CNN
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Liberal Janet Protasevic and Conservative Daniel Kelley will advance to the general election for the all-important Wisconsin Supreme Court seat, CNN predicted Tuesday.
The nonpartisan primary contested two liberals and two conservatives in an expensive, risky contest.
Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Protasiewicz and former state Supreme Court Judge Kelley will go head-to-head in the April 4 general election for seats on the court, which is currently held 4-3 by conservatives. There were no political party names on the ballot, but interest groups united, party operations were mobilized, and money poured into the race as if it were a partisan campaign.
Conservative Judge Patience Roggensack’s resignation gives liberals the chance to win a majority in courts that can decide issues like abortion, redistricting and voting rights ahead of the 2024 presidential election. I got
For 14 years, the Conservative Party has dominated the state High Courts. Meanwhile, courts have supported Republican union-busting efforts and confirmed voting restrictions such as ID requirements and a ban on ballot drop boxes.
“This seat is important to the balance of the court, and the court is important to the balance of the state,” said Barry Burden, a political scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and director of the school’s Center for Election Studies. .
The other candidate in Tuesday’s primary is conservative Jennifer Dorough, who was found guilty of killing six people and injuring many more in a 2021 attack on a Christmas parade in Waukesha. The judge, perhaps best known for presiding over the man’s trial, was the liberal Everett Mitchell. Dane County Judge.
Outside money flooded into the race. As of Thursday afternoon, orders for race-focused TV and radio advertising had reached $7 million, according to an ad tracked by Kantar Media/CMAG for the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University Law School. was Election spending, according to the liberal-leaning Brennan Center, was the most expensive to win a seat on the state Supreme Court, with $15.2 million spent in the 2004 Illinois Supreme Court election. It is said that there is a possibility that it will break the record so far as an election campaign that took a lot of effort.
Courts may become final arbitrators on a number of important issues in Wisconsin over the next few years. This includes the fate of his 1849 law in states that ban abortion in nearly all cases. A U.S. Supreme Court ruling last summer that ended federal legal protections against induced abortion has fueled rhetoric and costs around abortion in Wisconsin races.
State Supreme Courts could also play a key role in the 2024 election. Wisconsin has been a key location in former President Donald Trump’s attempt to reverse his 2020 defeat, with conservative Supreme Court justices voting in two Democratic-dominant counties that year. The refusal to make an effort to do so pitted the two right-leaning candidates in this year’s election campaign.
This article has been updated with CNN predictions.
