Wisconsin election, tied to union bill, in dead heat
The election, the first statewide vote since Republicans passed controversial restrictions on the union rights of public workers, was seen by some political analysts as a referendum on that measure and the scope of the mandate the Republican Party can claim as a result of victories in last fall’s elections.
The struggle over state union powers propelled Wisconsin to center stage in a wider national debate over collective bargaining and government spending.
With 99 percent of the precincts in the state reporting, Prosser had garnered 738,368 votes to Kloppenburg’s 738,228, according to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel newspaper WTMJ-TV.
Prosser is a former Republican member of the state Assembly while Kloppenburg is an assistant state attorney specializing in environmental affairs, and was backed by Democrats and organized labor.