Kloppenburg Concedes WI Supreme Court Election to Incumbent Prosser

After a lengthy and costly recount for a judicial election that was widely viewed by many as a refernedum on Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's recently passed bill limiting public employee unions ability to collectively bargain, challenger Joanne Kloppenburg conceded the election on Tuesday after a lengthy and costly recount.

MADISON, Wis. -- Wisconsin Supreme Court challenger Kloppenburg has conceded defeat to conservative Justice David Prosser.

“The threshold for a court to overturn an election is appropriately high. David Prosser has won this election, and I have congratulated him,” Kloppenburg said.

Kloppenburg made the announcement at 11 a.m. during a news conference in Madison.

Kloppenburg's decision comes after a statewide recount reaffirmed Prosser's victory over her in the April 5 election.

Prosser originally won the election by 7,316 votes, out of 1.5 million cast. She picked up only 312 votes in the recount.

Back in April, Kloppenburg declared herself the winner before votes from Waukesha County- erroniously overlooked by the county registrar earlier- were tallied. Incumbent David Prosser went from being behind by 200 votes to winning by a margin of more than 7000 votes.

However, the total still fell within the margin for Kloppenburg's campaign to request a recount in late April. Neither side would be required to pay for the recount if the margin was 0.5% or less.