FORMER REPUBLICAN ATTORNEY GENERAL BRAD SCHIMEL SAYS HE’S IN RUNNING FOR STATE SUPREME COURT IN 2025. WITH THE PRESIDENTIAL RACE IN THE US SENATE RACE SUCKING UP ALL THE OXYGEN FOR A GOOD PART OF NEXT YEAR, WE CAN’T WAIT TILL NEXT NOVEMBER TO START. WE CAN’T ANNOUNCE IN THE SUMMER WHEN NO ONE’S PAYING ATTENTION. WE’VE GOT TO GET OUT IN FRONT OF IT. THAT’S WHY I’M STARTING NOW. MY MOST IMPORTANTLY, THIS LONG RACE GIVES ME THE TIME TO LISTEN TO THE VOTERS AND MAKE SURE I CAN BE THE BEST PUBLIC SERVANT TO REPRESENT THEIR INTERESTS, NOT MY OPINIONS. SCHIMEL, A CURRENT WAUKESHA COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT JUDGE MADE THE ANNOUNCEMENT THURSDAY NIGHT IN WAUKESHA CURRENT JUSTICE ANNE WALSH. BRADLEY’S TEN YEAR TERM WILL BE UP IN 2025. THE LIBERAL JUSTICE HAS INDICATED SHE WILL SEEK ANOTHER TERM, SETTING UP ANOTHER BATTLE FOR CONTROL OF THE STATE’S HIGH COURT. THE ANNOUNCEMENT COMING JUST FOUR MONTHS AFTER JUSTICE JANET PROTASIEWICZ WAS SWORN IN, FLIPPING THE COURT’S 4 TO 3 MAJORITY FROM CONSERVATIVE TO LIBERAL PROTASIEWICZ BEAT CONSERVATIVE DANIEL KELLY BY 11 POINTS. PATRICK DORSEY HELPED RUN THE PROTASIEWICZ CAMPAIGN AS A GENERAL CONSULTANT. HE JOINS US NOW. PATRICK, GOOD TO SEE YOU. WELL, THANKS FOR HAVING ME. IT’S GREAT TO BE ON. WE’RE COMING OFF WHAT WAS THE MOST EXPENSIVE COURT RACE IN US HISTORY. WE’RE NOW ALREADY TALKING 2025. IS THIS THE NEW NORM WHEN WE’RE TALKING ABOUT STATE SUPREME COURT RACES IN WISCONSIN? I THINK THAT YOU’RE SEEING HOW IMPACTFUL THESE SUPREME COURT RACES CAN BE AND AND YOU’RE WEARING GROUND ZERO HERE IN WISCONSIN. SO I WOULD EXPECT THIS TO BE A BIG RACE AND REALLY TO HAVE THE THE WORLD’S ATTENTION, THE COUNTRY’S ATTENTION. SO, YEAH, THIS IS GOING TO BE A BIG ONE. AND TAKE US INTO YOUR POSTMORTEM THIS PAST SPRING. HOW DID JUSTICE JANET PIRRO, TO SAY WHAT’S WIN AND NOT ONLY WIN WIN BY 11 POINTS? WELL, WHAT SHE DID WAS SHE CAMPAIGNED EVERYWHERE. SHE SHE DIDN’T LEAVE ANY VOTE UNTURNED. AND SHE YOU SAW THAT THE MAP SHOWED THAT THAT SHE WAS ABLE TO PUT UP 11 POINTS BECAUSE SHE WASN’T JUST FOCUSED IN MADISON AND MILWAUKEE. SHE WAS IN GREEN BAY. SHE WAS IN WAUSAU. SHE WAS ACROSS THE STATE. AND SHE HAD A MESSAGE THAT RESONATED WITH VOTERS. WHAT WAS THE ANALYSIS IN TERMS OF HOW STRONGLY DO WE TALK ABOUT MAPS? HOW STRONGLY DO WE TALK ABOUT ABORTION? BECAUSE THIS SHIFTED HOW THE CONVERSATION WENT IN THIS TYPE OF RACE? WELL, I THINK WHEN YOU LOOK AT JANET, YOU KNOW, EACH ONE OF THESE RACES IS DIFFERENT. ANN WALSH, BRADLEY, FOR EXAMPLE, WILL HAVE A RECORD OF OF RULING ON MANY CASES THAT WILL HAVE COME BEFORE HER THAT TOUCH ON THESE ISSUES. JANET WAS A CIRCUIT COURT JUDGE. SHE WAS A PROSECUTOR BEFORE THAT. WHEN SHE WAS ASKED ABOUT THESE HOT BUTTON ISSUES, SHE HAD TO POINT TO PAST RULINGS, NOT RULINGS THAT SHE HAD MADE, BUT PAST RULINGS THAT OTHERS HAD MADE. AND SO HER QUOTES ON THESE RULINGS, THEY GOT A LOT OF ATTENTION AND THEY SEEM LIKE THEY WERE REALLY BIG NEWS AND REALLY DIFFERENT, BUT REALLY WHAT SHE WAS DOING WAS POINTING TO DISSENT OR RULINGS THAT SHE AGREED WITH. LET ME ASK YOU ABOUT THAT. WHEN SHE CALLED THE MAPS RIGGED, WHICH GOT A LOT OF ATTENTION AND STILL GETS A LOT OF ATTENTION, WAS THAT A POLITICAL STRATEGY AND PLANNED OUT OR DID SHE JUST COME OUT AND SAY THAT ONE DAY? WELL, ACTUALLY, SHE WAS QUOTING JILL KAROFSKY’S DISSENT OF THAT MAPS CASE. AND SO, YOU KNOW, THAT GOT A LOT OF ATTENTION BECAUSE WE’RE REALLY LIVING IN A DIFFERENT WORLD. THE WORLD HAS CHANGED OVER THE LAST COUPLE OF YEARS. AND THERE’S SO MUCH MORE ATTENTION TO THESE COURT RACES THAT THAT SEEMED NEW. BUT SHE WAS ACTUALLY QUOTING JILL KAROFSKY, WHO IS A CURRENT SUPREME COURT JUSTICE, AND THAT WASN’T NECESSARILY A STRATEGY THAT WE WERE TRYING TO BE BOLD OR TRYING TO BE OUT THERE. WE WERE ACTUALLY JUST TRYING TO BE HONEST AND BE TRANSPARENT. GRANT A RACE LIKE THE STATE SUPREME COURT RACES IS TECHNICALLY NONPARTISAN, BUT ARE WE AT THE POINT IN TIME NOW WHERE WE SHOULD JUST EMBRACE THAT THESE NONPARTISAN RACES HAVE BECOME POLITICAL CAMPAIGNS? IS THAT WHAT YOU ANTICIPATE TO SEE IN 2025? ALSO, I THINK I SEE IT A LITTLE DIFFERENTLY AND I’M NOT TRYING TO BE CUTE HERE, BUT I THINK THAT WHAT YOU’RE LOOKING AT IS A COURT THAT HAD BEEN HIJACKED BY THE RIGHT WING. THIS WAS A COURT THAT NEARLY OVERTURNED A FREE AND FAIR ELECTION BY ONE VOTE. IF SOMEONE ASKS YOU HOW MANY VOTES DID JOE BIDEN WIN WISCONSIN, HE WON IT BY ONE VOTE ON THE WISCONSIN SUPREME COURT. BRIAN HAGEDORN DECIDED NOT TO OVERTHROW A FREE AND FAIR ELECTION. THIS WAS A COURT THAT WAS INCREDIBLY RIGHT WING AND YOU HAVE PEOPLE NOW WHO HAVE COME TO THE COURT, WHO HAVE TAKEN OVER THE COURT, WHO ARE TRYING TO MAKE IT MORE OPEN, MORE TRANSPARENT, MORE CENTERED CONSERVATIVES SAY HIJACKED BY THE LEFT WING NOW. BUT THAT’S JUST I THINK YOU’VE GOT TO BE SO, SO FAR TO THE RIGHT TO SEE A COURT BECOME MORE MODERATE AND THINK THAT IT’S LEFT WING. WAS YOUR INTENT TO TURN THIS INTO A POLITICAL CAMPAIGN? ABSOLUTELY NOT. I THINK $10 FROM DEMOCRATS IN THE STATE. I MEAN, IT WAS A POLITICAL CAMPAIGN, RIGHT? IT WAS A POLITICAL CAMPAIGN. BUT YOU YOU KNOW, ANN WALSH, BRADLEY IN AT JANET’S INVESTITURE GAVE THESE GREAT REMARKS AND, YOU KNOW, ANYONE THAT WANTS TO GO LOOK AT THEM SHOULD ABOUT HOW THE COURT HAD BEEN PREVIOUSLY PERCEIVED AS THIS INCREDIBLE BASTION OF INTELLECTUAL CAPABILITY THAT OTHER COURTS WOULD LOOK AT AND POINT TO AND LEARN FROM. THAT’S WHERE WE NEED TO GO BETWEEN NOW AND 2025. THE COURT’S LIKELY GOING TO RULE ON A NUMBER OF HIGH PROFILE CASES MAPS, ABORTION, POTENTIALLY AT TEN, YOU NAME IT. IS 2025 GOING TO BE AS OR MORE CONTENTIOUS THAN THE RACE WE JUST SAW? I THINK IT COULD BE. I’M NOT SURE THE COURT WILL TAKE ALL OF THAT ON, TO BE HONEST WITH YOU. SOME OF THAT STUFF HAS TO WORK ITS WAY THROUGH LOWER COURTS. I THINK THIS COURT IS NOT TRYING TO LEGISLATE FROM THE BENCH. I THINK THIS COURT IS TRYING TO BE FAIR AND IMPARTIAL AND YOU’LL TRULY SEE THAT IN THEIR RULINGS. WE HAVEN’T SEEN WHAT WILL HAPPEN ON THE MAPS CASE. WE HAVEN’T SEEN WHAT WILL HAPPEN ON ABORTION WHEN IT GETS TO THE COURT. BUT I THINK WHAT YOU’RE GOING TO SEE IS A COURT THAT TRIES TO HOLD THE AVERAGE PERSON IN WISCONSIN IN THEIR MINDS. WHAT IS IT? WHAT IS THE LAW SAY AND WHAT ARE WE REALLY DOING HERE? WE’RE REALLY TRYING TO MEET THE PUBLIC WHERE THEY ARE AND REPRESENT THE LAW. WELL, LET’S TALK ABOUT AND A LOT OF TIME TO TALK ABOUT IT BETWEEN NOW AND 2025. PATRICK ROSSI, GENERAL COUNSEL FOR JANET PROTASIEWICZ IS CAMPAIGN. PATRICK, HEY, THANKS SO MUCH. THANKS FOR HAVING ME. I’D LOVE TO COME BACK AND TALK MORE. WE CAN TALK ALL DAY. WE COULD, ABSOLUTELY. THANK YOU. WE APPRECIATE IT. THANKS Y’ALL. UP NEXT, NEW DEMOCRATIC LEADERSHIP IN THE STATE SENATE. MINORITY LEADER MELISSA AGARD ANNOUNCING HER BID FOR DANE COUNTY EXECUTIVE. SO WHAT’S NEXT? J.R. ROSS WITH HIS NEW REPORTING