There’s a huge election taking place next month and no one is talking about it
While Democrats won some important elections this year already in local races, there’s one race coming up on February 21 in Wisconsin that’s already being dubbed as the most important race you’ve never heard of. It’s a nonpartisan election for a state Supreme Court seat – although I say nonpartisan in only the strictest sense, as none of the four candidates running have R’s or D’s after their name on the ballot.
Right-wing donors are pouring a lot of money into the race to ensure that self-described “constitutional conservative” Daniel Kelly makes it to the runoff on April 4, to be held between the top two finishers. There’s also Jennifer Dorow who boasts her conservative credentials and is vying for the seat.
2023 gives voters a unique opportunity to reshape the alignment of this court – something they can do by preventing either of those two candidates from making it to the April 4 runoff – and even more importantly, keeping them from winning at all costs – something they can do by promoting candidates Judge Everett Mitchell and Judge Janet Protasiewicz. Mitchell is a staunch advocate for voting rights – badly needed in a state where the last Republican governor did all he could for voter suppression, and Protasiewicz is a longtime community leader who was the first liberal to enter the race.
Fortunately, Kelly has managed to create a whole bunch of scandals for himself by rambling about judicial activists and already made history as the first Supreme Court judge to lose re-election. Let’s do all we can to make sure he loses again in 2023.
James Sullivan is the assistant editor of Brain World Magazine and an advocate of science-based policy making