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The "recall" elections were prompted by Republican Governor Scott Walker's move to curb public employees' union rights.


Opponents forced the votes over six state senators who backed Mr Walker.


But four of them held their seats, resulting in the Wisconsin senate remaining under Republican control.


Further votes will be held next Tuesday, when two Democratic
state senators also face recall elections - but these cannot not affect
the overall battle for control.


The votes, fuelled by millions of dollars from national
unions, were regarded as a referendum on both Mr Walker's conservative
policies and a gauge of public opinion on the two main parties less than
a year after Republicans made sweeping gains in Wisconsin and many
other states.


"Everybody should have the right to be in a union," Tony
Spencer, an out-of-work carpenter who voted for the Democratic candidate
challenging Republican State Senator Alberta Darling, told the Wisconsin State Journal newspaper.


"I came out to stop all the union-bashing stuff."


But Ross Birkigt told the paper Democrats backing the recall
efforts had thrown "a cry-baby fit" when they did not get their way.


"It's a shame that all of sudden this happens and that a lot
of special-interest money gets poured into it," he said. "I'm kind
getting sick of seeing this stuff on TV every single minute."


Big money campaign
About $30m (£18m) has been spent on campaigning in what has
been billed as one of the most expensive US state legislative votes in
history.


Republicans had argued the measure to limit the collective
bargaining rights of government employees was necessary to close budget
gaps.


But Democrats said the law was an attack on unions.


The legislation, which requires state government employees to
pay more for their healthcare and pensions, was signed earlier this
year by Mr Walker.


It ignited weeks of furious protests by tens of thousands of government workers and their supporters.


Republicans won control of both houses of the legislature and
the governor's office nine months ago, and the state government has
passed Republican-supported bills with ease since January.


Last month, the Wisconsin Supreme Court upheld the bargaining-rights law by a 4-3 decision.