Former Justice Daniel Kelly wants another term on the Wisconsin Supreme Court, but he'll have to get past his liberal opponent Judge Janet Protasiewicz first.

Both candidates are running for a seat on the seven-member high court in a race that has been billed as the most consequential of 2023. More than $31 million have already been pumped into the state contest, with most of it coming from out-of-state groups and megadonors.

FAMILY FEUD: OUTGOING WISCONSIN SUPREME COURT JUSTICE'S DAUGHTER SLAMS CONSERVATIVE

The April 4 election is critical for both conservatives and liberals.

A win for Kelly, a 59-year-old Republican father of five, would cement conservative control of the court, while a win by Protasiewicz, a Milwaukee native and circuit court judge, would hand liberals their first majority in 15 years and could turn the tide on abortion, election law, and redistricting policy.

Kelly has been a consistent voice for judicial conservatism and has dedicated his life to the law.

He was born in California, grew up in Colorado, and moved to the Badger State in 1982 to attend Carroll University, a private college in Waukesha affiliated with the Presbyterian Church. It was there he met his wife, Elisa Kelly. At Carroll, Kelly earned undergraduate degrees in political science and Spanish. He got his law degree from the Regent University School of Law in 1991 and was the founding editor-in-chief of the law review.

His father, Ed Kelly, died a year after Daniel Kelly graduated college. The elder Kelly was a cowboy who worked on ranches in Wyoming, Colorado, and California. A man of modest means, he told his son that while he didn't have a ton of material wealth, he had his "good name" and that it was something he was proud to leave his son.

"I’ve treasured that my whole life," Kelly said on a local Wisconsin podcast. "It’s been my goal to hand down my good name to my children.”

After his father's death, Kelly went on to clerk for Wisconsin Court of Appeals Judge Ralph Fine for a year. He spent the following four clerking for the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. Between 1998 and 2013, Kelly worked as a litigator for Milwaukee law firm Reinhart Boemer Van Deuren, taking on the case of a University of Wisconsin student who sued the school over mandatory student activity fees to fund activist groups at public universities. Specifically, the student took issue with funding multicultural, environmental, and LGBT groups. The case made its way to the Supreme Court, which ruled on March 22, 2000, that mandatory student fees could be used to fund a range of groups, including those with political bents.

Kelly went on to serve as vice president and general counsel for the Kern Family Foundation, one of the largest conservative nonprofit groups in the state that focuses on school choice.

LIBERAL WISCONSIN SUPREME COURT CANDIDATE OUTRAISES CONSERVATIVE COMPETITOR BY $10M

He went into private practice in 2014 and was there for two years before being tapped by then-Gov. Scott Walker (R-WI) to be on the state Supreme Court. Walker's decision to appoint someone with no judicial experience created a lot of pushback, especially given Kelly's beliefs on marriage equality and claims that abortion access promoted "sexual libertinism." He has also criticized Social Security and Medicare, claiming that the government used the programs to steal from taxpayers. He once compared Social Security to slavery.

In 2020, Kelly lost his reelection race to Justice Jill Karofsky, a liberal.

Kelly had promised then, as he continues to do now, to keep his politics out of his court rulings. But his critics say it's impossible and have slammed him for his role in former President Donald Trump's plan to overturn the election results following his loss to President Joe Biden.

Kelly also took a hit recently for praising conservative activist Scott Presler's work as "invaluable." Presler, who planned several "Stop the Steal" rallies on behalf of Trump, was also at the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. He has been campaigning for Kelly around the state, which isn't sitting well with some people, such as Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Ellen Brostrom, the daughter of outgoing Wisconsin Supreme Court Judge Patience Roggensack.

"As judges, we take an oath to support the Constitutions of the United States and the State of Wisconsin," Brostrom wrote in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "Instead of supporting our constitutional rights, however, Kelly has worked to undermine the Constitution and our democracy. He has never served as a front-line judge, and instead most recently served as a legal advisor to the Republican Party of Wisconsin as it implemented the fake elector scheme, part of a multifaceted conspiracy to overturn the 2020 presidential election."

During an interview with NBC News, Kelly said he didn't want an endorsement from the former president, who had given him one in 2020.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

"We're not looking for one," he said one day before Trump was criminally indicted on charges stemming from a hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels. "I'm not really looking for endorsements from political actors."

There is no word on whether Trump was considering giving one to him this cycle.