Following a brief but bruising campaign, both sides of the recall election of Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker are expecting a razor-thin margin Tuesday.
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The Republican is trying to become the first U.S. governor to successfully keep the recall efforts at bay.
The vote will end more than a year’s worth of turmoil after Walker pushed a bill removing workers’ collective bargaining rights, according to the Associated Press.
He did so, in an effort, to fix a hole in the state budget. Polls have shown Walker, who’s just 17 months into his term, holds a small lead over Democratic Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett; after a campaign that’s significantly surpassed state spending records and further divided the already polarized state.
Both candidates worked hastily, making several last-minute efforts in the campaign’s final days. Both sides are quite aware that turnout will be critical.
Walker said at a campaign stop Monday, “I’ve been villainized for a year and a half. We’ve faced a year and a half of assaults on us. My opponent has no plans other than to attack us,” claiming that his agenda has put the state on the right economic track.
Walker said he is focused on gaining the support of voters who have backed him in taking on public-employee unions. Barrett is trying to take advantage of the anger towards Walker’s conservative agenda that began building almost as soon as he took office in January 2011.
Barrett said, “Gov. Walker has divided the state but we will never allow him to conquer the middle class,” at an afternoon appearance. “This started out as a grassroots movement and it’s going to end as one.”
This recall effort against Walker began last year, shortly after the rising Republican star took office. Just a month into his first term, Walker took the state by surprise with a proposal to effectively end collective bargaining rights for most state workers and pay more for health insurance and pension benefits as a way to deal with the state’s budget issues.
The proposal created mass opposition, and protests drew tens of thousands to the state Capitol. It didn’t take long for opponents to begin calling for a recall.
Now, Walker stands in unique company: He is only the third governor in U.S. history to face a recall vote. The other two lost, most recently California Gov. Gray Davis in 2003.
Wisconsin’s recall election is a rematch of the 2010 governor’s race in which Walker defeated Barrett by 5 percentage points. A key question will be whether or not Democrats can turn out voters in force, as the unions did during the protests last year.
