Some Early Signs Regarding Wisconsin's Supreme Court Race

Friday, February 24th, 2023 -- 10:00 AM

(By Shawn Johnson, Wisconsin Public Radio) Wisconsin's crucial Supreme Court race could end with a photo finish in April, but there are signs that suggest Democrats are off to an early head start.

According to Shawn Johnson with Wisconsin Public Radio, while the race is officially nonpartisan, the two candidates backed by Democrats, Judges Janet Protasiewicz and Everett Mitchell, received a combined 56 percent of the vote in Tuesday's primary.

The candidates backed by Republicans, former Supreme Court Justice Dan Kelly and Judge Jennifer Dorow, received a combined 46 percent. That's not how general elections are won and lost, of course.

The primary campaign is over, and in April, voters will choose between Protasiewicz or Kelly for a 10-year term on the court. But an eight-point margin is noteworthy in a state where close elections are a way of life.

"That would be, by Wisconsin standards, a sizable win," said Marquette University pollster Charles Franklin. "This is a notable majority, actually, for the two liberals." Recent history suggests that a lopsided finish between the parties is not the norm in a Supreme Court primary.

In 2020, the Supreme Court primary featured Kelly and two liberal challengers, then-Judge Jill Karofsky and Marquette University law professor Edward Fallone. Kelly led the field, but Karofsky and Fallone combined to receive 50 percent of the vote.

The 2018 Supreme Court race also featured a three candidate primary. That year, conservative Judge Michael Screnock received 46 percent of the vote in the primary, while two liberals, then-Judge Rebecca Dallet and attorney Tim Burns, received a combined 54 percent.

Karofsky and Dallet went on to win in their general elections, and are currently serving 10-year terms on the Wisconsin Supreme Court. There's no recent example of a party coming from behind, so to speak, after a primary for a Wisconsin Supreme Court race.

But Franklin cautioned against reading too much into this year's primary results.

Feel free to contact us with questions and/or comments.