• ICYMI

ICYMI: Eric Holder Rallies Support for Judge Chris Taylor in Wisconsin

Washington, D.C. – Ahead of the April 7 Wisconsin Supreme Court election, Attorney General Holder was on the ground this week in Wisconsin to support GOTV efforts and talk to voters about the importance of electing Judge Chris Taylor to the Wisconsin Supreme Court. His visit coincided with former President Barack Obama urging Wisconsin voters to support Judge Taylor. While there, he joined a roundtable discussion with Congresswoman Gwen Moore and local community leaders in Milwaukee, spoke with local radio hosts Sherwin Hughes of 101.7 The Truth and Keith Parris of WNOV The Voice 860, and rallied voters and volunteers at campaign offices in Janesville and Kenosha.

Attorney General Holder said the following to Sherwin Hughes on his decision to endorse Judge Taylor:

“I don’t make these endorsements lightly. I looked at the records of the two candidates. Chris Taylor is a person who has served well as a judge now. Who has served as a state legislator. Who has worked for the people as a lawyer—she was the head of Planned Parenthood’s outreach efforts. 

And if you look at the record that she has, she’s a person who’s dedicated herself to the people as opposed to her opponent, who has been I think a captive of the special interests. Her opponent helped Scott Walker put in place the gerrymanders that we’ve been trying to break here in Wisconsin for the course of the last decade. She says that she supports this 1849 abortion ban, has said that she thinks women should be banned from getting abortions after six weeks, has stood with polluters, has turned over material to people who were challenging the results of the 2020 election. 

The contrast could not be more stark. Judge Taylor is a person as I said who I think stands with the people and her opponent is one who stands with the special interests. And I will say also—very interestingly—I’m not only endorsing her, but just yesterday, former President Obama endorsed Judge Taylor as well. And this is something that’s very unusual. A former president of the United States is—for lack of a better term— reaching down and saying, ‘This is important. And I’m going to endorse Judge Taylor for the Wisconsin Supreme Court.’ So at every level, we are trying to do the best that we can to put a qualified person on the Wisconsin Supreme Court that, as you said, is extremely important and serves as a backstop for that which is coming out of Washington D.C.”

Attorney General Holder said the following to Keith Parris on what’s at stake in the upcoming Wisconsin Supreme Court election:

“The thing that worries me about this race is that we had a really big one here in Wisconsin last year. Elon Musk was here, lots of money went into it. And I don’t want people to sleep on this election and think that, ‘Well we did what we needed to do last year, this one’s not important.’ Every election is extremely important… The Wisconsin Supreme Court is an extremely important part of people’s lives. It decides whether or not—what Republicans have tried to do in the past with regard to voter suppression, gerrymandering, reproductive rights for women, civil rights in general—all these issues end up before the Wisconsin Supreme Court. And don’t think that simply because we won last year that we will forever have a Court that is gonna do things in favor of the people.”

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