Supreme Court hopeful Karofsky raises $65K in January

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MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Wisconsin Supreme Court hopeful Jill Karofsky raised $65,350 in January but still trails incumbent Justice Daniel Kelly in fundraising for the past 13 months, according to campaign-finance reports filed Monday.

Karofsky, a Dane County judge, and Ed Fallone, a Marquette University law professor, are looking to unseat Kelly in the spring elections. The race is officially nonpartisan but Democrats have thrown their support behind Karofsky and Fallone while conservatives are backing Kelly. Then-Republican Gov. Scott Walker appointed Kelly to the bench in 2016.

The three candidates will face off in a primary Feb. 18. The top two vote-getters will advance to the April 7 general election. The candidates had until the end of the day Monday to file reports detailing contributions and expenditures for January, the last reports ahead of the primary. The reports are important because fund-raising is a sign of the depth of support for each candidate.

Karofsky’s report shows she raised $65,350 during the month. Since January 2019 she has raised $413,950.

Kelly and Fallone hadn’t filed their January reports by mid-morning Monday. Kelly’s end-of-year reports, however, show he raised $800,000 during 2019. Fallone’s end-of-year reports show he managed to raise just shy of $150,000.