Great Scott! Walker Wins Recall, Romney Nabs Five-State Sweep

At approximately 9:55 PM local time, victory was projected for Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and his Lieutenant Governor, Rebecca Kleefisch.

Put this one down in the history books, folks. Walker became the first governor to survive a recall.

Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney called Governor Walker to offer his congratulations. He also released the following statement:

“I congratulate Scott Walker on his victory in Wisconsin. Governor Walker has demonstrated over the past year what sound fiscal policies can do to turn an economy around, and I believe that in November voters across the country will demonstrate that they want the same in Washington, D.C. Tonight’s results will echo beyond the borders of Wisconsin. Governor Walker has shown that citizens and taxpayers can fight back – and prevail – against the runaway government costs imposed by labor bosses. Tonight voters said ‘no’ to the tired, liberal ideas of yesterday, and ‘yes’ to fiscal responsibility and a new direction. I look forward to working with Governor Walker to help build a better, brighter future for all Americans.”

In 2008, Barack Obama won Wisconsin’s 10 electoral votes, but tonight’s results changes expectations. Republicans will now put some muscle behind an effort to add The Badger State to the Romney win column this November.

Waukesha County Executive Dan Vrakas, whose county had a turnout of more than 70 percent and supported Walker handily, … predict[ed] “Romney will be here next week. The state went from being leaning blue to leaning red overnight. Gov. Walker put fire in the belly of a lot of people.”

Three of the four Republican state senators involved in the recall also defeated their Democratic opponents by large margins. And, with half of the districts reporting, the fourth senator – incumbent Republican Van Wanggaard – was winning his race against Democrat John Lehman by 55% to 45%.

Tonight, Governor Romney won a five-state sweep.

Victories in New Mexico, New Jersey, Montana, South Dakota, and California added to his delegate total which already exceeds the needed number to win the GOP nomination. (At the time of this posting, delegate count results weren’t available.)

It was a tremendous night for Republicans! The after-shocks will be felt all the way to November. Thanks to all who contributed in any way to make tonight’s victories possible.

Only one more GOP primary remains. On June 26, the honor goes to Utah.

To

Governor Scott Walker

and

GOP presidential nominee

Mitt Romney…

CONGRATULATIONS!

Follow Jayde Wyatt on Twitter @YayforSummer

8 Responses to Great Scott! Walker Wins Recall, Romney Nabs Five-State Sweep

Jon E. S. says:

June 6, 2012 at 3:36 AM

Voted for Walker yesterday and excited that Wisconsin is in play for Romney. November can’t come soon enough!!
AfricansforRomney says:

June 6, 2012 at 4:32 AM

Yaye! Wisconsin goes so, the nation!! Gov Romney’s agenda won!
Scott Walker for VP : =)))
Crystalf says:

June 6, 2012 at 8:05 AM

I voted for Mitt in CA … the Dems had a chance to vote for Obama AND more taxes in CA (so I’m sure they were excited to get out and do that!) .. but .. Romney was pulling in close to 9 TIMES as many votes than Obama(!!) … in CALIFORNIA!! In fact .. even RON PAUL was getting more votes than Obama! WOW!
Cathy says:

June 6, 2012 at 9:50 AM

Great post Jayde. Congratulations to Gov. Walker, a man of true vision for his state and looking forward. I voted for Mitt in Ca. and excited to hear the overwhelming results. Hopefully some disenchanted libs and Dems will see the light by just looking at their state, and the state it is in.
I’m ashamed to say I’m from Ca. Here’s hoping for better days ahead with Mitt at the helm.
Annette says:

June 6, 2012 at 10:31 AM

Governor Walker’s victory goes beyond the borders of Wisconsin as Mitt Romney stated. This victory says a lot about the tax payer wanting fiscal responsibility and not run away entitlements.

Congratulations to Mitt Romney who is well over the required number of delegates needed for the nomination!! So much for a brokered convention…..Romney 2012!!
Susan says:

June 6, 2012 at 11:24 AM

I do agree Annette! So much for the brokered convention!!! Mitt won in California by almost 80% of the vote!!
Here’s Hoping that California will go Red for Mitt in November!
Jayde Wyatt says:

June 6, 2012 at 1:27 PM

HOT AIR’s Ed Morrissey posted a good, quick-read today on the effects of yesterday’s WI election and the vote on pension control referendums in two California cities – San Diego and San Jose!

Two California cities voted on referendums to impose cuts on out-of-control pension systems, and they made the Wisconsin vote look like a nailbiter in comparison:

Voters in two major California cities overwhelmingly approved cuts to retirement benefits for city workers in what supporters said was a mandate that may lead to similar ballot initiatives in other states and cities that are struggling with mounting pension obligations.

Supporters had a simple message to voters in San Diego and San Jose: Pensions for city workers are unaffordable and more generous than many private companies offer, forcing libraries to slash hours and potholes to go unfilled. …

In San Diego, 66 percent voted in favor of Proposition B, while 34 percent were opposed. Nearly 97 percent of precincts were tallied by early Wednesday.

The landslide was even bigger in San Jose, the nation’s 10th-largest city. With all precincts counted, 70 percent were in favor of Measure B and 30 percent were opposed.

San Diego tends to be more conservative anyway, but San Jose does not. Even still, the Democratic mayor backed the referendum in the central-coast city. It’s not difficult to understand why. In both cities, pension payments have exploded over the last several years as the defined-benefit plans demonstrated their fiscal insanity. The Post reports that pension payments now eat up 20% of San Diego’s operating budget, and 27% in San Jose. Both cities have been forced to lay off thousands of public-sector workers to cover those costs, which means that services have deteriorated badly.

San Jose is spending three times as much for public employee pensions as they did a decade ago. San Diego is spending five times as much!

When voters stop getting the same value for their tax dollars and watch potholes go unfilled, they tend to lose patience rather quickly. Opponents of the referenda — mainly the same public-employee unions that fought and lost in Wisconsin — tried to argue that changing the pension systems now was unfair to people who had passed up private-sector work in favor of a more secure retirement. That argument has worked in the past, but clearly a bipartisan coalition of voters are fed up with the fiscal crisis in California. That will send a message to Sacramento, where the state pension funds have the same defined-benefit problem of too many unrealistic promises with far too little revenue. After the scandal in Bell in 2010, where city officials got paid hundreds of thousands of dollars a year — in one case, twice as much as the President of the United States — Californians aren’t terribly sympathetic to public-sector workers.

Something big is happening… and I’m glad.
phyllis says:

June 6, 2012 at 1:55 PM

Best day for Republicans since 08…even better than 2010 midterms

The best is yet to come…November can’t get here fast enough