The lead Wall Street Journal editorial (“The Left Wins Big in Midwest Elections”) focuses on the results of the elections for Chicago mayor and the Wisconsin Supreme Court. The outcome in Chicago was narrow but the upshot is dire. The editors certainly have that right. Their assessment of causation strikes close to home:
The biggest reason for Mr. [Brandon] Johnson’s 51%-49% victory was the money and muscle of the Chicago Teachers Union. He raised some $10.1 million through March 31, and 91% came from unions, more than half from the CTU, according to the Illinois Policy Institute.
The union now has a reinforced stranglehold on the Windy City. The union will sit on both sides of the negotiating table in the CTU’s contract renegotiations in 2024, and the results will be expensive. Mr. Johnson opposes charter schools, and his idea of education reform is more money without more accountability. The election shows how much public unions now control America’s biggest cities, and their priority is serving their own interests.
What about Wisconsin? This strikes close to home as well:
The Wisconsin results show abortion is still politically potent. In a special election for the state Senate on Tuesday, the Republican candidate barely won in a longtime GOP stronghold in the northern Milwaukee suburbs. If Republicans can’t win in Mequon, their legislative majorities will soon be imperiled, and you can move Wisconsin out of the swing-state column for the Presidency in 2024.
I would just add the footnote below to the Journal’s comments on the Wisconsin Supreme Court race.
For anyone tempted to believe Janet Protasiewicz is putting up historic numbers for a liberal judicial candidate in Wisconsin…we're pretty much watching a replay of Daniel Kelly's last defeat in April 2020. pic.twitter.com/h6J6wgz5y1
— Dave Wasserman (@Redistrict) April 5, 2023
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