Wisconsin's Supreme Court race is already the most expensive in U.S. history, and there are still 5 weeks to go

Molly Beck
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

MADISON – This year’s race for a seat on the state Supreme Court has already shattered national records with more than $18 million spent less than a week into the general election.

Democrats are pouring millions into liberal Milwaukee County Judge Janet Protasiewicz’s campaign for the state’s highest court, seeing an opportunity for the first time in more than a decade to seize control of policymaking in the Badger State, as Republicans are unloading their coffers with a $1 million ad buy starting this week to support conservative former Supreme Court Justice Daniel Kelly and defend the court’s 4-3 majority.

At least $8.8 million has been spent since the Feb. 21 primary election, putting the total spending tally from the start of the primary election race to Tuesday at $18 million — breaking the record of the country’s most expensive judicial race, previously set in 2004 in Illinois at $15 million, with five weeks still to go until the April 4 general election.

More:Turnout for the Supreme Court primary election set a record. Here's what we know about Tuesday's voting.

Protasiewicz's campaign has reserved $6.5 million in advertising as of Tuesday, according to the campaign, while A Better Wisconsin Together has spent $1.3 million since the primary on advertising aimed at boosting Protasiewicz.

Fair Courts America, which spent more than $2 million during the primary on behalf of Kelly, purchased $1 million in advertising, according to the group's spokesman.

Milwaukee County Judge Janet Protasiewicz and former Supreme Court Justice Daniel Kelly emerged Tuesday as the two winners of a record-setting primary fight to compete for a seat on the state’s highest court that will decide whether the most consequential state policies will be upended.

The stakes of this year's state Supreme Court race range from how routine cases like criminal appeals are decided to watershed rulings, including deciding whether doctors may terminate pregnancies within the state's boundaries and whether Republicans will continue to control the state Legislature by wide margins.

Challenges to the state's election laws leading up to the 2024 presidential election will also end up at the high court as will lawsuits filed after a winner is chosen.

Should Protasiewicz prevail in the April 4 election, Republicans fear a mountain of lawsuits will follow that seek to undo conservative policies and past rulings favoring GOP interests. A liberal-controlled court could agree to repeal former Republican Gov. Scott Walker's signature legislation known as Act 10 that eliminated collective bargaining abilities for most public employees, squelch the state's private-school voucher programs, or adopt new legislative maps that give Democrats more votes on bills.

Supreme Court seats are officially nonpartisan but candidates run as conservatives or liberals with campaigns that are backed by the state's political parties.

In the 2020 race between Kelly and Justice Jill Karofsky, which coincided with a presidential primary, candidates and outside groups spent more than $10 million, a high mark in Wisconsin that broke a spending record for Supreme Court races set just a year prior, according to the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, a liberal group that tracks spending in elections.

Molly Beck can be reached at molly.beck@jrn.com.