Former President Donald Trump criticized former Wisconsin Justice Daniel Kelly on Wednesday for not seeking his endorsement ahead of a key race to fill a seat in the state’s Supreme Court.
Kelly, a former member of the Wisconsin Supreme Court, lost his race Tuesday to his liberal opponent Janet Protasiewicz, whose victory shifts the balance of the state’s high court in favor of liberals for the first time in 15 years.
“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,” Trump, 76, wrote in a Truth Social post on Wednesday.
Last week, Kelly told NBC News that he wasn’t pursuing an endorsement from the recently indicted former president.
“We’re not looking for one,” Kelly said, when asked about the possibility of a last-minute Trump endorsement. “I’m not really looking for endorsements from political actors.”
Trump decried Kelly as “foolish” Wednesday, and argued that his seal of approval would have won him the election.
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“How foolish is a man that doesn’t seek an Endorsement that would have won him the Election?” Trump wrote.
Trump made the claim despite the fact that he endorsed Kelly back in 2020 for another state Supreme Court race, which Kelly lost.
Protasiewicz’s victory came at a crucial moment in the court’s history, as it is expected to rule on a pending lawsuit challenging the state’s 1849 law outlawing abortion.
Protasiewicz’s campaigned on her pro-abortion rights views.
Wisconsin’s Supreme Court is also expected to hear a challenge to Republican-drawn legislative maps, which Protasiewicz has signaled she would be in favor of redrawing – calling the current maps “rigged” on the campaign trail.
Protasiewicz will begin her 10-year term in August, replacing the retiring conservative Justice Pat Roggensack.
