MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Democrats didn't get faked out in the first of four elections in Wisconsin over the next month that will determine whether anger over Gov. Scott Walker's anti-union proposal will translate into a loss of power for Republicans in the Statehouse.
All six Democrats prevailed in primary races on Tuesday against candidates put on the ballot by the Republican Party. Those fake Democrats ran in order to delay the general election for the incumbents until Aug. 9.
Democrats decried the tactic, saying it would confuse voters.
But the fake candidates didn't actively campaign, and five of the six real Democratic candidates won with at least 64 percent of the vote, based on unofficial results. A sixth won with 54 percent in a hotly contested district in western Wisconsin that has attracted a lot of outside spending for the general election.
The stakes are huge. If the Democrats gain three seats, they will take majority control away from the Republicans and be in a position to stop Walker and the GOP's agenda.
Wisconsin Democratic Party spokeswoman Gillian Morris was buoyed by the results.
"The voters of Wisconsin have rejected the Republicans' dirty tricks, despite their best efforts to turn out voters in these primaries for fake candidates," she said.
In Tuesday's closest race, Shelly Moore defeated Isaac Weix, a Republican on the ballot as a Democrat who had previously run twice before and lost as a GOP candidate for the state Assembly. The St. Croix County Republican Party sent emails and paid for phone calls on behalf of Weix in the 10th District, urging Republicans to support him in the Democratic primary.
