HARTLAND, Wis. — Waukesha County Judge Jennifer Dorow, who drew national attention during the Darrell Brooks trial, will run for state Supreme Court next spring, her family confirmed to News 3 Now.
Dorow was first appointed to the bench in 2011 by then-Gov. Scott Walker and said in an interview that she had been mulling a run for the high court for a few years.
“It’s been so overwhelming to receive so much support and encouragement to consider running for the state Supreme Court,” Dorow said in an interview with News 3 Now.
A likely conservative candidate, Dorow joins a semi-crowded field that includes conservative former Justice Daniel Kelly and liberal candidates Dane County Judge Everett Mitchell and Milwaukee County Judge Janet Protasiewicz.
.@WISCTV_News3 confirms that Judge Jennifer Dorow will run for the state Supreme Court. We are expecting a formal announcement from her campaign tomorrow.
— Will Kenneally (@willkenneally) November 29, 2022
The top two candidates to emerge from the February primary will face each other in the April general election next year. Both elections are non-partisan, but judges frequently lean either liberal or conservative.
Whoever wins next April’s election will replace retiring conservative Justice Pat Roggensack, in a race that will decide the balance of the court. The current makeup of the bench is 4-3 in favor of conservatives, but that includes swing Justice Brian Hagedorn who occasionally sides with liberals on the court.
Democrats hoping to flip the seat see it as a path forward to revisit cases like the state’s legislative districts — which they argue unfairly favor Republicans.
When asked about the possibility of facing another conservative in Kelly during the primary, Dorow said she is encouraged by healthy debate.
“When you look generally at elections, I think it’s not a bad thing to have options, and to have healthy vigorous debate among candidates,” she said.
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