Staff Writer
Conservative State Supreme Court candidate Justice Daniel Kelly, who’s backed by the GOP, has potential connections to former President Trump’s attempt to reverse the 2020 election results.
While giving testimony to the House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack, former Wisconsin GOP chairman Andrew Hitt revealed that Kelly had worked as a “special counsel” to the organization during the 2020 presidential election. According to Hitt, he and Kelly had “pretty extensive conservations” regarding a plan to use “fake [Republican] electors” to reverse the results of the election.
Democrat Joe Biden won the state by nearly 21,000 votes meaning that all 10 of Wisconsin’s electoral votes would be cast by Democratic electors. But, on the same day that Wisconsin’s 10 Democratic electors voted for President Biden, the Wisconsin GOP sent 10 fake Republican electors to the state capitol to vote for Trump. They did so to ensure that if the courts overturned Biden’s win, Trump’s votes would already be cast.
Throughout the process, Kelly was paid $120,000 to advise the state GOP on “election integrity” and electoral law issues. Additional payments of $110,000 from the Republican National Committee were made to Kelly last year, including $40,000 following his announcement of a run for the open Supreme Court seat.
Kelly’s campaign has yet to provide a response regarding his involvement in the scheme, but according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, his spokesperson said that Kelly “believes Joe Biden is the duly elected president of the United States.”
The winner of this election will be seated on the state’s highest court during the critical 2024 presidential election. Depending on the results of the presidential election, it remains possible that challenges to the state certification of election results, similar to what was seen in Wisconsin in 2020, may find their way in front of the court. And, it is unclear, based on his history with the Wisconsin GOP, what Kelly would do if issues of election law came before the court.
Voters head to the polls on April 4 to choose between Janet Protasiewicz or Daniel Kelly.
