Kloppenburg declares victory over Prosser in Supreme Court race

Attorney JoAnne Kloppenburg has declared victory over incumbent state Supreme Court Justice David Prosser.

According to unofficial results, Kloppenburg had 204 more votes than Prosser. With 100 percent of precincts reporting, Kloppenburg had 740,090 votes, or 50.01 percent. Prosser had 739,886 votes, or 49.99 percent. Final results could change and aren't official until they are canvassed and certified by the Government Accountability Board.

Kloppenburg issued a statement thanking Prosser for his service and vowing to be an impartial judge. Prosser's campaign didn't immediately return a message seeking comment on whether he would seek a recount. The latest such a request could be made is April 20.

Prosser's campaign didn't return a message early Wednesday to the Associated Press. However, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reported that he told supporters at his election-night party that there was "little doubt" there would be a recount.

When she was trailing earlier Wednesday morning, Kloppenburg told supporters she hadn't given up.

"We're still hopeful," Kloppenburg said, according to AP. "So thank you all and let's all get a good night's sleep and see what tomorrow brings."

The nonpartisan matchup between Prosser, a self-described judicial conservative, and Kloppenburg, an assistant attorney general who has vowed to be impartial on the bench, drew more special-interest money and attention than any Supreme Court race in state history.

Tuesday's contest was widely considered a referendum on Republican Gov. Scott Walker's moves to weaken public employee unions and a test of the political strength of the unions to strike back.

The fate of the law, currently tied up in Dane County Circuit Court, likely will be determined by the Supreme Court. A Kloppenburg win would be seen as breaking the court's 4-3 conservative bloc, which is expected to be sympathetic to the measure.

The race also was being watched around the country as the first test of a coordinated move by Republican governors to cut state spending and undercut public employee unions, traditionally strong supporters of liberal and Democratic candidates.

Business and conservative groups favoring Prosser, 68, weighed in heavily with TV ads, spending almost $2.2 million in an effort to defeat Kloppenburg, 57. The liberal Greater Wisconsin Committee poured an estimated $1.4 million into ads attacking Prosser, according to the New York-based Brennan Center for Justice, which has been tracking spending in the race.

The commercials accused Prosser of declining to prosecute a sex offender priest in the late 1970s while he served as the district attorney of Outagamie County. The ads also charged Prosser would uphold Walker's political agenda. The incumbent also was criticized for calling Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson a "total bitch." He has said Abrahamson goaded him to anger, and he faulted her for creating a divisive atmosphere on the court.

Kloppenburg was criticized for her lack of judicial experience and labeled as a "government lawyer" whose prosecution in a state environmental case landed an elderly farmer in jail.

The spending broke the state's previous record for television spending by non-candidate groups, the Brennan Center said.

"Once again, costly spending and negative attack ads have raged out of control in Wisconsin," said Charles Hall, a spokesman for Justice at Stake, which opposes special interest spending in court races. "Regardless of who wins this election, public confidence in a fair, impartial court system will inevitably be damaged."

Both sides were banking on large turnouts in key areas Tuesday to fuel their candidates to victory in the race for a 10-year term on the bench.

Madison has been ground zero for protests against Walker's collective bargaining bill that drew tens of thousands of demonstrators to the Capitol and around the state. Turnout in Madison was on pace to beat records for a spring election, with Madison estimating 70 percent of registered voters went to the polls.

Prosser campaign manager Brian Nemoir said he was encouraged by high turnouts around Milwaukee. The counties around Wisconsin's largest city generally vote Republican, helped Prosser, a former Republican speaker of the state Assembly.

Until Walker introduced his bill severely limiting collective bargaining for 175,000 public employees, Prosser was seen as a clear favorite. He got 55 percent of the vote in the four-way Feb. 15 primary to Kloppenburg's 25 percent

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