Last week, working people made significant gains in GOP strongholds as independent voters made it clear that Scott Walker does not speak for them. The battle continues today, as two Democratic Wisconsin senators who bravely fought Walker’s attack on collective bargaining rights by leaving the state in the spring now face recall elections. Right-wing activists attempted to trigger six recall elections, but only secured enough signatures in these two districts.

But this battle in Wisconsin is about more than state politics—it’s about the future of the middle class. State Senators Jim Holperin and Bob Wirch are being challenged by Tea Party candidates, one of whom has supported outsourcing jobs and another who compared public schools to Nazi indoctrination camps. With corporate-backed ads flooding the airways, both races are expected to be close.

However, there is reason to be optimistic. Last week, as two of Walker’s allies were defeated, we saw working families in Wisconsin stand up and say no more to the politicians playing partisan games with their lives.

Whatever the results of today’s elections, there’s no question that the middle class is fighting back. And politicians nationwide are finding out the hard way that they can’t get away with trampling the rights and interests of the everyday Americans who put them in office.