Why Everyone Is Talking About the Results of This One, Massively Consequential Wisconsin Race
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A Wisconsin Supreme Court election may seem irrelevant to the country at large, but its implications on national politics made it one of the most important races of the year
One of the most consequential — and expensive — judicial races in American history was decided Tuesday, with liberals gaining control of the Wisconsin Supreme Court for the first time in more than a decade.
Liberal-leaning Judge Janet Protasiewicz defeated conservative Dan Kelly in what was one of the United States' most expensive state judicial races.
The stakes were certainly high in Wisconsin, a swing state, as Protasiewicz's victory will allow liberals to shape the court as it rules on key issues like abortion rights and elections.
NBC News reports that Protasiewicz, who was elected to a 10-year term, will fill the seat left by retiring conservative Justice Patience Roggensack. The last time Democrats had a majority in the Wisconsin Supreme Court, the outlet notes, was 2008.
Liberals' success in Wisconsin could be indicative that, in the wake of the overturning of Roe v. Wade, voters want their voices heard when it comes to abortion access.
Republicans currently have a majority in both the state Senate and state House in Wisconsin, but a liberal state Supreme Court could have a big impact on reproductive rights in the state, which currently has in place a total ban on abortion.
As reproductive rights organization NARAL notes, Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers and Attorney General Josh Kaul "have declined to enforce this ban [but] legal uncertainty around this law has led providers in the state to stop providing abortion care. With the court's current anti-choice majority, Judge Janet's victory marks a tipping point towards reproductive freedom — a win that may prove vital in ending the state's draconian ban on abortion once and for all."
Protasiewicz's win also offers insight into voter trends nationwide, particularly as three counties in Wisconsin — Waukesha, Ozaukee and Washington — trended further left despite not voting for a Democrat for president since the 1960s, per Politico.
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With long-held conservative areas trending more Democrat in the post-Trump era, the Wisconsin race raises questions about other elections — like the 2024 presidential election, for which Trump has already announced his candidacy.
The race comes roughly five months after the midterm elections across the country, where Republicans saw losses in many big races that they had anticipated winning.
Many GOP insiders saw the lack of a red wave as indicative that voters have begun pushing back on former President Trump, who on Tuesday faced a Manhattan judge and pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts involving alleged hush money payments to two women.
"The Republicans have had enough of Trump, we want to move on," one GOP source told PEOPLE. "The midterms results speak for themselves: a referendum on Trump."
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Read the original article on People.
