Liberal judge advances in race for Wisconsin high court
One liberal and one conservative received the most votes Tuesday. This set up an extremely significant Wisconsin Supreme Court general elections on April 4.
Janet Protasiewicz, Milwaukee County Judge, and Dan Kelly (ex-State Supreme Court Justice) will face off in an election that could change the state’s course. Liberals will regain the majority of the court’s judges if Protasiewicz is elected. This could be the first time the court has been retaken in almost 15 years.
Protasiewicz became the first candidate to advance to the general election. The Associated Press referred to her primary night victory as a win that was achieved in less than an hour after the polls closed.
Kelly took second place, after battling it out with Jennifer Dorow from Waukesha County. Dorow placed a close 3rd. The other liberal in this race, Dane County Judge Everett Mitchell was fourth. Dorow was considered the stronger general election opponent by Democrats, particularly considering Kelly’s 10-point loss to Jill Karofsky 2020.
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The dynamics between the conservatives became bitterly strained at the end of the race. Kelly refused to comment on Dorow’s endorsement if she beat him in the primary.
This already expensive race will get more. This bench will face cases regarding the state’s draconian abortion ban and aggressively gerrymandered mapping, as well as any possible disputes stemming out of the 2024 election.
Protasiewicz campaigned for abortion access. He called the Republican-passed congressional and legislative maps “rigged”
Last week, Kelly was discovered to have been paid $120,000 to assist with the Wisconsin fake electors scheme. This is a crucial gambit by Donald Trump in his attempts to overturn the 2020 elections. Kelly was on the Republican National Committee’s payroll since December.
Trump’s 2020 election lawsuit was dismissed by the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Kelly called Supreme Court Justice Brian Hagedorn (the only conservative to have joined the liberals) “supremely inreliable”
Kelly also accused abortion access groups of doing so to “preserve sexual libertinism”, participated in a Big Lie-fueled election integrity tour, and supported the late Antonin Scalia’s dissent in Obergefell v. Hodges.