Wisconsin’s Supreme Court will keep its narrow liberal majority after Dane County Circuit Judge Susan Crawford eased to victory in one of the most closely watched state judicial races in years — and the most expensive of all time.
The Democrat-backed Crawford’s win over GOP-supported Waukesha County Circuit Judge Brad Schimel in the officially nonpartisan election will give liberals a 4-3 majority on the seven-member court for at least three more years — during which Democrats are expected to push to redraw the state’s congressional district lines to punish Republicans and challenge a law enacted by GOP former Gov. Scott Walker that stripped most state government workers of collective bargaining rights.
“Growing up in Chippewa Falls, I never could have imagined that I would be taking on the richest man in the world for justice in Wisconsin,” Crawford said, referring to Tesla and SpaceX boss Elon Musk, who traveled to the state this past weekend to stump for Schimel.
“And we won.”
Schimel, the Badger State’s former AG under Walker, confirmed to supporters that he had conceded to Crawford and cut off one woman who began chanting, “Cheater! Cheater!”
“No, no,” he said. “You’ve got to accept the results.”
Limited polling had shown a tight race between the two contenders, with Crawford consistently, if narrowly, ahead.
But the actual outcome was a convincing win for Crawford, who led Schimel by nine percentage points with 89% of the expected vote counted.
Conservatives had held the edge on the Wisconsin court for more than a decade prior to the election of liberal Justice Janet Protasiewicz in 2023, a vote widely seen as backlash to the US Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade and eliminating the nationwide right to an abortion.
Crawford embraced the backing of Planned Parenthood and other abortion rights groups, running ads that highlighted Schimel’s opposition to the procedure. She also attacked Schimel for his ties to Musk and national Republicans, referring to Musk as “Elon Schimel” during a debate.
Schimel had accused Crawford as being weak on crime and a puppet of national Democrats.
Early voting was more than 50% ahead of levels seen in 2023, while seven polling sites in heavily Democratic Milwaukee either ran out of ballots or were nearly out due to “historic turnout,” according to Paulina Gutierrez, executive director of the Milwaukee Elections Commission.
Clerks in the city’s deep-red suburbs also reported turnout far exceeding 2023 levels.
Crawford and Schimel were running to replace liberal Justice Ann Walsh Bradley, who declined to seek a fourth 10-year term after first being elected to the court in 1995. After Tuesday, a liberal justice is not up for election until April 2028, ensuring the bloc will either maintain or increase its margin on the court until then.
Wisconsin has a Democratic governor and attorney general, but Republicans control the state legislature, and Tuesday’s election was widely seen as breaking the tie for control of state government in Madison.
“Wisconsin’s a big state politically, and the Supreme Court has a lot to do with elections in Wisconsin,” President Trump said Monday. “Winning Wisconsin’s a big deal, so therefore the Supreme Court choice … it’s a big race.”
Last year, the court declined to take up a Democrat-backed challenge to the state’s House map, but Schimel and his allies argued that would change if Crawford was elected.
Musk contributed $3 million to the Schimel campaign, while groups he funded poured in another $18 million. Musk also gave $1 million each to three voters who signed a petition he circulated against “activist” judges.
“Today, Wisconsinites fended off an unprecedented attack on our democracy, our fair elections and our Supreme Court,” Crawford said in her victory speech to supporters in Madison. “And Wisconsin stood up and said loudly that justice does not have a price, our courts are not for sale.”
