Protasiewicz defeated conservative candidate Daniel Kelly in what New York University’s Brennan Center for Justice called the most expensive judicial election in U.S. history. More than $42.3 million had been spent as of Monday, according to a WisPolitics.com review, far outstripping the previous record of $15.2 million.
The Associated Press called the race in favor of Protasiewicz.
In a major victory for abortion rights advocates, the result turns a court with a former 4-3 conservative majority to liberal control after 15 years, likely affecting a number of issues that have polarized Americans in other states such as voting rights and partisan control over drawing legislative maps.
But it was abortion that dominated the campaign, with the court expected in the coming months to decide whether to uphold the state’s 1849 abortion ban.
That law took effect after the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision last year to eliminate a nationwide right to abortion….
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