Wisconsin Democrats defeat fake candidates in primary election

Democratic Wisconsin Senate candidates overwhelmingly defeated their fake rivals Tuesday night in the Democratic primary election.

Based on unofficial results, Democratic candidates Nancy Nusbaum won by 65 percent of the vote, Sandra Pasch won by 67 percent, Shelly Moore won by 54 percent, Fred Clark won by 67 percent, Jessica King won by 69 percent, and Jennifer Shilling won by a whopping 71 percent.

They will now face off against their Republican opponents in the coming weeks.

"Thank you to the many supporters across the 2nd state Senate district who stood up today against the cynical Republican games played in an attempt to silence the voices of the 26,000 voters who signed a recall petition against Senator Cowles," Nusbaum said in a statement.

"I look forward to comparing my values of shared sacrifice from public employees to large corporations and support for education to Senator Cowles' record of tax breaks for big corporations and drastic cuts to education, health care and other services we must maintain."

Chris Taylor also defeated six opponents to replace former state Rep. Joe Parisi (D), who vacated his seat in April. Taylor works as the public policy director for Planned Parenthood and currently faces no Republican opposition in the general election.

The Wisconsin Republican Party entered six fake Democratic candidates into the race to force Democratic primary elections in Wisconsin and delay the general election.

County GOP chairman Jesse Garza urged Republicans in an email sent Sunday to support Isaac Weix, a Republican, who ran against Moore.

"If you want to end this recall effort Tuesday, vote," the email said, "and send this message out to everyone who will vote for Isaac! We will save the State Senate and put an end to Shelly Moore's attacks if you vote!"

Ahead of the election, registered Democrats received recorded calls, claiming to be from a Right to Life group. The recorded call instructed them that they don't need to go to the polling place to vote, saying, “You don’t need to worry. Your absentee ballot is in the mail.”

But Tuesday was the last day polling places were open for the Democratic primary, so absentee ballots that had not reached their intended recipients would not be counted.

The Republican state senators were recalled after supporting Republican Gov. Scott Walker's controversial "budget repair bill," which stripped nearly all collective bargaining rights from public employees.

The state Government Accountability Board also approved recall elections for three Democratic state senators. The general election will take place on August 9 and 16.