Brad Schimel says he won’t repeat the mistakes of the last Supreme Court race

Judge Brad Schmiel says he won’t repeat the mistakes of the last Wisconsin Supreme Court race.

Schimel told Jay Weber of News Talk 1130 WISN that he is not going to politicize the race like liberal Judge Janet Protasiewicz, and that he will not ignore his campaign like former conservative Judge Dan Kelly.

Schimel said he can run for the court next year without injecting Republican politics into the court.

“I’ve had plenty of people on our side saying, ‘Brad, you should just do the same.’ No. I can’t do that,” Schimel said. “We still have to respect the rule of law. We still have to respect the Constitution. We still have to respect legal ethics. I don’t go out and promise people what I’m going to do. But I will promise people that they can look at my record and know that I did the right thing. That I put the law above politics. I place the law above my own personal opinion.”

Republicans roundly criticized Protasiewicz for her comments on abortion and Wisconsin’s legislative plans during the 2023 campaign.

Republicans also criticized former Judge Dan Kelly, who lost to Protasiewicz, for his perceived lack of campaigning.

“We couldn’t have put a smarter, more trustworthy conservative on the Wisconsin Supreme Court than Dan Kelly,” Schmiel added. “But some mistakes were made during the campaign.”

Chief among them, Schimel said, was Kelly’s decision to turn down money from the Republican Party of Wisconsin that could have gone to TV ads.

Schimel said this put Kelly at a major disadvantage.

“Janet Protasiewicz took almost $10 million from the state party (Democratic Party). Dan took the money too late. He realized, ‘Oh my God, this is going to burn me.’ By the time he took it, the best ad buys were gone and he couldn’t spend the money effectively,” Schimel said. “He spent $585,000 on TV. That’s what his campaign spent. Janet Protasiewicz’s campaign has spent $10.5 million. If you’re 20-to-1 on TV, you might as well just start writing your concession speech.

Schmiel promised not to spend too much this time.

“I made it clear. I will bring all legal, ethical contributions to my campaign because we have to win,” Schimel said. “Because we must stop standing on the hill of principles on which we ultimately die.”