MILWAUKEE (AP) – Labor groups and conservative activists have turned Tuesday's Wisconsin Supreme Court election into an intense and expensive contest that offers the public their first formal opportunity to weigh in on the national fight over union rights.Election officials in the Democratic strongholds of Madison and Milwaukee have noted remarkably high voter interest in a race Democrats have tried to turn into a referendum on a polarizing union-rights law pushed by Republican Gov. Scott Walker.
The seven-member high court is officially nonpartisan. But incumbent Justice David Prosser, who is seeking a second 10-year term, is seen as part of a conservative four-justice majority. His challenger, Assistant Attorney General JoAnne Kloppenburg, has been presented as an alternative that would tilt the court's ideological balance to the left.
Democrats supporting Kloppenburg, who typically would be at a large disadvantage facing an incumbent, have tried to tap into the anger that prompted tens of thousands of protesters to flood Madison as Walker pushed his plan to strip most public workers of nearly all their collective bargaining rights.
The law eventually passed, but is on hold as legal challenges make their way through the courts — and many expect the state Supreme Court ultimately could decide the issue.
Prosser has told The Associated Press he doesn't necessarily agree with the law. Still, bitter Democrats have portrayed him as a Walker clone and Kloppenburg's campaign surged during the weeks of protests.
Pat Heiser, 76, said the union struggles weighed heavily on her decision to vote for Kloppenburg.
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