Votes suppressed, lives put at risk, but Jill Karofsky won anyway

There’s nothing funny about the Wisconsin GOP putting lives at risk in an effort to cling to their power. It is, however, hilarious they managed to score an own goal by doing it.

Liberal Dane County Judge Jill Karofsky has pulled off a major upset, beating her far-right opponent Daniel Kelly by a hefty margin. Obviously, this is a good thing because Justice Kelly sucks. He’s an old homophobe whose absence from the bench will be a plus for the whole state. More encouragingly, it could serve as a harbinger for the general election in November. If Wisconsin — which Esquire’s Charles P. Pierce has only half-jokingly called a Koch subsidiary — can reject conservatism, there’s hope for the rest of the nation as well.

But in the meantime, let us celebrate like Justice-elect Karofsky: keeping a healthy distance from our friends and neighbors, with a case of New Glarus beer on hand.