outspent by at least 10-1.
More than $63.5 million was spent in the election, a state record, the Washington Post reported.
“Tonight, working families across the country recognize the courageous journey that nurses, teachers, firefighters, snowplow drivers and other Wisconsinites led for more than a year,” Trumka said. “Though a seemingly impossible task, they refused to allow their voices be taken away by an overreaching and partisan governor.
“Whether it was standing in the snow, sleeping in the Capitol, knocking on doors or simply casting a vote, we admire the heart and soul everyone poured into this effort. Adding to this gargantuan challenge of recalling only the third governor in American history was the flood of secret corporate cash distorting our democracy – a dangerous example of a post-Citizens United America,” he added, referring to the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2010 ruling that unleashed unregulated and unaccountable corporate cash into U.S. elections.
“It’s time to work together to forge a new path forward. The challenge to solve a generation of economic policies and create an economy that celebrates hard work over a partisan agenda gained momentum today,” Trumka concluded.
This article is adapted from a report by Press Associates, Inc., news service.