Janet Protasiewicz wins, flipping Wisconsin Supreme Court to liberal majority

Janet Protasiewicz.
(Image credit: AP Photo/Morry Gash)

Janet Protasiewicz was elected to the Wisconsin Supreme Court on Tuesday, The Associated Press and NBC News project, defeating Daniel Kelly.

Seats on the Wisconsin Supreme Court are officially nonpartisan, but Protasiewicz, a liberal Milwaukee County judge, was backed by Democrats and abortion rights groups, while Kelly, a conservative former Wisconsin Supreme Court justice, was endorsed by Republicans and anti-abortion organizations. This was the most expensive judicial election in U.S. history, with the candidates, political parties, and outside organizations spending more than $40 million on the race.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.