Last night, in a special election to fill the vacancy of Republican Mike Huebsch, Steve Doyle defeated John Lautz 54-46%. Huebsch had held the 94th Assembly seat north of La Crosse since 1994 and just won by 18 points last fall.
It also gives Dems the votes necessary to prevent a quorum on fiscal matters, which was a HUGE unstated fear by Republicans. As Rep. Litjens said recently, it was "imperative" that Republicans not lose the Huebsch seat:
One is imperative that we win... If we lose that seat, we might not be able to vote on the budget... so its imperative that win that.
This adds another dimension of difficulty for Republicans, who are threatening to insert the collective bargaining death sentence in the budget bill.