Why winning a Wisconsin Supreme Court race matters so much

In a gridlocked, gerrymandered state, it is the Democrats’ best hope for change

Wisconsin Supreme Court candidates Republican-backed Dan Kelly and Democratic-supported Janet Protasiewicz participate in a debate Tuesday, March 21, 2023, in Madison, Wis. (AP Photo/Morry Gash) — The politics are not blurredImage: AP

Mar 26th 2023|MADISON

ELECTING JUDGES is fundamentally odd. The perfect example of this is the race to fill an open seat for the Wisconsin Supreme Court. The two candidates met for the only debate of the campaign on March 21st. Daniel Kelly, the relative conservative, insisted in his closing remarks that he was completely apolitical. “We must not talk about politics,” he said. The moderator, a political journalist who had asked mostly political questions, thanked the debate’s sponsor, a website called WisPolitics.com. Journalists then flocked to Mr Kelly’s press adviser, a Republican Party activist and former candidate for lieutenant-governor, to try to get interviews.

This article appeared in the United States section of the print edition under the headline “Full-court press”