UPDATED: Tuesday, May 8, 2012 --- 9:20p.m.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- Gov. Scott Walker's campaign says Democrat Tom Barrett is heading for a loss in the June 5 recall election.

Barrett won the Democratic primary on Tuesday. He will face Walker in a rematch of the 2010 race that Walker won by 5 points. Barrett also previously ran for governor in 2002 and lost in the Democratic primary.

Walker's deputy campaign manager Dan Blum issued a statement saying Barrett was about to enter his "third statewide losing campaign."

Blum says "Rather than Tom Barrett's path of taking Wisconsin back to the days of billion-dollar deficits, double-digit tax increases and record job loss, we are confident that voters will choose to stand with Governor Walker and move Wisconsin forward."

Copyright 2012. The Associated Press.

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Posted: Tuesday, May 8, 2012 --- 8:18p.m.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- Republican Gov. Scott Walker has easily defeated token opposition in a GOP primary in a recall election that has become a nationally watched battle over union rights.

Preliminary results from Tuesday's primary show Walker beat protester Arthur Kohl-Riggs with 96 percent of the vote.

The general election is June 5. Walker is only the third governor in U.S. history to face a recall election.

Kohl-Riggs ran as a Republican, even though he has protested against Walker and his initiatives for months. Kohl-Riggs says he was running as a progressive Republican in the spirit of Abraham Lincoln.

Kohl-Riggs had no money and even less name recognition, while Walker is a national conservative hero who is shattering fundraising records as he fights to keep his job.

Copyright 2012. The Associated Press.