Dem
51
GOP
49
It's not often that the most important Election Day of the year is in April, but that's the situation in 2023. The Democrats were guaranteed to win one of the two major elections that took place yesterday, since the Chicago mayor's race was Democrat vs. Democrat. However, the blue team also won the other, namely the judicial election in Wisconsin.
It did not seem to us that the election in Wisconsin would be close, as the state's voters pretty clearly lean pro-choice (the position of Janet Protasiewicz, the candidate everyone knows to be a Democrat, despite the officially "nonpartisan" nature of the election). Further, not only is Daniel Kelly anti-choice (and the candidate everyone knows to be a Republican), but he's already lost a statewide judicial election as an incumbent. Clearly, the good people of the Badger State aren't buying what he is selling.
The only thing that kept the race nominally competitive, we suppose, was the enormous infusion of cash in favor of Kelly, primarily from a few mega-rich conservative donors. As it turns out, however, that was money poorly spent. Protasiewicz ended up winning by nearly 11 points, 55.4% to 44.6%. Keeping in mind that Donald Trump lost the state in 2020 by less than a point, Kelly clearly isn't Wisconsinites' cup of tea. Or maybe we should say he just isn't their chunk of cheese. If the billionaires hadn't spent $20 million to prop up Kelly's candidacy, he might have lost by, what, 12 points? Maybe 13? Again, money poorly spent. Reader R.V. in Pittsburgh brought Kelly's concession speech to our attention; it is the epitome of "low class," and certainly helps one to understand why he turns off more voters than even Donald Trump. The icky part starts at 3:45 in.
Protasiewicz's win means that the Democrats will have a 4-3 majority on the state Supreme Court, which, as we've noted many times, is going to be helpful for the blue team in upcoming, high-profile decisions on abortion, gerrymandering and voter ID laws. Barring a death or resignation, the 4-3 majority will hold until at least November 2025, which is when the seat of "nonpartisan" Democrat Ann Walsh Bradley will be up.
A bit to the south, meanwhile, folks in Chicago decided that while they don't like Lori Lightfoot anymore, they still want a Black progressive running the city, and so they gave the mayoralty to Brandon Johnson over Paul Vallas, 51.4% to 48.6%. In contrast to merely running as a progressive, like Lightfoot did, Johnson might actually govern as a progressive. Time will tell.
Meanwhile, in the United States' last two major-city mayoral elections, the more progressive Democrat (Karen Bass in L.A., Johnson) triumphed over a moderate Democrat (Rick Caruso in L.A., Vallas) running on an anti-crime, hire-more-cops platform. We doubt this is a sign that Americans, even in very liberal cities, are ready to embrace "defund the police." But it is possibly a sign that "hire more cops" has become less compelling than it was in the past, and that candidates who want to run on combating crime are going to have to come up with something more thoughtful.
And that is it for a good long while when it comes to interesting and important election results. It's going to be a few months before we even have primaries of significance to write about, much less general elections. Unless, of course, someone dies or resigns and triggers a special election. (Z)