Takeaways from the Supreme Court race

Some takeaways from this week’s Supreme Court election in Wisconsin. First, the outcome isn’t surprising. Milwaukee judge Janet Protasiewicz was the top fundraiser among the four candidates, and was the top vote getter. The margin of her victory is a bit surprising. She nearly doubled the vote total of the top conservative candidate, Dan Kelly. The two liberal candidates combined to gather 54% of the vote, pretty impressive given the political polarization in the state. That gives her an obvious edge heading into the general election. Another surprise is the turnout. It was huge. In La Crosse County, more than 24% of registered voters cast a ballot, a much higher figure than a typical primary. My guess is if voters were polled, we would find that abortion was a driving issue. The current high court is controlled by republicans, but could flip to liberal control if Protasiewicz wins in April. Democrats are also happy that among the conservative candidates, former Supreme Court justice Dan Kelly was the top vote getter, finishing second overall. Kelly is considered vulnerable, given his role in trying to alter the outcome of the 2020 presidential race, and is one of the very few incumbent Supreme Court justices to lose an election when he failed to win re-election in 2020. We don’t know how the April election will turn out, but liberals think they have a good chance of taking back the high court, and based on the outcome of Tuesday’s election, they may be right.