The Republican-backed candidate in Wisconsin’s high-stakes race for state Supreme Court docket accused his liberal opponent Tuesday of slandering him in a barrage of tv advertisements that originally targeted on his views on abortion, however have widened to tackle his previous work for Republicans and different subjects.

Dan Kelly, a former Wisconsin Supreme Court docket justice, faces Democratic-backed Janet Protasiewicz, a Milwaukee County choose, on April 4. The winner will decide majority management of the courtroom, with the destiny of abortion entry, legislative redistricting, voting rights, guidelines for elections and different main points at stake.

The winner may also be in place heading into the 2024 presidential election in battleground Wisconsin. The courtroom, at present managed 4-3 by conservatives, got here inside one vote of overturning President Joe Biden’s slender win in 2020.

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Kelly and his supporters have been outspent by Protasiewicz and her backers practically 2-to-1 for the reason that Feb. 21 main.

About $13.2 million has been spent on tv advertisements for the reason that main, based on AdImpact, which tracks TV spending nationwide. Of that, $8.3 million benefitted Protasiewicz in contrast with $4.9 million for Kelly, the group stated.

“I gained’t undergo all of the specifics, however the advertisements that she is paying to be run in opposition to me, are nothing however a grimy pack of lies,” Kelly stated. “They’re merely not true.”

Protasiewicz’s marketing campaign had no instant response when requested about Kelly’s claims.

Kelly’s backers are largely making an attempt to color Protasiewicz as weak on crime and unethical for talking so forcefully in help of abortion rights. Kelly stated he didn’t assume Protasiewicz might be neutral on the courtroom.

Kelly downplayed his work for Republicans, saying he additionally had purchasers on the left however he declined to call them. He additionally defended prior weblog posts the place he detailed his conservative views on abortion and different points, saying his political positions are “utterly irrelevant to the work of the courtroom.”

Kelly is a former conservative justice who was endorsed by Donald Trump in 2020. Protasiewicz acquired the endorsement of Hillary Clinton on Tuesday.

Kelly took questions Tuesday from a panel of reporters at an occasion hosted by the Milwaukee Press Affiliation, WisPolitics.com and the Rotary Membership of Milwaukee. Protasiewicz declined to take part. They meet on March 21 for his or her one and solely debate earlier than the election. That’s the similar day that early, in-person voting begins in Wisconsin.

As of March 8, greater than $20 million had been spent or booked for tv and radio advertisements, based on the Brennan Heart for Justice, which tracks spending solely on tv and radio advertisements. The earlier excessive spent on a state supreme courtroom race was $15.2 million in Illinois in 2004.

The ultimate tally in Wisconsin will seemingly go a lot increased, particularly when all different spending on the race is accounted for.

Protasiewicz has positioned $8 million in orders for advertisements by the April 4 election. The following highest spender is a bunch funded by GOP megadonor Richard Uihlein referred to as Truthful Courts America. It has spent practically $4 million on spots for Kelly. The political wing of the conservative state chamber of commerce, Wisconsin Producers and Commerce, has additionally booked $3.4 million in advertisements in help of Kelly, based on the Brennan Heart.

In her advertisements, Protasiewicz initially targeted on portraying Kelly as an extremist on abortion given his help from the state’s three largest anti-abortion teams, all of which need the state’s 1849 regulation banning practically all abortions to stay in place.

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Kelly has not stated how he would rule on the abortion regulation ought to it attain the courtroom, however he did write in a earlier weblog publish stated everybody is aware of the process “takes the lifetime of an unborn little one.” On Tuesday, Kelly stated marketing campaign advertisements stating that he would vote to uphold the 1849 abortion ban are a lie as a result of he has not stated how he would rule.

Kelly has accused Protasiewicz of going too far and basically of committing to voting to overturn the state’s 1849 regulation banning practically all abortions, ought to the lawsuit searching for to overturn the regulation come earlier than the courtroom as anticipated. Protasiewicz has not stated how she would rule on that or some other particular case.

Over the previous two weeks, Protasiewicz has broadened her assaults on Kelly past abortion. In a brand new advert launched Tuesday, Protasiewicz focuses on weblog posts Kelly made in 2013 saying that Social Safety and Medicare are for individuals who “have chosen to retire with out ample belongings to help themselves.”

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Kelly has not run any advertisements but, however stated Tuesday they had been coming quickly.