Four vying for supreme court in next week’s state primary
Daniel Kelly
Four candidates on the ballot in the February 21 nonpartision primary for an open seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court. The top two vote-getters will advance to the nonpartisan general election on April 4.
Jennifer Dorow, Daniel Kelly, Everett Mitchel and Janet Protasiewicz are vying for the open seat on the court which is currently held by Justice Patience Roggensack whose term expires July 31. Roggensack chose not to seek re-election to the state’s highest court.
Dorow currently serves as a judge for the Waukesha County Circuit Court having been appointed to the position in 2012 by then Governor Scott Walker. Dorow achieved national notoriety after presiding over the Waukesha Christmas parade homicide case of Darrell Brooks this past fall. Brooks was convicted of six counts of first-degree intentional homicide in the November 21, 2021 incident that killed six people and wounded dozens more. She graduated from Marquette University and Regent University School of Law in Virginia Beach, Virginia.
Kelly previously served on the supreme court from 2016 – when Governor Walker appointed him to fill a vacancy created by the retirement of Justice David T. Prosser, Jr. – to 2020. Kelly lost his re-election bid in the spring of 2020 to current State Supreme court Justice Jill Karofsky. Kelly, a native of Santa Barbara, California who
Jennifer R. Dorow
grew up in Arvada, Colorado, came to Wisconsin to study at Carroll College (now Carroll University) where he earned a bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Spanish in 1986. He earned his law degree from Regent University School of Law in 1991.
Mitchell serves as a judge on the Dane County Circuit Court having first been elected to that position in 2016. Mitchell earned Bachelor of Arts degrees in mathematics and religion form Morehouse College, a Masters of Divinity and a Masters of Theology from Princeton University and his law degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison Law School.
Protasiewicz was first elected to the Milwaukee County Circuit Court in 2014. She received a bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 1985 her law degree from Marquette University Law School in 1988. Prior to becoming a circuit court judge, Protasiewicz served as a Milwaukee County assistant district attorney for 26 years.
Everett D. Mitchell
Janet C. Protasiewicz
