Democrats Withdraw 'Placeholder' Candidates in Recall Election

Democratic “placeholder” candidates will no longer run in this summer’s state Senate recall elections, the Wisconsin Democratic Party announced Friday.

The party said it will not file the final paperwork needed to be put placeholders on ballot in the six recall elections targeting Republican senators, including state Sen. Alberta Darling (R-River Hills).

The idea of using placeholder candidates came after Republicans decided to have to run in the Democratic primaries of the six recall elections targeting GOP senators.

The move was designed to ensure that primary elections would be held in all six races to give the incumbents more time to prepare for the general election.

However, state Democrats feared some of the announced "fake" candidates would file their nomination papers in some races and not others. That left open the door to some of the GOP senators facing primaries on July 12 while others would run in the general election.

In order to avoid that happening, Democrats came up with placeholders — sacrificial candidates who would allow their names to be placed on the ballot to ensure that all six Republicans will face recall on the same day.

State Democratic Party Chairman said Friday, however, that with the primary and general elections schedules for the recalls set, the Democrats no longer need placeholder candidates.

"The goal of the placeholder candidacies was to create an insurance policy against further Republican attempts to exploit the recall election schedule through dirty tricks and cynical plots," Tate said in a statement.

In Darling's 8th Senate District, which encompasses Shorewood, Whitefish Bay, Fox Point, Bayside and Menomonee Falls, the party recruited Nicholas Brehm, a Milwaukee Democrat to be its placeholder candidate.

Brehm and the other placeholders filed nominating petitions this week but will not file financial disclosure paperwork by the 4:30 p.m. Friday deadline required to be placed on the ballot.

That means their names will not appear on the ballot, said a spokesman for the Government Accountability Board, which oversees state elections.

Unless signatures filed with nomination papers Tuesday are challenged, all other candidates who file the final paperwork will be certified Friday, the GAB said.

, a longtime Republican activist from Mequon who has a Darling lawn sign in her front yard, will serve as the "fake" Democrat for the 8th Senate District.

She will square off against state Rep. Sandy Pasch (D-Whitefish Bay) in the July 12 primary. The winner will take on Darling in an election tentatively scheduled for Aug. 9, although a may push it back.

in late May to spark the recall election of Darling.