WisPolitics has tracked more than $56 million spent on this spring’s Supreme Court race — almost four times the previous national record — as liberals flipped control of the body for the first time in 15 years.
And it’s likely the final tab was significantly higher, thanks to issue ads and spending on infrastructure that aren’t reported to the state.
Dems said those efforts add millions to the more than $32 million that WisPolitics tracked in spending by Justice-elect Janet Protasiewicz and the groups backing her.
Meanwhile, conservative former Justice Daniel Kelly and his supporters spent more than $22.5 million, according to campaign finance reports, independent expenditure filings, TV records and interviews. The rest was spent by Jennifer Dorow, Everett Mitchell and their backers ahead of a four-way primary.
The previous national record for a state Supreme Court race was a 2004 Illinois contest that hit $15 million, while the most expensive Wisconsin contest had been the 2020 campaign, when Kelly lost a bid to retain his seat to liberal Jill Karofsky.
The story of this spring’s Supreme Court race is more than just how much was spent, but how it was spent.
Protasiewicz was the biggest spender, with more than $16.7 million dropped on her successful bid, according to her campaign finance reports. That effort was fueled by the state Dem Party, which pumped $9.9 million into her campaign through transfers and in-kind donations. That helped fund the $12.9 million that Protasiewicz spent on TV.
This approach gave Protasiewicz and her allies a significant advantage over Kelly and his allies on TV ahead of the April election.
Candidates get better rates than independent groups, giving them greater buying power. Most of Protasiewicz’s allies focused their efforts on digital ads, which cost the same for candidates as they do outside groups, while the campaign was the main vehicle on TV.
According to figures from the Protasiewicz campaign, Kelly and his allies spent nearly $7.2 million on TV over the final four weeks of the race, compared to under $6.4 million on the liberal side. Still, Protasiewicz and her allies put up more than 92,000 points over that period — a measure of how often viewers see the ads — compared to less than 41,000 by the conservative side.
Over the final week of the race, conservatives had more than a $1 million advantage in spending, but liberals had more than 86 percent more points on the air, according to her campaign.
Protasiewicz general consultant Patrick Guarasci said liberal donors wanted to see their donations be as impactful as possible. The easiest way to do that was to give directly to the campaign. The second avenue was through the state party, which raised $13.6 million over the first six months of 2023.
Guarasci said the campaign was in regular contact with the party and had to demonstrate “that we had a plan to win. It wasn’t just a rubber stamp and they sent money to us willy-nilly.”
“The spending is irrelevant,” Guarasci said of what was put on TV. “The points are what’s relevant.”
— Kelly spent $3.7 million on the race, including $611,363 on TV, according to his filings.
Multiple people who worked on Kelly’s campaign didn’t return messages today from WisPolitics seeking comment on the spending numbers.
One conservative operative who worked on the race and was granted anonymity to speak freely said Kelly’s refusal to accept cash transfers from the state GOP was a big factor in the disparity in points on TV.
While Kelly declined to take money through the party, he still accepted $853,299 in in-kind contributions from the party for things such as mail.
The operative said many factors played into Kelly’s loss, including the prominence of abortion as an issue. The decision not to accept money from the party, the operative said, contributed a lot to the spending imbalance.
“We’re not dumb. We know ad rates. It’s not a new concept,” the operative said. “But when he’s not willing to take them, what are we supposed to do? We have to spend it.”
See more in Tuesday’s PM Update.
