Alberta Darling

Alberta Darling (born April 28, 1944) is a Republican member of the Wisconsin Senate, representing the 8th District since 1993. She previously served in the Wisconsin Assembly, representing the 10th district from 1990 through 1993. In August 2011, opponents forced a recall election against Darling, but Darling defeated the Democratic challenger, Sandy Pasch, fifty-four percent to forty-six percent.

Darling was born in Hammond, Indiana. She graduated from Richwood High School in Illinois, and received a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1966. She did graduate work at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee from 1972 to 1974. Darling is married to Dr. William Darling and has two children and two grandchildren.

Before she was elected to political office, Darling was a teacher and marketing director.

Darling first joined the Wisconsin State Legislature by winning a special election in 1990 for the 10th district (defeating Rick Graber in the primary). She served the remainder of the term and a full two-year term in the State Assembly before being elected in 1992 to the state Senate. Since 2000, she has served on the Joint Finance Committee.

Darling was subject to a recall election effort in 2011. On March 2, 2011 the "Committee to Recall Darling" officially registered with the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board. 20,343 valid signatures of electors residing within the 8th District had to be collected by May 2, 2011 to generate a recall election.

On April 20, 2011, the recall campaigns announced that they had gathered nearly 30,000 signatures, almost 10,000 more than the recall threshold. Signatures were officially filed the following day.

In late May 2011, the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board verified petitions against Darling, overruling her challenges. The date for the recall primary was ordered by the Government Accountability Board to take place on July 12, 2011. Darling won the general recall election on August 9, 2011, with 54 percent of the vote.