Do not be shocked if you are inundated with election advertisements well into next year. Wisconsinites are coming off the most expensive state judicial elections in U.S. history when $45 million was poured into the contest, according to OpenSecrets.org, which led to Janet Protasiewicz being elected to the Wisconsin Supreme Court over former Justice Daniel Kelly. The U.S. Presidential Race has already garnered more than $482.9 million in campaign funding, and the race for Wisconsin’s U.S. Senate seat between Senator Tammy Baldwin and Eric Hovde is also slated to be one of the nation’s most expensive. With Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Ann Walsh Bradley announcing earlier this week that she will retire at the end of her term and ideological control hanging in the balance, Common Cause in Wisconsin Executive Director Jay Heck expects even more money entering the political arena leading up to that election in April 2025.

Heck does not believe Bradley’s retirement announcement will greatly impact the number of cases the Wisconsin State Supreme Court will hear in the coming months, adding that their calendar does not necessarily mesh with what is going on in the state politically.