Jill Karofsky and supporters at the Laurel Tavern on Tuesday: "We need all hands on deck in order to win this race."
Addressing supporters Tuesday night at the Laurel Tavern on Madison’s west side, Dane County Judge Jill Karofsky offered up a prediction: “The incumbent and his big-money special-interest team are going to throw so much mud at me you’re not going to recognize me seven weeks from tonight.”
Karofsky, a former Dane County prosecutor and state crime victim advocate, was among the two top vote-getters in Tuesday’s primary election for the Wisconsin Supreme Court, meaning she will square off against incumbent Justice Daniel Kelly in seeking a 10-year term in the April 7 general election. He garnered 50 percent of the 700,000 votes cast to her 37 percent. The primary eliminated a third contender, Marquette University Law School professor Ed Fallone, who had a prior unsuccessful bid for state Supreme Court in 2013.
Fallone promptly threw his support behind Karofsky.
The general election coincides with the state’s presidential preference primary, which is expected to draw large numbers of Democrats to the polls. Fallone and Karofksy were both considered liberal contenders, as opposed to Kelly, an appointee of Republican Gov. Scott Walker, whose campaign has deep ties to the state GOP.
Kelly is a hard-right conservative with often extreme views, as when he declared in a book chapter he submitted to Walker in applying for the job that allowing same-sex couples to wed “will eventually rob the institution of marriage of any discernible meaning.”
Yet Kelly insists his personal views have absolutely no bearing on how he rules on cases, even as he paints Karofsky as a tool of the political left, driven by a desire to produce liberal outcomes. She, in turn, casts him as “corrupt,” saying he rules consistently in favor of his Republican and corporate backers.
At stake is the ideological balance of the court for years to come. If Kelly wins, conservatives will likely continue their 5-2 domination at least through 2026, while a win for Karofsky would shift the balance to 4-3 and give liberals a shot at gaining control in 2023. That means this race, like others in the recent past, is likely to involve huge expenditures by the candidates and their backers.
Last year’s state Supreme Court race, in which conservative Brian Hagedorn beat out liberal-backed Lisa Neubauer, was the costliest in state history, with more than $8.3 million thrown into the hopper.
In the current race, Kelly has the fundraising edge, raking in just over $1 million as of the last reporting, including 53 contributions of $5,000 or more. Karofsky, meanwhile, reportedly raised $456,000, with 14 contributions of $5,000 or more, including $15,000 from herself.
Kelly told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel his primary win reflects the kind of Supreme Court justice voters are looking for. “I think the results tonight demonstrate that the people of Wisconsin really do want a justice on the court who is just going to apply the law, set aside the personal politics, personal preferences, and just be faithful to the constitutional text, the statutory text,” he said.
In his victory speech Tuesday in Okauchee, Kelly thanked his “bosses,” the people of Wisconsin, for having “wrapped me in a warm embrace in their welcoming and their support and their encouragement.”
Tuesday’s 700,000-voter turnout was appreciably larger than the last three-way primary for a Wisconsin Supreme Court seat in February 2018, when about 535,000 votes were cast. Judge Michael Screnock, the conservative standard bearer who would go on to lose, garnered 46 percent of the vote; the victor, Judge Rebecca Dallet, one of two liberal-backed candidates running for the seat, got 36 percent.
Dallet, who has endorsed Karofsky, was among her supporters at Tuesday night’s event. “She’s got the values and experience and people are really excited about her candidacy,” Dallet told Isthmus.
Others were similarly psyched. Noah Lieberman, chair of the Democratic Party for Wisconsin’s Second Congressional District, said he thought the race had “two great progressive candidates” to choose from, Karofsky and Fallone, and that teams of volunteers will be using “their full passion and energy to knock on doors and help Jill get elected in April.”
