New campaign finance reports are out ahead of the Feb. 21 nonpartisan primary for the Wisconsin Supreme Court, and they show that progressive Janet Protasiewicz once again took in more donations during the first 37 days of the year than her three opponents combined.
The numbers, which cover Jan. 1 to Feb. 6, are below.
- Milwaukee County Judge Janet Protasiewicz: $725,000 raised, $277,000 cash-on-hand
- Waukesha County Judge Jennifer Dorow: $365,000 raised, $267,000 cash-on-hand
- former Justice Daniel Kelly: $100,000 raised, $202,000 cash-on-hand
- Dane County Judge Everett Mitchell: $70,000 raised, $121,000 cash-on-hand
Mitchell is also a liberal, while Dorow and Kelly are the conservatives.
Wisconsin also requires candidates to report any donations of $1,000 or more that these candidates received since the reporting period ended, and Protasiewicz also lapped her rivals in the time between Feb. 7 through the 13th. She hauled in $196,000 of these donations, though Protasiewicz says she raised a total of $363,000 over the last week.
Dorow, by contrast, took in $31,000 in large late donations compared to $12,000 for Mitchell, while Kelly only received a single $1,000 contribution. Kelly, though, is hardly being left to fend for himself, though, as AdImpact reports that Fair Courts America, a super PAC funded by megadonors Dick and Liz Uihlein, has spent $1.8 million on advertising to help him. That’s just behind the $1.9 million that the progressive group A Better Wisconsin Together has deployed: The group’s spots have accused Dorow of issuing too lenient sentences, a tactic designed to convince the right-wing base to reject her this month.
Finally, the conservative super PAC Women Speak Out PAC says its spending “six figures” for … Kelly. The group, which is an affiliate of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, is sending out mailers touting the conservative man’s opposition to abortion rights.
