Scott Walker concedes defeat in Wisconsin
Wisconsin governor Scott Walker has conceded defeat in his bid for re-election to his Democratic opponent Tony Evers.
The Republican trailed Evers by 31,000 votes after the unofficial count was in, which is just outside the margin at which a candidate can request a recount.
Ironically, the reason Walker can't ask for a recount is because of a law he signed in 2016 after President Trump won Wisconsin by 23,000 votes, triggering a recount paid for by the Green Party's Jill Stein.
Under the new rules passed by Wisconsin's Republican-led legislature and signed by Walker last, an automatic recount can only be triggered if the margin is within 0.25 percent.
A candidate could also petition and pay for a recount if there is a margin of 0.25-1 percent, but Walker's gap behind Evers was 1.2 percent.
Walker didn't initially concede to Evers on Wednesday after some controversy with the Milwaukee County count.
That's because the Milwaukee Election Commission confirmed that around 2,000 out of 47,500 absentee ballots had to be "reconstructed" after they were damaged during the voting process.
The reasons for a ballot requiring reconstruction could include voter errors – such as marking "Xs" on ballots, or using a pencil to mark it. Ballots may also have been damaged while being sealed in envelopes.
Walker's campaign manager initially suggested that the reconstruction could call into question the validity of the results in Milwaukee County.
But ultimately the campaign conceded, saying even in the event there were some discrepancies, it wouldn't be sufficient to overhaul Evers.
The Pioneer Press notes that Walker's loss brings an end to the "Cheesehead Revolution" in national politics, which saw Wisconsinites Walker run for president in 2015, Paul Ryan rise to become House Speaker, and Reince Preibus head up the Republican National Committee and briefly become President Trump's chief of staff.
Preibus was fired as chief of staff and Ryan is stepping down as a politician at the end of this year. With Walker on the way out, the short-lived revolution is now over.
