Wisconsin Republicans had a tough election on Tuesday. Janet Protasiewicz, a liberal backed by Democrats, defeated Dan Kelly, a conservative with deep GOP ties, in a race for an open state supreme court seat. The new liberal majority is expected to strike down a state-level abortion ban that dates to 1849 and entertain new challenges to GOP-gerrymandered state legislative and congressional maps drafted.
There was one positive outcome for Wisconsin Republicans that could have far-reaching implications. Wisconsin state Assembly member Dan Knodl (R) defeated Democrat Jodi Habush Sinykin, an attorney, by less than 2 percentage points in a special state Senate election in the Milwaukee suburbs.
Knodl’s victory delivers Republicans a two-thirds supermajority in Wisconsin’s state Senate. Republicans are still two votes shy of a two-thirds supermajority in the state Assembly, so Knodel’s win does not empower them to override Democratic Gov. Tony Evers’ vetoes.
But the result enables Republicans to impeach and expel elected officials on a party-line vote. A simple majority in the state Assembly is needed to impeach an elected official. A two-thirds majority is required to expel that official in a trial in the state Senate.
Ahead of the election, Knodl said that he could not foresee initiating impeachment proceedings against Evers. However, he said he was interested in impeaching prosecutors and judges he believes are “not following the law.” He also said he would “certainly consider” impeaching Protasiewicz if she won a seat on the high court.
Following his narrow win, however, Knodl sounded a conciliatory note.
“This campaign has always been about focusing on the issues, like rising prices, crime, and education, and I am incredibly grateful to the voters of the 8th Senate District for placing their trust in me to represent them in the Wisconsin State Senate,” Knodl said in a Wednesday statement published by the Associated Press. “Whether you voted for me or my opponent, I intend to resolutely and faithfully represent all of my constituents.”
Based on those comments, Joe Zepecki, a Milwaukee-area Democratic strategist, is hopeful that high-profile, partisan impeachments are off the table.
“I am cautiously optimistic that Republicans will heed one of the lessons from last night and from the 17 elections held statewide since 2016,” said Zepecki, noting that Democrats or liberals have won 14 of those races. “And that is that they have got to back down from the brink, from these extremist politics that do things like threaten to impeach candidates before they can take office.”
It is very likely that Republicans would have had a more challenging time winning the special state Senate election if the more right-wing state Assembly member Janel Brandtjen (R) had bested Knodl in the GOP primary. Calculating that she would have been an easier opponent, Democrats even spent money to help Brandtjen, who former President Donald Trump had endorsed, defeat Knodl.
It remains to be seen whether Knodl follows through on his milder tone or whether the rest of the Republicans in charge of the legislature share Knodl’s perspective.
Regardless, his post-Election Day comments contrasted strongly with Kelly’s remarks on Tuesday night after losing to Protasiewicz.
Although he acknowledged that he lost, Kelly angrily denounced what he called Protasiewicz’s lies against him and lamented what he claimed would be the danger that her victory poses for the “rule of law” in the Badger State.
“It brings me no joy to say this: I wish that in a circumstance like this, I would be able to concede to a worthy opponent,” Kelly said. “But I do not have a worthy opponent to which I can concede.”