Incumbent Justice, Law Professor Advance to April General Election

February 21, 2013

Justice Pat Roggensack and Marquette University law professor Ed Fallone were the top two vote-getters in the February 19 primary election for a seat on Wisconsin’s supreme court, and they will compete in the April 2 general election. Though judicial elections are officially nonpartisan, this race took on a partisan tone when a third candidate openly identified himself as a Democrat, asserting that he wanted to be honest with voters and citing a "four-person conservative Republican majority" on the seven-member court. According to an analysis by Justice at Stake and the Brennan Center for Justice, approximately $400,000 was spent on TV advertising, with 75 percent of that being spent by the conservative Wisconsin Club for Growth in support of Justice Roggensack. Less than 10 percent of voters were expected to cast ballots in the primary election.