Yeah, it's a political event, you know, there's got to be a little bit of speech going on.
Right.
This is a big day for celebration.
So, 366 days ago, we kicked this thing off, and a lot of you here were with us.
That night, we did it at Well Dog, for big turnout, and a big splash.
I want to thank you guys, all for all of you being with me through this year.
Now it's time.
It's time to get to work.
We got just under four months to go to the election day.
We got to make this happen.
In that year, I haven't been kicking back, having a lot of...
I haven't been sitting back hanging out at home.
My family can tell you that.
Over this 12 months, I now campaigned at 65 pounds.
I've spoken at hundreds and hundreds of events.
I've shaken hands and talked with and listened to tens of thousands of Wisconsin voters.
To find out what they think about all this, I can tell you what they think about the Supreme Court right now.
They think it's a mess, and we have to fix it.
I've been campaigning aggressively for the last 12 months, and I have good news for you.
I've never seen our side dismotivated or disunited.
I've been volunteering for the Supreme Court races for close to 30 years now.
It's way back when Pat Rogan sat around the first time, and I've never seen our side get it.
Get why the Supreme Court matters like they do now.
When I first started this, I was looking at 16 months until election day, and I couldn't tell you that was daunting.
It had me a little freaked out.
That was a long time.
But boy, I wouldn't train a day of it now that we're four months ago and got all this under our belt.
I knew that I had the campaign at every corner of Wisconsin.
I knew that I had to work hard to build a team we need to win this race.
And grassroots supporters from all around Wisconsin are energized and ready to be the Army we need to win on April 1st.
I was not anointed.
You've all heard me say this a thousand times on the campaign trail.
Nobody anointed me to be the conservative candidate for the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
And frankly, I always said, if there's a stronger candidate out there, come on.
I'll support you.
Nobody else has come forward.
And we've managed now to avoid a primary.
Nomination of papers are circulating.
Nobody else is in this race.
So we're not going to have.
We're not going to have the kind of divisive, expensive, primary that we've had in past races
that have cost conservatives the elections.
No, it's us.
Us, against the Dane County Liberal, who's taken me out.
Folks, this wasn't my plan.
I didn't plan.
If you'd asked me two years ago, was I going to run for the Wisconsin Supreme Court plan?
Oh, I've got a great gig as a circuit court judge.
Really?
It's the coolest.
I enjoy being TA.
I enjoy being your Attorney General.
But the judge thing, man, I got home for dinner most nights.
My kids never saw that.
I started running for TA when they were one in three when I started running for TA.
And they got used to their whole lives.
Dad is not home for dinner.
Dad has gone somewhere all the time for family events.
I used to go to their T-Ball games and I was in my suit and tie.
It was a thousand degrees outside in July.
I'm in a suit and tie because I'm just stopping to watch the game.
I have to go back to work because I'm in trial that week.
That's what they were used to their whole life.
It was a judge on the circuit court.
I got home for dinner.
They got to see me.
But I have to throw that all the way because I, just like you, I watched what happened in the 2023 Supreme Court race.
Just like you, I watched the disaster that has been the first term of the Wisconsin Supreme Court under the leftist majority.
I watched this and I knew I couldn't sit on the sidelines.
I didn't get in and do something.
There are three reasons I got in this race.
First, this new Supreme Court majority is beyond radical.
The liberals have broken norms as candidates and now they're breaking norms as justices.
Two, I was ashamed of the race in 2023.
A candidate openly promised how they were going to rule on cases.
And for the left, the days have been partial, you're gone, but she wasn't the first one to do that.
She's not the first one from this majority.
They promised how they were going to rule on cases.
Let's imagine it's summer.
I know we've got a long time until summer again.
Let's imagine it's summer.
We all came out for a dot-coms game.
By the way, if you haven't come out for a dot-coms game, you need to come out for a dot-coms game.
It's a combination of baseball and three-ring circles.
It's a fun time.
Let's imagine here we are.
We're all in our seats.
We're waiting.
Teams are getting in their dugouts and now the umpire strides out to home plate to take their spot.
And, uh-oh, the umpire is wearing a Chicago dogs jersey.
Well, why would the dot-coms even bother getting out of the dugout, right?
They know how this game's going to end because the umpire is wearing the opposing team's jersey.
Well, that's what we have now on our Supreme Court.
They've taken off their rope and they've put on the jersey of their side,
of the liberals who bought and paid for them to be on the court,
and they're keeping the promises they made.
That's the second reason.
The third reason I got in this race is because the stakes couldn't be higher.
If we don't win the Supreme Court majority back this April,
our next chance is not until 2028.
They will have had five years of unchecked power to attack their political agenda
and repeal every single conservative reform of the past 15 years.
I wasn't ready to sit back and let them do this.
Our tax system, our voter ID laws, school choice, parental rights, right to work,
and the backing of our law enforcement and first responders,
they want to revoke all of these reforms and turn Wisconsin into a blue bastion
just like our neighbors in Illinois and Minnesota.
This isn't hyperbole.
It's their campaign promise.
We can't sit back, accept defeat, and watch our state erode into utter destruction.
We also cannot allow this new majority to destroy our highest court.
People should respect the Supreme Court.
They should have no question about its integrity.
You might disagree with the decision, but you should never doubt their objectivity.
We've seen this happen across the country.
Rogue judges putting their radical agenda above the law,
opening the border, releasing criminals on our streets.
No man or woman in robes is above the law,
but this liberal majority in our Supreme Court thinks they are.
Less than two years ago, Justice Janet Crow's savage on the campaign trail
openly promised the outcomes of cases.
She called the legislative maps absolutely positively rigged.
And then less than five months later,
she was the deciding vote that struck those very maps down.
And there were calls for her to recuse herself,
but she said, no thanks.
I'm going to stay on the case.
Despite of the fact that I can't be objective, she stayed on the case.
And people complained in the judicial commission,
but guess who controls the judicial commission?
The majority of the Wisconsin Supreme Court,
and they didn't feel like punishing themselves.
Folks, the only way to restore objectivity to this court
is to win the election in April.
They made promises, and they kept those promises.
APPLAUSE
With my race, the left is running the same playbook they ran before.
But this time, they found an even more radical candidate.
This time, the candidate they found is even more partisan.
I'm running a 72-county race because the people of Wisconsin
are a justice who represents all of Wisconsin.
My opponent is a Dane County judge,
and she's running to make the whole state look like Dane County.
I'm not ready for that, are you?
I've spent my entire legal career defending Wisconsin and its laws.
My opponent has spent much of her career suing the state of Wisconsin.
I've spent my career standing up for victims,
survivors of sexual assault and child abuse.
Families of homicide victims.
Communities stricken by the open in methamphetamine epidemics.
I put dangerous criminals behind bars, both as a prosecutor and a judge.
My opponent released violent criminals back onto our streets.
Let's be clear.
My opponent keeps calling yourself a prosecutor.
There's only one candidate in this race who has stood in courtrooms
with crime victims to prove their cases before jurors.
I appreciate the work of appellate attorneys like my opponent once was,
but that does not make you a frontline prosecutor like I was for over 25 years.
My opponent was the lawyer who tried to repeal our voter ID law.
My opponent was the lawyer who tried to repeal Act 10.
She cares more about the Madison elites and the special interest groups
than she tells about you.
But the left understands her vulnerabilities.
That's why they'll spend millions of dollars distorting the truth in this election.
My friends, the contrast in this race could not be clearer.
Do you want a candidate who won't hold the laws,
or a candidate who will put her personal beliefs over the will of the people?
Do you want billionaires like George Soros, J.B. Pritzker,
and big tech executives buying another seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court,
or do you want to elect a proven public servant who has spent his life 35 years
enforcing our laws?
We need justices who respect the Constitution,
who understand that their job is not to make laws from the bench,
but to uphold the law as it is written.
Judge can personally and fight for all the people of this state
and protect what is made Wisconsin great.
They serve as a frontline prosecutor for 25 years,
as our Attorney General for Ford,
and now six years as a trial judge here in Waukeshire.
The left will attack me personally,
and they'll attack my career of service.
But here's the truth.
Being tough on crime is not a campaign slogan.
It's a calling.
I've lived my life looking evil in the eyes,
and not flinching.
I spent my entire career putting dangerous criminals behind bars
and ensuring victims are protected.
Yeah, you know my record,
but I need you to help
and tell your friends and family the truth when the attacks start flying.
I know that I will be attacked and made to look like a villain.
Check. You can come check my hairline letter.
You can see there are no horns, okay?
So I started selling out of Satan.
No horns.
That's what the left does.
They run dirty smear tactic campaign campaigns.
But I can handle it. I've been there before.
I can handle it because the states of this race are too important.
I care about this state and I don't want us to lose it.
I spend my career serving you with integrity and fighting for what is right.
As a father, a husband, and a career public servant,
I know the values that matter most to Wisconsinites.
And I promise that if you send me the Wisconsin Supreme Court,
I will be a justice who upholds those values,
who defends the Constitution and respects the total of law.
So here's where I need your help.
First off, we gotta get the nomination papers completed.
And I want to blow past.
We need 2,000.
We can turn at least 4,000 in.
Let's get 10,000.
Because everybody that signs a nomination paper is making a commitment.
They're making an investment in this race.
And we'll be sure they get out and vote.
I mean, go first.
More importantly, with just one month ago,
3.4 million Wisconsinites showed up to the polls to vote for President.
We expect only 2 million to show up on April 1st.
That means, whichever campaign can most best retain their voters for November
will win in April.
We all have family, friends, and neighbors who are especially excited
for the election this past month.
Many of those people voted for the very first time.
I need you to tell them why their vote this April is even more important.
So the moment you get home, open up your phone,
contact those friends and family.
Tell them what's at stake.
Tell them what the truth is in this race.
We know what the left will do because we've seen their playbook.
They'll spend ungodly sums of money from out of state billionaires
and they'll spread unfounded lies.
Well, they do that.
Let's get the work done.
I refuse to be outworked in this race, but now I need you to be my side
as we take back the Wisconsin Supreme Court together.
Thank you guys for being here today.
Thank you to all you've done in the last 12 months to get us right here.
And thank you for all you're going to do for the next four months
to pause across the line and take our stake back
for our objectivity and integrity of the humility of the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
Thank you guys. God bless you.