Posted: Tuesday, June 5, 2012 --- 10:04p.m.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- Republican state Sen. Terry Moulton has defeated Democrat Kristen Dexter in Tuesday's recall elections.

Democrats angry with Republican Gov. Scott Walker's contentious plan that all but ended most public workers' union rights forced the governor, Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch, Fitzgerald and two other GOP senators into recalls. They also were trying to capture an open seat in Tuesday's elections.

Walker claimed the plan was needed to control the state budget, but many public workers opposed erosion of their bargaining rights.

Dexter was making a bid to rejoin the Legislature after losing her state Assembly seat in the 2010 elections. Moulton, from Chippewa Falls, was first elected to the Senate that same year.

Copyright 2012. The Associated Press.