Janet Protasiewicz for Wisconsin Supreme Court.
“The Most Important Election of 2023 Is Taking Place in Wisconsin”
Wisconsin was ground zero for competitive elections in 2023. The race featured liberal Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Janet Protasiewicz facing off, in the General Election, against former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Daniel Kelly.
The New York Times labeled the state’s non-partisan supreme court race “the year’s biggest election.” Why? The balance of the state’s highest court was up for grabs. And, that balance had national impacts considering Joe Biden won Wisconsin by just court one vote in 2020: a 4-3 decision by the Wisconsin Supreme Court that nearly threw out enough ballots to swing the election to Donald Trump. in 2020.
Conservatives had ruled in the majority for nearly 40 years and the current court was made up of 4 conservatives and 3 liberals – one of the conservative justices was set to retire. Each judge is elected statewide to a 10-year term in the spring of odd-numbered years which are consistently comprised of more conservative voters.
Heightening the tensions this year was Wisconsin’s 174-year-old abortion ban that was now in effect after the national Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade.
It was amidst this backdrop that Judge Janet Protasiewicz won a commanding 11-point victory in the most expensive judicial campaign in the history of the United States of America.
The campaign was awarded the non-partisan “National Campaign of the Year” by the American Association of Political Consultants.
“One ad for Protasiewicz featuring a young woman learning her baby would have severe abnormalities captures the emotion driving the race”
– The Washington Post’s Jennifer Rubin, 3/23/2023
Throughout the campaign our ads messaged the differences between the two candidates on reproductive freedom. The New York times reported, “The Protasiewicz strategy is to pound away on advertising to energize Democrats while depressing Republican support.”
While Judge Janet was being viciously attacked on the airwaves we found credible validators – like this spot featuring Clayton – to be an essential part of our ad mix.
To win, our opponent had to make crime the biggest issue – we didn’t allow that to happen by taking on his strength immediately out of the gate with ads focused on his legal counsel to convicted child sex predators. Early polling showed “Violent Crime and Public Safety” to be the second most important issue of the campaign – only 1% behind “Abortion.”
However, post-election polling showed that just 4% of the voters selected “Crime” as the top reason they voted proving that the campaign had effectively neutralized the issue of crime, which was strategically essential so we could maintain the prominence of the abortion issue in the campaign and allow us to drive up our vote margins.
In some of the northern Wisconsin markets the issue of Dan Kelly’s corruption was of paramount importance. We told this story in multiple ways with a variety of messengers. Importantly, while there was diversity in messages, it all fit neatly within the overall narrative we developed against Dan Kelly and in favor of Judge Janet: That Kelly is an extremist who doesn’t care about us… while Judge Janet is a common-sense judge who cares about you.
A critically important message for Seniors (and voters in NE Wisconsin) centered on Kelly’s previous comments on Social Security. While Social Security is a federal issue, these ads were about Kelly’s character and extremism and how he would approach other issues important to voters.
It’s always important to give voters a reason to vote FOR your candidate and not solely focus on reasons to vote against your opponent. Throughout the campaign we maintained positive messaging driving a narrative on Judge Janet’s background as a former 25-year prosecutor and a circuit court judge. We clearly laid out her personal belief that women and their families should have the freedom to make their own decisions when it comes to abortion. This version of our closing spot was rated the best testing ad of the campaign with our research partners (it came at just the right time to drive momentum heading into Election Day).
“a huge progressive win in Wisconsin”
“In Wisconsin, Janet Protasiewicz won in the most expensive state judicial race in U.S. history, giving liberals the state Supreme Court majority for the first time in more than a decade.”
Watch Rachel Maddow call the race on Election Night. She clearly lays out the stakes of this race and the implications of Judge Janet’s victory.
“Now the majority on the Wisconsin Supreme Court for the first time in more than a decade will flip from hard right conservative control to progressive control. That is a HUGE deal in Wisconsin”
