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“This Race Could Decide the Fate of Democracy in Wisconsin — and the 2024 Election” blares the headline in Mother Jones‘ preview of the race to decide control of the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
The race between Democratic-backed Janet Protasiewicz and Republican-backed Dan Kelly will determine the balance of power on the Wisconsin Supreme Court. But the idea that one state will “decide the fate of democracy” in the U.S. is beyond idiotic. It’s brain-dead. And the notion that the Wisconsin Supreme Court will even have a chance to determine the outcome of the 2024 presidential election is simply insane.
I know we all have to capture eyeballs to get paid, but in the process of getting hysterical, perhaps we should pause a beat and actually think this through. The fact that both sides have poured an astonishing $42 million into a state judicial race says a lot more about the craziness of American politics at this point than it does about how we feel about abortion, the fairness of elections, or any other issue of consequence on the right-left spectrum.
Most of that $42 million is from donors outside the state of Wisconsin. And the reason the left has gone rabid-dog on this race is that basically, they’re tired of having spent 15 years in the minority on the court and watching as Wisconsin conservatives remake the state.
“For Wisconsin, it’s a monstrous race. It’s going to set the direction of policy in the state for at least the next two years,” said Barry Burden, a political science professor and director of the Elections Research Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
“The governor and the legislature have been at loggerheads since [Gov.] Tony Evers was elected in 2018. Republicans have maintained their majorities in the state legislature, but together they’ve done almost no legislating,” Burden continued, explaining that the impasse in legislating “has made the court just a more prominent part of the policymaking process.”
But the Wisconsin high court is also a part of the political process. Radica leftists are enraged at the recent redistricting map and need another vote to overturn it so they can draw their own gerrymandered map to gain an advantage in 2024.
As of Monday, Protasiewicz and her backers have spent about $23.3 million compared with about $17.6 million for Kelly and his supporters, according to a report from the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, which tracks campaign spending.
The previous record high for spending in a court race was $15 million in Illinois in 2004.
Protasiewicz has spent nearly $12 million compared with Kelly’s more than $2.2 million. Protasiewicz’s campaign has received nearly $9 million from the state Democratic Party, based on the latest campaign finance reports. Kelly, who previously worked for the state and national Republican parties, has also gotten financial backing and in-kind contributions in this race from the state GOP and county parties.
One big reason to watch the results of the race is that it could be a bellwether for the mood of the country. Democrats have tried to nationalize the election by claiming it’s all about abortion and “the fate of democracy.”
“For Wisconsin, it sure feels like the whole ballgame,” Wisconsin-based Democratic strategist Joe Zepecki said. “Put another way, you really can’t overstate what’s at stake in terms of Wisconsin’s 1849 abortion law and its future. We just [saw] today that the arguments and the case that’s currently in the courts are going to start next month in May to decide the fate of access to reproductive health care for women in this state. So it’s all on the line.”
But ultimately, this is a race where residents of Wisconsin will decide which party will wield power in the state — just like the Founders planned it.
You can see live results of this election from our friends at DecisionDeskHQ here:
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