In a nationally watched state Supreme Court race dominated by abortion, bruising campaign attacks, and money (lots of money), liberal Milwaukee County Judge Janet Protasiewicz easily defeated conservative Daniel Kelly in Tuesday’s spring election, handing liberals control of Wisconsin’s high court for the first time in more than 15 years.
The election seemed over before the shouting. Less than an hour after Wisconsin’s polls closed at 8 p.m. Tuesday, the Associated Press called the contest. At that time, Protasiewicz led by double digits over Kelly, a former Supreme Court justice who lost his seat three years ago to far-left jurist Jill Karofsky.
With nearly 90 percent of the precincts reported late Tuesday, Protasiewicz led Kelly 55 percent to 45 percent.
“We did it, Wisconsin!” the Protasiewicz campaign triumphantly tweeted.
We did it, Wisconsin! pic.twitter.com/PfoDsKaSZK
— Judge Janet Protasiewicz (@janetforjustice) April 5, 2023
Protasiewicz’s win is expected to be a huge victory for the abortion industry and its supporters, big labor unions, Gov. Tony Evers and his far-left, big government agenda, and Democrats looking to improve their chances in state and federal elections.
Conservatives, meanwhile, rightly fear losing critical government reforms enacted during Republican Governor Scott Walker’s tenure in office, a period of dominance by conservatives in all three branches of government. The pro-life movement, which cheered last June’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade, wept Tuesday knowing Protasiewicz, who made protecting abortion the focal point of her campaign, is likely to be the deciding vote in cases seeking to end Wisconsin’s ban on abortion, with limited exceptions.
“I wish Wisconsin the best of luck. I think it will need it,” Kelly said in a brief concession statement.
He thanked those who “tirelessly worked to preserve the rule of law and our constitution through this campaign.” And he took one last shot at his liberal opponent, who has said she proudly wears the progressive label.
“Judicial campaigns are supposed to be about constitutional principles and legal scholarship, which has been the focus of my conversations with the people of Wisconsin,” Kelly said. “Unfortunately, my opponent made her campaign about cynical appeals to political passions, serial lies, and a blatant disregard for judicial ethics and the integrity of the court. But the judgment of the people of Wisconsin is paramount, and this is what they have chosen.”
Big Money
The ostensibly nonpartisan race ranked as one of the more mud-stained, bitter judicial contests in U.S. history.
It was the most expensive — by far.
When the smoke clears, the race could approach $50 million in spending. Protasiewicz and her liberal allies, at least as of Monday, had outspent Kelly and his backers by nearly $6 million — $23.3 million to $17.6 million, according to the left-leaning Wisconsin Democracy Campaign. Protasiewicz’s campaign alone outspent Kelly’ by a nearly 6-to-1 margin, banked by a ton of money from the Democratic Party of Wisconsin.
The price tag to date is some three times more than the previous judicial race spending record of $15 million for a 2004 Illinois court election.
“Today I’m proud to stand by the promise I’ve made to every Wisconsinite that I will always deliver justice and bring common sense to our Supreme Court,” Protasiewicz said after she was declared the winner.
Her idea of justice, critics say, comes with the taint of liberal politics.
Protasiewicz will fill the seat of outgoing conservative Justice Pat Roggensack, who chose not to run for a third 10-year term. Protasiewicz begins her term this summer.
The Impact
Liberals are expected to bring all manner of cases before a friendlier court, including the state’s 1849 abortion ban law that went back into effect after the U.S. Supreme Court ruling leaving abortion law to the states.
Tuesday’s results could have a more national impact, however. Wisconsin’s redistricting settlement likely will come back before the liberal-led court. Protasiewicz has said she believes the political maps, drawn up by the Republican-controlled Legislature, were “rigged.” The court could sign off on more Democrat-friendly political boundaries, making President Joe Biden’s 2024 quest for a second term easier in battleground state Wisconsin.
As the Guardian reported, liberal groups in the state are preparing to take advantage of the court’s new liberal majority. Nicole Safar, executive director of Law Forward, a leftist nonprofit legal group, said organizers were considering how best to challenge the state’s legislative maps.
“Law Forward and our allies and our co-counsel are seriously looking at what a partisan gerrymander claim under the Wisconsin constitution looks like,” she said.
Meanwhile, big labor will be thirstily targeting government reform laws like Walker’s signature Act 10. The public sector union collective bargaining reform law has saved taxpayers billions of dollars over the past dozen years, but it has dramatically reduced the cash flow and outsized power of labor groups at the negotiating table.
“The voters of Wisconsin are hungry for a change in how our state’s highest court conducts itself and we are long overdue for impartiality and common sense; where the rule of law takes priority and partisan games are left out of our courts,” said Dean A. Warsh, president of International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Wisconsin State Conference, in a statement.
In the final days of the campaign, Protasiewicz said she wasn’t sure if she would recuse herself from an Act 10 case, despite the fact she has spoken out against it, protested at the Capitol about it, even signed the petition to recall Walker back in 2011-12.
‘Voter Uprising’
While Republican legislative leaders seemed to sulk and disappear Tuesday evening, jubilant liberals celebrated. Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chairman Ben Winkler kept the focus on abortion, insisting Protasiewicz’s win was delivered by the “voter uprising.”
“She has richly earned her ten-year term, which, among many other moments, will span the next three presidential elections and the 2031 redistricting process,” Winkler said in a statement.
“Richly” is the operative term. The state Democratic Party dumped some $9 million into Protasiewicz’s campaign. Kelly has said his opponent will be bought and paid for by Democrats. Protasiewicz claims she will remove herself from any case brought by the Wisconsin Democratic Party.
But pundits are trying to divine what the liberal judicial win in Wisconsin portends for conservatives in 2024. The tea leaves didn’t look good for the right Tuesday night, but politics, like Wisconsin spring weather, is subject to change.
But, Wait, There’s More …
Meanwhile, the critical race for Wisconsin’s 8th Senate District was too close to call. As of late Tuesday, State Representative Dan Knodl (R-Germantown) held a sliver of a lead — 439 votes (50.4 percent to 49.6 percent) over Democrat Jodi Habush Sinykin. A victory by the Democrats would block a Republican supermajority in the Senate.
If there was a bright spot for conservatives in Tuesday’s dismal spring election, it’s the passage of constitutional amendments on bail reform and an advisory referendum on welfare and work requirements.
Voters approved the amendment to the state constitution, which will give judges more criteria in setting cash bail for violent offenders than whether they will show up for their court dates, as well as protecting the community from “serious bodily harm” and witnesses from intimidation. One of two amendments changes “serious bodily harm” to “serious harm,” widening the scope for higher bail or no bail. The other amendments expand judges’ authority in setting bail.
And Wisconsin voters said yes to the question asking whether able-bodied, childless adults should have to look for work in order to collect taxpayer-funded benefits. Still, the advisory referendum is non-binding; it only informs politicians how voters feel about the issue.
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M.D. Kittle is the National Political Editor for The Star News Network.
Photo “Janet Protasiewicz” by Janet for Justice. Photo “Daniel Kelly” by Justice Daniel Kelly. Background Photo “Wisconsin Supreme Court” by Royalbroil. CC BY-SA 3.0.
