Trump Brags His Non-Endorsement Cost a Conservative a Race – But He Endorsed the Guy in 2020 and Got the Same Result

Former President Donald Trump boasted that his lack of endorsement cost Dan Kelly a seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court after the conservative candidate lost his race on Tuesday night.

However, Trump endorsed him for the court in his 2020 race, which he lost by a similar margin.

Kelly lost to liberal Milwaukee County Judge Janet Protasiewicz by 10 percentage points, thus flipping control of Wisconsin’s highest court to liberals.

Trump noted the result on Truth Social and rubbed Kelly’s nose in it after the candidate did not seek his endorsement:

Daniel Kelly of Wisconsin just lost his Supreme Court Election. He bragged that he won’t seek Trump’s Endorsement, so I didn’t give it—which guaranteed his loss. How foolish is a man that doesn’t seek an Endorsement that would have won him the Election?

It’s no surprise Kelly did not seek Trump’s endorsement this time around. Then-President Trump endorsed Kelly in his race for the court in 2020. He lost by 10.6 percentage points, which was slightly worse than he fared without Trump’s endorsement this time.

Kelly, a former justice on the court, did not take his loss well on Tuesday. In a speech to supporters after his defeat, he blasted Protasiewicz and refused to offer a concession.

“I wish that in a circumstance like this, I would be able to concede to a worthy opponent,” Kelly told the crowd. “But I do not have a worthy opponent to which [sic] I can concede. This was the most deeply deceitful, dishonorable, despicable campaign I have ever seen run for the courts. It was truly beneath contempt.”

Protasiewicz’s win is a major victory for abortion rights advocates in the state, as well as those seeking to undo Republicans’ extreme gerrymandering of districts that has allowed them to entrench their majority for more than a decade.

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