Liberals will hold a majority on the state Supreme Court in Wisconsin after Janet Protasiewicz won a closely watched election against conservative candidate Daniel Kelly in what is being touted as the most expensive judicial election campaign in US history.
According to a WisPolitics.com review, more than $42.3m had been spent on the campaign as of Monday.
The win for Ms Protasiewicz comes at a crucial time for Democrats who backed her and for her Democratic voters as the court is set to hear a debate over abortion rights.
Abortion rights in the state had dominated the campaign as the courts will decide in the next few months whether to uphold Wisconsin’s 1849 abortion ban.
Ms Protasiewicz also focused on the topic of abortions during her campaign. In one of her advertisements, she said that she supports “a woman’s freedom to make her own decision on abortion”.
Conservative candidate Mr Kelly, meanwhile, won the support of anti-abortion groups.
The win for Ms Protasiewicz gives the court’s liberal wing majority control or the first time in roughly 15 years ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court played an important role in 2020 elections. Justices voted 4-3 to reject Donald Trump’s efforts to overthrow election results.
According to New York University’s Brennan Center, the spending on this campaign far surpassed the previous record for spending on a state judicial contest which was $15.4m in a 2004 Illinois race.
Republicans have accused Ms Protasiewicz of being soft on crime and said she would use the court to advance a liberal agenda, regardless of the law, according to Reuters.
“The policy direction of Wisconsin is going to be determined in large part by this Supreme Court race,” University of Wisconsin-Madison political science professor Barry Burden previously told the Associated Press.
“Everything from abortion to disputes over the 2024 presidential election are going to land in the lap of this court. And the winner will be the deciding justice on these issues.”
