Pasch Wins Primary; Showdown With Darling in Four Weeks

State Rep. Sandy Pasch had no trouble defeating "fake Democrat" Gladys Huber in Tuesday's , and now looks ahead to the Aug. 9 election against incubment Alberta Darling.

With 97 percent of the vote counted late Tuesday, the Assocated Press' tally shows Pasch with 20,915 votes to Huber's 11,660 votes. Pasch won with 64 percent of the vote, a margin she maintained throughout the night.

Speaking to supporters Tuesday night at a victory party in Shorewood, Pasch said the results show that Democrats are committed to taking back the Senate.

"They can't silence our voices. They can't stop our vote," she said. "We are here to fight for education, for working families, for the values of our state.

"We are going to work together to solve the state's problems, but not on the backs of people those that can least afford it," she added.

Strong showing in Shorewood

As was expected, Pasch won handily in Shorewood, . Turnout in the village was 42 percent.

She also won, but by a narrower margin, in Menomonee Falls. Pasch took 52 percent of the vote in that Waukesha County community, defeating Huber by 2,852 to 2,625.

Huber did better in Germantown and Richfield in Washington County, where she received 53 percent of the vote - outpolling Pasch by 2,033 to 1,694.

Huber, 80, is who was put into the primary in order to delay the general election. Earlier, Republican leaders acknowledged they were fronting fake Democrats in all six of the races recalling Republicans. They said it was necessary to delay the process because the Republican senators were busy passing a balanced state budget and had no time to campaign.

The general election promises a month of heated campaigning. to campaign signs from both sides. in preparation for the election, while the incumbent Darling raised almost $1 million.

Pasch was always focused on Darling

Democratic Party of Wisconsin spokesman Graeme Zielinski said the party did not put much effort into getting out the vote in the primary election, but Pasch's campaign has spent a lot of time knocking on doors.

Zielinski said Huber's candidacy is the latest "farce on the Wisconsin people."

"How desperate they are to protect Scott Walker's dirty agenda," he said. "It's division as a way of governing. That's not what Wisconsin is all about."

After the results were finalized, Pasch said in an interview with Patch that the campaign leading up to the primary election has been a good opportunity to speak to voters, but she always expected to beat Huber. She said she has been campaigning against Darling since Day One, and Huber's candidacy was a distraction by the Republican Party.

Darling says she's ready to go toe to toe

Tuesday night, Darling said her campaign is "fully prepared for the challenges that lie ahead in the next four weeks."

"I stand ready to continue to protect the taxpayer, and work on the job-creation agenda that is producing results for middle-class families all over the state," Darling said. “Voters have a big choice ahead of them – do they want to continue to move our economy forward, or do they want to revert back to the tax-and-spend policies, supported by Jim Doyle and Sandy Pasch, that drove jobs out of our state?"

Darling is one of six Republican and three Democratic senators targeted for a recall this summer. At the heart of the efforts is Gov. Scott Walker's that stripped state and local government workers of most of their collective bargaining rights.

Control of the state Senate is at stake. If the Democrats have a net pickup of three seats, they will take control of the Senate. Currently, the Republicans control the Assembly and Senate, making it relatively easy for Walker to push through his agenda.