Wisconsin residents have voted to keep Republican Gov. Scott Walker in office. Walker defeated Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett in Tuesday’s recall election by 6 percentage points. As WUWM’s Erin Toner reports, Walker told his supporters it is time to leave a year of division behind.
Gov. Walker spoke to several hundred supporters at the Waukesha County Expo Center Tuesday night. He said in early 2011, he rushed in and tried to fix the state’s financial problems before talking about his strategy publicly. Walker said he’ll take a different approach moving forward.
“Looking ahead to tackle all of the challenges that face all of the people of Wisconsin, we’re both going to be committed to talking together about how to solve problems and then working together. We’re gonna move forward with the solutions that put our state back on the right track towards more freedom and more prosperity for all of our people,” Walker says.
The governor said he plans to gather his top advisors right away to look for new, collaborative ways to boost the economy and help all state residents.
“And we’ll renew our commitment to help small businesses grow jobs in the state. We’ll renew our commitment to help grow the quality of life of all our citizens, both those who voted for me and those who voted for someone else,” Walker says.
Several voters who attended Walker’s victory rally said they hope people of different political stripes can come together now that the recall is settled. But Ron Raduechel of Waukesha was not optimistic.
“Bipartisanship sounds good when people talk about it, but it’s turned into a very polarized country, not just the state of Wisconsin. People have really strong opinions in both directions and I think it’s gonna be very hard to have everybody come together,” Raduechel says.
Gov. Walker says he spoke with Milwaukee Mayor Barrett, after Tuesday’s race was called. Walker says conveyed a commitment to helping the mayor and the people of Milwaukee.