There was no grace in former Wisconsin Justice Dan Kelly's concession speech Tuesday night.
In a rant laced with vitriol, the conservative father of five blasted his liberal opponent, Judge Janet Protasiewicz, in a race for Wisconsin's Supreme Court, calling her a "serial liar" and an unworthy candidate who is capable of creating havoc and doing irreparable harm to the battleground state.
LIBERAL JUDGE JANET PROTASIEWICZ WINS DECISIVE WISCONSIN SUPREME COURT SEAT
More than 200 people came out to the Heidel House Hotel in Green Lake, Wisconsin, to give Kelly a three-minute standing ovation following his loss to Protasiewicz in a contest that shattered spending and spring voter turnout records.
"I wish that in a circumstance like this, I would be able to concede to a worthy opponent, but I do not have a worthy opponent to which I can concede," he said. "This was the most deeply deceitful, dishonorable, despicable campaign that I have ever seen run for the courts."
He ended his speech by wishing Wisconsin "the best of luck because I think it's going to need it."
The Associated Press called the race for Protasiewicz about an hour after the polls closed Tuesday night. With more than 95% of the votes in on Wednesday, Protasiewicz has 55.5% of the vote to Kelly's 44.5%.
The race between the candidates turned very ugly very quickly after outside and special interest groups got involved.
Ads funded by conservative groups labeled Protasiewicz as soft on crime, claiming Wisconsinites would be in danger on her watch. In turn, Protasiewicz painted her opponent as an out-of-touch zealot ready to take away women's reproductive rights and do just about anything for power, including getting friendly with folks who planned and attended the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
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More than $40 million, mostly from outside groups, was spent on the record-breaking election. It had been billed as the most consequential race in 2023, with the liberal win expected to have repercussions for subjects ranging from abortion to redistricting.