A new ad from the Republican Attorneys General Association says Dem AG Josh Kaul’s failure to win more convictions amid a backlog of rape kits left “thousands of rapists still out hunting.”
The spot, part of a $7 million RAGA buy across 13 states, is the first TV ad released in the attorney general’s race.
That narrator opens the spot saying, “Kaul’s crime lab had nearly 7,000 untested rape kits” and secured convictions in just 1% of victims.
“That’s thousands of rapists still out hunting. Thousands of women without justice or closure. And millions of Wisconsin mothers and daughters still at risk,” the narrator says.
The spot concludes, “If the worst happens, don’t call Josh Kaul. He doesn’t care.”
The ad includes a disclaimer noting artificial intelligence was used to generate some of its content.
A 2024 USA Today investigation counted some 6,841 sexual assault kits inventoried by the state Department of Justice in 2023, of which over 2,300 were not tested for various reasons. A federal initiative to clear a nationwide backlog of untested rape kits led to 10 people being convicted of sex offenses in Wisconsin.
Kaul made the kits a campaign issue when he ran for office in 2018 against former Republican AG Brad Schimel and then took criticism from Republicans for DNA processing times when he ran for reelection in 2024.
