The Wisconsin Supreme Court is now under liberal control for the first time in 15 years.

Democrats won the available seat on Wisconsin’s supreme court in an important off-year election, giving the liberals their first majority on the court in 15 years.

According to a race call by The Associated Press, Milwaukee County Judge Janet Protasiewicz defeated former state Supreme Court Justice Dan Kelly to win the fiercely disputed election for the Wisconsin Supreme Court. The amount of money spent in the campaign broke the previous federal mark for a state supreme court election.

Protasiewicz’s victory comes at a critical moment for the court and the Democratic voters who elected her. A challenge to Wisconsin’s pre-Civil War abortion restriction is almost expected to be heard by the justices, and given their liberal majority, they are also likely to take into account a case that might overthrow Wisconsin’s Republican-drawn parliamentary boundaries.

The result also ensures that, barring the unforeseen, liberals will have a majority on the court going into the 2016 presidential election, when Wisconsin, the traditional swing state, is anticipated to once again play a crucial role in the campaign for the White House. Protasiewicz will be one of the seven justices who will have the last word in any election-related disputes brought before a state court.

The crowd at the Saint Kate hotel in downtown Milwaukee roared when Protasiewicz approached the podium for her winning speech, and some of her closest supporters danced on stage.

Protasiewicz’s three fellow liberal justices who will soon join her on the Wisconsin Supreme Court joined her on stage as she neared the end of her statement.

According to Protasiewicz, “Our state is moving towards a better and brighter future where our rights and liberties will be preserved.” And even while there is still work to be done, tonight we celebrate this historic triumph that has undoubtedly given so many of us newfound hope.

Democrats’ optimistic goals

Democrats aim to finally shift the political trajectory of the state to the left should the court modify the lines and increase their chances of winning elections for the legislature. The Wisconsin congressional district, where Republicans presently control six of the state’s eight seats in the U.S. House of Representatives in an otherwise evenly divided state, might also be changed by the court.

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Protasiewicz spent 25 years as a prosecutor in the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s office before spending the most of the last ten years as a judge. He was born and raised on the south side of Milwaukee.

Protasiewicz was particularly forthright about her politics throughout the campaign, even though she never committed to making a decision in favour of or against a case that will be heard by the Supreme Court. On abortion, she stated that she thought women had a right to make their own decisions. She referred to the state’s Republican-drawn legislative maps as “rigged” when it came to redistricting.

The Democratic Party of Wisconsin provided more financial assistance to her campaign than at any other time in history, to the point where Protasiewicz swore to abstain from cases involving the state party if she was elected.

The cost to Kelly and the money

Kelly had harsh words for Protasiewicz in his concession address to his supporters in Green Lake, Wisconsin, stating she had “demeaned the judiciary” with her campaign.

Kelly stated, “I appreciate the choice that the people of Wisconsin have made. But I fear that things won’t turn out nicely.

Kelly downplayed his political beliefs throughout the campaign, but he brought a strong Republican track record to the contest. Scott Walker, a former Republican governor, first appointed him to the court in 2016. Kelly worked as an attorney for the most of his career. He defended Wisconsin’s Republican-drawn legislative districts in court in 2012. The state and federal Republican parties were among Kelly’s clients in private practise in 2020 after he lost his first election.

Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce and Fair Courts America, an organisation supported by GOP megadonor Richard Uihlein, were two of Kelly’s major financial donors. They together spent more than $10 million on advertisements attacking the sentences imposed by Protasiewicz when he served as a judge in Milwaukee County.

The final weeks of the campaign saw significant contributions from Kelly and conservative organisations, but Protasiewicz was able to respond with a financial haul previously unheard of in a judicial contest, raising more than $14 million this year. Transfers from the state Democratic Party provided the majority of that money.

The campaign broke the prior U.S. record for expenditures in a state Supreme Court contest. The previous record, $15.2 million, was established in a 2004 election for the Illinois Supreme Court, according to the Brennan Center for Justice. Almost $29 million has been spent on political advertisements in Wisconsin’s election, according to the center’s tracking. The total amount spent on the election has reached $45 million, according to a fresh running calculation by the Wisconsin political news website WisPolitics.

Protasiewicz will begin serving on August 1 and hold office until 2033. If nothing unforeseen happens, 2025 will be the conservatives’ next opportunity to retake the Supreme Court.