Protasiewicz Leads Wisconsin Supreme Court Money Race

Madison, Wisconsin (AP) — Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Janet Protasiewicz has three rivals in a pivotal race to determine majority control of the Wisconsin Supreme Court in the final six months of 2022. raised more than the combined

Protasiewicz is running as a liberal candidate along with Dane County Circuit Judge Everett Mitchell. Waukesha County Circuit Court Judge Jennifer Dorough and former Wisconsin Supreme Court Judge Dan Kelly are conservative candidates.

The top two vote-getters in the February 21st primary will advance to the April 4th election. The winner will be retiring Conservative Justice Patience, who will replace Rogenthach in him.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court race is officially nonpartisan, but over the years candidates have sided with either conservatives or liberals as the race has become a high-cost partisan battle. . For more than a decade, conservative-dominated courts have handed down consequential rulings in favor of Republicans, leading to major decisions that could determine the future of abortion law, redistricting, and electoral rules. A lawsuit is imminent.

Candidates and outside interest groups pledging to spend millions on the campaign have been relatively quiet until this point, more than a month before the primary. But neither side, heading into the 2024 presidential election and at least one year after him, will decide who will determine the ideological control of the courts in this race in battleground states no matter which side wins. makes it clear that it considers it important.

Protasiewicz has raised just over $756,000, while Mitchell has raised around $116,000 in late 2022. Mitchell and Protasiewicz were the only two of his nominees to raise money in the entire six-month reporting period.

One conservative candidate, Dorow, raised nearly $307,000 in just one month after running in December. Her conservative rival Kelly entered the race in September and by the end of the year she had collected just over $312,000.

All candidates submitted their latest spending reports on Tuesday.

Protasiewicz had about $735,000 in cash on hand as of January 1st. Mitchell had about $72,000 in cash on hand. On the conservative side, Draw had over $283,000 in cash on hand, while Kelly had nearly $277,000.

There were some notable contributors.

Democratic Wisconsin Electoral Commission member Mark Thomsen contributed $5,000 to Protashevich, and Democratic state Senator Kelda Roys donated $1,000. Donors giving up to $20,000 to Protasiewicz included her lawyer and former Supreme Court nominee Tim Burns and her philanthropist Lynde Uihlein, David Lubar, Marianne Lubar and Madeleine Lubar. rice field.

Kelly received a $20,000 donation from billionaire Republican megadonors Dick and Liz Euline.

Fair Courts America, a Uihlein-funded group, plans to spend millions of dollars in support of Kelly, the group’s spokesman Dan Curry said in November.

Other notable donors to Kelly included Republican Wisconsin Electoral Commission Chairman Don Milis, who donated $5,000, and former Wisconsin Republican Party Chairman Rick Graeber, who contributed $2,500. I was.