It’s tempting to list the similarities between that choice and last August’s Republican primary for governor. Kelly, after all, had been running for months when Dorow announced her candidacy.


Last year, the Republican who had worked for years to run for governor, former Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch, was challenged by construction executive Tim Michels, who announced less than four months before winning the primary.

And, the two conservative candidates for the high court have traded sound-bite challenges — just like Kleefisch and Michels did.

“I’m struggling to think of any other reason that she would believe she would be a qualified candidate for the Supreme Court.” Kelly told an Associated Press reporter, accusing Dorow of taking advantage of the national publicity she got for presiding over the trial of Darrell Brooks.

A jury convicted Brooks in October of killing six and injuring dozens when he drove his car through the 2021 Waukesha Christmas parade. Dorow announced her Supreme Court candidacy days after she sentenced Brooks to six consecutive life sentences plus 700 more years in prison.

Dorow, in a separate interview with the same reporter responded: “I’ll gladly compare my background and credentials to any of the candidates — including Dan, who was never a trial judge and never a prosecutor.”

Kelly was appointed to the Supreme Court by former Republican Gov. Scott Walker in 2016. He lost his bid for a full term to Justice Jill Karofsky in 2020.