The Wisconsin Supreme Court Election: A Decidedly Mixed Outcome for Democracy
This opinion piece by ERN Executive Director Kevin Johnson and Senior Fellow Al Vanderklipp originally appeared on The Independent Voter News Network.
Tuesday’s election for the open 7th seat on Wisconsin’s Supreme Court smashed records for campaign spending and drew huge media attention to the “most important election” of the year. When the votes were counted and liberal candidate Janet Protasiewicz emerged ahead, declarations of “a victory for democracy” emerged from a range of organizations and media outlets.
The result was clearly a political victory for Democrats, but for democracy itself, the meaning of this election is decidedly mixed, and both Wisconsin and the nation should reckon with that outcome.