Hijacking Campaign 2023 | Independent Expenditures | Issue Ads | Candidates | Campaign 2023
Posted: March 14, 2023
Updated: March 25, 2024
Also known as Dunn County Democrats and based in Menomonie, in northwest Wisconsin, this is the county affiliate of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin. This is the first time the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign has recorded independent expenditures by this party.
About three weeks before the April 4 Wisconsin State Supreme Court election, the party reported it had spent - in cooperation with three other unnamed county parties - over $8,200 for billboards at the end of February to support Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Janet Protasiewicz for that seat. Having survived a four-way primary in February, she faced former Wisconsin State Supreme Court Justice Daniel Kelly for a ten-year seat on the high court, a seat left vacant by the retirement of conservative Justice Patience Roggensack. As conservatives currently then held a 4-3 advantage on the court, her retirement meant the ideological direction of the officially nonpartisan court was up for grabs. Kelly was appointed to the court by GOP Gov. Scott Walker.
Protasiewicz won the election.