Politics & Government
Recall Revisited: One Last Look at the Numbers in the 8th Senate District
Darling's base comes out to support her, while Milwaukee's turnout wasn't as strong.
State Rep. Sandy Pasch’s failed bid to unseat state Sen. Alberta Darling in Tuesday's 8th Senate District recall election appears to hinge on one factor: turnout.
According to an analysis of voting units throughout the district, the candidates were almost evenly split - with Darling winning 33 to Pasch’s 32.
But Darling’s wards mostly came from Republican strongholds like Mequon, Germantown and Menomonee Falls, where her supporters showed up in large numbers.
Find out what's happening in Brookfieldwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
In comparison, voters in Democratic strongholds like Milwaukee didn’t show up as much as they could have. For example, in Milwaukee only 5,943 of the 11,623 registered voters in the area came out to the polls Tuesday - 51 percent turnout. By comparison, voter turnout in Menomonee Falls was 67 percent.
Democratic Party spokeswoman Gillian Morris said she would have to review the numbers about the turnout, but said the party is happy with the get out the vote effort it put forth.
Find out what's happening in Brookfieldwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
“We just came up a little short,” she said. “But throughout the district there was a high turnout and more people voting is a good thing.”
John McAdams, associate professor of political science at Marquette University, said Darling was always the favorite to win because the 8th Senate District leans heavily Republican.
In the April State Supreme Court election, for example, incumbent Justice David Prosser, a Republican, defeated challenger JoAnne Kloppenburg by a handy margin of 59 percent to 41 percent in the 8th District - a spread of about 11,000 votes.
In Tuesday's election, the Democrats closed that gap, but it wasn't enough. Darling defeated Pasch by a 54% to 46% margin -coming out on top by about 5,500 votes.
And while Democrats may have had an early advantage in terms of momentum, it was washed away because both sides were motivated to vote because of the nature of the election.
“With so much media, people were just bombarded,” McAdams said. “(A)nd with the huge amounts of money being spent in a high stimulus election, your turnout models and turnout symmetries tend to close up or disappear because everyone is getting bombarded constantly.”
Here is a breakdown of the 8th District results:
Darling Pasch Bayside 971 1,257 Brown Deer 2,038 2,889 Fox Point 1,683 1,843 Glendale 1,928 2,946 Milwaukee 1,246 4,666 River Hills 566 354 Shorewood 1,630 4,582 Whitefish Bay 3,518 3,687 Milwaukee County Total 13,580 22,224
37.8%
61.9%
Bayside 26 42 Mequon 7,493 4,076 Thiensville 942 585 Ozaukee County Total 8,461 4,176
67.5%
33.3%
Germantown (Town) 81 32 Germantown (Village) 6,030 2,320 Richfield (Village) 1,844 535 Washington County Total 7,955 2,887
73.3%
26.6%
Butler 397 200 Menomonee Falls 9,052 4,567 Waukesha County Total 9,449 4,767 66.5% 33.5% 8TH DISTRICT TOTALS 39,445 34,054 53.7% 46.3%
Source: Final, unofficial results from local municipalities
