Brad Schimel, former GOP attorney general, plans campaign for Wisconsin Supreme Court

MADISON – Former Republican Attorney General Brad Schimel plans to launch a campaign for Wisconsin Supreme Court this week, setting up an early challenge to the court's newly cemented liberal majority.

A source close to Schimel confirmed his plans to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Monday.

The Waukesha County Circuit judge has a "special announcement" scheduled Thursday evening at Weldall Manufacturing in Waukesha. His early entrance to the race sets him up as the first conservative challenger to liberal Justice Ann Walsh Bradley, who is expected to seek a fourth 10-year term in 2025.

The news was first reported by the conservative website Wisconsin Right Now.

Schimel, 58, was elected to lead the state Department of Justice in 2014 and lost his 2018 reelection bid to Democrat Josh Kaul by less than a percentage point the same year Democratic Gov. Tony Evers defeated Republican former Gov. Scott Walker. Before leaving office, Walker appointed Schimel to the Waukesha County Circuit Court.

No other challengers have announced plans to run for the seat Bradley has held since 1995. Bradley, 73, told reporters in April, when liberal Justice Janet Protasiewicz was elected, that she plans to run again.

Bradley fended off a challenge from Rock County Circuit Judge James Daley in 2015 with a 16-point victory margin.

The challenge to the court's longest-serving member could upend the massive victory liberals secured in April with Protasiewicz's 11-point victory, which flipped the court's ideological majority for the first time in years. That race was the most expensive judicial contest in U.S. history.

No concrete details about Schimel's campaign operation were immediately available. Schimel's former campaign manager, Johnny Koremenos, works for the Republican Attorneys General Association and is expected to volunteer his time to support Schimel's efforts.

"I will support Brad in anything he wants to do and I think he's exactly the candidate we need," Koremenos told the Journal Sentinel.

Before serving as attorney general, Schimel received a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and a law degree from the UW Law School. He joined the Waukesha County district attorney's office in 1990 and was elected Waukesha County district attorney in 2006.

“Wisconsinites rejected Brad Schimel after a single term as attorney general because his extreme politics and inept mismanagement became too great to ignore, with thousands of rape kits left untested at the State Crime Lab and millions of dollars wasted on partisan efforts to suppress voting rights and push new restrictions on abortion access," said Democratic Party of Wisconsin chair Ben Wikler in a statement.

Schimel's campaign launch comes as the court considers a number of high-profile cases, including a challenge to the state's electoral maps and an effort to eliminate funding for the state's taxpayer-funded school voucher programs and independent charter schools. A challenge to the state's 1849 abortion ban is also expected to make its way to the state's high court.

Jessie Opoien can be reached at jessie.opoien@jrn.com.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Republican Brad Schimel to run for Wisconsin Supreme Court