POLITICS

High-Stakes Wisconsin Supreme Court Race Still Too Close to Call

Mark Hirsch/Getty Images

The Wisconsin Supreme Court race is the latest installment in the state's budget battle saga, which has drawn hundreds of thousands of protesters.

Updated: April 6, 2011 | 9:43 a.m.
April 6, 2011 | 8:04 a.m.

The Supreme Court race in Wisconsin leveraging most of the state’s budget chips is still too close to call, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports.

With 99 percent reporting, just 585 votes now separate Justice David Prosser and Assistant Attorney General JoAnne Kloppenburg, with Prosser holding onto the narrow lead.

Despite the nonpartisan nature of the election, it has become a referendum on Gov. Scott Walker’s anti-union budget repair bill, which has drawn throngs of protesters from both sides and set off a flurry of similar battles across the nation.

Hoping to position themselves to overturn Walker’s legislation, Democrats have poured more than $3 million into the race in support of Kloppenburg. Republicans, aided largely by grassroots mobilization of national tea party groups such as FreedomWorks and Tea Party Express, are behind Prosser.

Results are expected sometime Wednesday, but political pundits have posed the possibility of a recount, which could open the floodgates for litigation processes.

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