Wis. (WFRV)-- As the dust settles on Wisconsin after 16 months of political turmoil, Governor Scott Walker is ready to move past it all.

Tuesday, Walker became the first governor in history to ever survive a recall election, and was only the third to ever face one.

The win is a testament not just to him, but his reforms, the ones that limited collective bargaining rights of public workers and sparked the recall effort.

Walker said he had tough decisions to make and he now believes Wisconsin agreed with those decisions.

"When there have been leaders of courage, what has sustained them is there were good and decent people who stood with them shoulder to shoulder, and arm to arm, that's what you have done for Wisconsin," said Governor Walker.

Walker met with members of his cabinet late this afternoon. He says he's ready to move the state forward and get back to work. Earlier Wednesday he toured a manufacturing plant in Oak Creek and talked with workers there about creating jobs.

"We'll renew our commitment to help grow the quality of life for all of our citizens, both those who voted for me, and those who voted for someone else," said Governor Walker.

It's a crushing loss for democrats and the labor unions who launched recall efforts, spending months collecting almost a million signatures to make it happen.

After conceding Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett urged supporters to keep up their passion and energy going into the fall.

"Please, please, please remain engaged, remain involved, because we will continue to fight for justice and fairness in this city and this state," said Barrett.

Some democrats and some of his supporters don't think Barrett ever stood a chance, with being outspent Walker by a ratio of nearly eight to one.

"This is not the end tonight, this is the end of another chapter in Wisconsin history," Barrett told supporters.

Walker will finish his term out until 2014. Barrett was recently re-elected to another term as the Mayor of Milwaukee.