The high-stakes race in Wisconsin that could impact abortion rights -- and 2024
A race for a Supreme Court seat in Wisconsin could determine the future of abortion rights in a state likely to play a crucial role in the 2024 presidential election.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court has a 4-3 conservative majority, but conservative Justice Patience Roggensack is opting not to seek another term, evenly splitting the court along ideological lines. Voters will head to the polls for a February primary, which will determine which two justices from a group of two conservative candidates and two liberal candidates will move on to the April general election.
Whoever wins that state Supreme Court seat is likely to weigh in on a consequential lawsuit over a contested 1849 abortion law, which offers no exceptions except for the life of the pregnant person, and the outcome of which could have major implications for one of the country’s few remaining swing states.
Wisconsin-based Democratic strategist Joe Zepecki said that anger following the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade last year is still motivating voters and will play a crucial role in this year’s state judicial race.
“The midterms did not go the way Republicans thought they would, and I really believe that one of the main reasons behind that was the Dobbs decision. Nothing has fundamentally changed in the landscape,” Zepecki said. “That means that all of a sudden the voters who are passionate about abortion in November of last year aren’t gonna go, ‘Oh, well, we did what we could. Oh, well, we’ll just live with this.’”
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/3833693-the-high-stakes-race-in-wisconsin-that-could-impact-abortion-rights-and-2024/
