Lisa Neubauer says she doesn't want Eric Holder's help in state Supreme Court race
MADISON - Eric Holder swung into Wisconsin Thursday to campaign for state Supreme Court candidate Lisa Neubauer, even as Neubauer says she wants a group run by the former U.S. attorney general to stay out of the race.
Holder’s group is spending $350,000 to help get Neubauer on the high court in the April 2 election. She faces Brian Hagedorn, who like her sits on the District 2 Court of Appeals in Waukesha.
"When I first announced ... I called on the outside money to stay out," Neubauer said in an interview this week. "I believed in that then, I believe in that now, so I've been consistent all along."
She said she feels the same about the Greater Wisconsin Committee, a liberal group that is running ads attacking Hagedorn.
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Holder, the first attorney general under President Barack Obama, in recent years has fought against congressional and legislative maps that have helped Republicans around the country. That’s meant focusing on state-level races, bringing lawsuits and preparing for more potential litigation once new maps are drawn after the 2020 census.
Neubauer said if she wins her race and Holder’s group brings a lawsuit that gets to the state Supreme Court, she won’t participate in it.
“If that group were a litigant, I would recuse,” Neubauer said.
Wisconsin’s current maps are being challenged in federal court, with a trial expected this summer. Holder’s group is not involved in that case, but could bring a future one.
Holder told reporters Thursday at a stop in Madison he didn't take issue with Neubauer's stance.
"It’s not a concern and I think in some ways that’s reflective of why I support her, you know?" he said. "She’s making that kind of determination based on the facts and the law and the appearances, which really matter. If that’s the determination she makes, that’s one that I would certainly respect."
Ahead of the visit, Hagedorn’s campaign manager, Lexi Ardis, said Holder is backing a “liberal takeover of our judiciary” because he recently said Democrats should consider adding more seats to the U.S. Supreme Court so they can gain a majority on it.
“Eric Holder chose to support Lisa Neubauer because he knows she will back his partisan agenda,” Ardis said in a statement.
Holder said Thursday he believed the next Democratic president should consider adding more justices to the U.S. Supreme Court because Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell blocked Obama nominee Merrick Garland.
"What happened there was fundamentally not fair," Holder said. "That seat was stolen, so it seems to me to redress that wrong we should seriously consider expanding the court."
While liberal groups are spending heavily to help Neubauer, conservative groups are mostly sitting it out.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Wisconsin Realtors decided to keep out of the race after reports that Hagedorn established a school that allows banning students or teachers who are in same-sex relationships.
Despite that, Hagedorn got a boost this week with an endorsement from the National Rifle Association.
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Holder was in Madison to visit the field offices of two liberal groups, For Our Future and NextGen Wisconsin.
At one stop, Carlene Bechen of the Oregon Area Progressives asked Holder to appear at a conference her group is hosting in Marshfield in November. He told her he wanted to participate.
"Let's do this," he told her. "I'll see you then."
On Friday, he’s making stops in Milwaukee sponsored by Black Leaders Organizing Communities and Leaders Igniting Transformation.
Holder and his group, the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, have been active in Wisconsin politics since last year.
The group and its affiliates spent more than $2 million in 2018 to help liberal candidates, including Tony Evers, who won his bid for governor, and Rebecca Dallet, who secured a seat on the state Supreme Court.
An arm of Holder's group also sued last year to force then-Gov. Scott Walker to schedule special elections for open state legislative seats.
Contact Patrick Marley at patrick.marley@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter at @patrickdmarley.