[I had no intent to post today, but given the outcome of the Wisconsin Supreme Court race announced last evening, cannot resist 🙂 ]
As part of the above-referenced post on April 6, I indicated the following about the Wisconsin Supreme Court race between incumbent [de facto Republican] Justice Daniel Kelly and challenger [de facto Democrat] Judge Jill Karofsky:
“The currently-projected outcome [of the election] is obviously devastating for Ms. Karofsky, who perhaps anticipated victory at the end of January because a contested Democratic presidential primary would have brought thousands of liberal-leaning voters to the polls. Now – and this ranks among the observations I have made in these pages that I would most like to see proven wrong – she will probably lose, a political victim of the Coronavirus.”
It is hard to overstate my pleasure at noting that I was proven wrong – in a result announced yesterday, Judge Karofsky defeated Justice Kelly – and will thus succeed him on the Wisconsin Supreme Court – by a margin I have seen reported at 55.3% to 44.7%.
I consider Ms. Karofsky’s margin of victory as shocking at the outcome. Two years ago, Democratic WI Gov. Tony Evers defeated former Republican WI Gov. Scott Walker by a little more than 1%. Since President Trump has made “Republican” synonymous with “Trump,” the size of Ms. Karofsky’s win over Mr. Kelly – even more impressive than it otherwise would have been, given what I understand was a depressed turnout in Milwaukee County, the largest Democratic stronghold in the state — would seemingly send an ominous signal to the President and his campaign cohort regarding the President’s current standing in a swing state integral to his re-election prospects.
Hopefully, the Karofsky – Kelly result actually reflects current Wisconsin sentiment toward both Mr. Trump and the partisan Wisconsin Republican legislature, although – as the late Marquette basketball coaching legend Al McGuire would say – the November election is still an eon of time away. There is certainly NO room for complacency; this result will cause Wisconsin Republicans to redouble their efforts for November. Even so, and despite the health challenges confronting us across the nation, Wisconsin moderates as well as its liberals should be allowed a moment to savor Judge Karofsky’s victory.
McCoy's Noise 
I think you can read way too much into a Supreme Court race. Karofsky spent tons more money in a “non-partisan” election than Kelly. While she claimed Kelly was somehow “corrupt” taking corporate money, she took tons more money from unions and the Democratic Party than Kelly raised and spent. No “corruption” there. I’m disgusted with the whole affair. “Non-partisan” my butt. Let’s stop fooling ourselves. Put a (D) or an (R) after Supreme Court candidate’s names. So many things go into a Supreme Court election than a presidential election. I don’t think it signifies anything.
That mini rant aside, the despicable performance of Trump regarding the Coronavirus could finally break through to enough voters in Wisconsin. Biden’s campaign video juxtaposing the foolishness of his pronouncements that everything was under control with all the deaths will be very powerful. His most important job is to protect us from enemies foreign and domestic. He has failed.
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One final note-voter turnout was higher in Milwaukee than in 2019. Same in Dane County. Same across the entire state. I know the argument is that Republicans are trying to suppress the vote. Either they’re not very good at it or that is not what is going on. Data doesn’t seem to support the suppression theory.
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