Two victories important to progressives occurred this week. Wisconsin Supreme Court, and Chicago Mayoral campaign.
Wisconsin voters on Tuesday chose to upend the political direction of their state by electing a liberal candidate Judge Janet Protasiewicz to the State Supreme Court, flipping majority control from conservatives. The result means that in the next year, the court is likely to reverse the state’s abortion ban and end the use of gerrymandered legislative maps drawn by Republicans.
Protasiewicz overwhelmingly defeated Daniel Kelly, a conservative former Wisconsin Supreme Court justice. With most votes counted she led by 11 percentage points, a huge margin in the narrowly divided state.
Judge Protasiewicz, shattered long-held notions of how judicial candidates should conduct themselves by making her political priorities central to her campaign. She made explicit her support for abortion rights and called the maps, which gave Republicans near-supermajority control of the Legislature, “rigged” and “unfair.” Wisconsin’s liberals now have a 4-to-3 majority on the court.
Judge Protasiewicz made a calculation from the start of the race that Wisconsin voters would reward her for making clear her positions on abortion rights and the state’s maps — issues most likely to animate and energize the base of the Democratic Party.
The court has served as an important backstop for Wisconsin Republicans. It certified as constitutional Gov. Scott Walker’s early overhauls to state government, including the Act 10 law that gutted public employee unions, as well as voting restrictions like a requirement for a state-issued identification and a ban on ballot drop boxes.
The state’s abortion ban, which was enacted in 1849 is already being challenged by Wisconsin’s Democratic attorney general. The case is all but certain to advance on appeal to the State Supreme Court later this year.
Meanwhile Brandon Johnson, a union organizer and former teacher, was elected Chicago mayor Tuesday, a major victory for the party’s progressive wing as the nation’s third-largest city grapples with high crime and financial challenges.
Johnson, won a close race over former Chicago schools CEO Paul Vallas, and will succeed Lori Lightfoot, the first Black woman and first openly gay person to be the city’s mayor. She finished third in a crowded February contest. The top two vote-getters, Vallas and Johnson, advanced to Tuesday’s runoff after no candidate was able to secure over 50% to win outright.
It was a momentous win for progressive organizations such as the teachers union, with Johnson winning the highest office of any active teachers union member in recent history, leaders say.
Vallas, 69, said he would hire hundreds more police officers, while Johnson said he didn’t plan to cut the number of officers, but that the current system of policing isn’t working.
Instead, he said, he planned to allocate more money to areas such as mental health treatment and youth jobs.