Last night Democrat Steve Doyle claimed victory in the special election for the 94^th Assembly District in Wisconsin, a seat held by Republicans for 16 years. 

The seat was vacated in January when Gov. Scott Walker selected the Republican incumbent to serve in his administration. 

Doyle defeated Republican John Lautz solidly, 54 percent to 46 percent, despite false claims pushed by an outside interest group in a mailer that Doyle had not paid his 2009 property taxes on time (multiple sources confirmed the taxes were, in fact, paid on time). The Wisconsin Democratic Party has requested a criminal investigation into the defamatory mailers.

The outcome of this Assembly race may well be a harbinger of what’s to come in the state Senate recall races this summer. Gov. Walker’s assault on unions became a central issue in the campaign. 

"I heard a lot of comments at the door with regard to Gov. Walker," Doyle said. "The people were in support of most of the goals, but definitely not at all the methods the governor had used. They're looking for bipartisanship, not dictatorship." 

Wisconsin Democratic Party Chair Mike Tate further emphasized the significance of the win in a statement: 

Steve Doyle's victory tonight was a direct and stunning rejection of the anti-family, anti-Wisconsin policies of Scott Walker and Dan Kapanke. The seat was formerly held by a top Walker ally, and now the voters of the Coulee Region have made clear that the efforts by Kapanke and Walker to kill private-sector jobs, strip working families of their rights, damage our state's institutions and give corporations free reign. More change is coming soon, but this victory is a clear pivot point for the citizens of Wisconsin as they throw off the yoke of the misguided and dangerous Kapanke-Walker agenda. 

Indeed, the entirety of the 94^th Assembly District lies within the 32^nd Senate District, a seat currently occupied by Republican Dan Kapanke. Sen. Kapanke is one of six Republicans who will likely be facing recall elections this summer. Such a decisive Democratic victory in the traditionally swing 94^th does not bode well for him.