Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate Susan Crawford waves during her election night party after winning the election on April 1, 2025, in Madison, Wisconsin.
| Photo Credit: AP
The Democratic-backed candidate for Wisconsin Supreme Court defeated a challenger endorsed by President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk on Tuesday, touting her victory as a win against powerful interests and cementing a liberal majority for at least three more years.
Susan Crawford, a Dane County judge who led legal fights to protect union power and abortion rights and to oppose voter ID, stood on stage surrounded by the court’s four current liberal justices and celebrated her win as a victory for democracy while also taking a dig at Musk.
“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,” Ms. Crawford said. “And we won.”
Mr. Musk and groups he backed had spent more than $21 million in an effort to defeat Ms. Crawford. He even traveled to Wisconsin two days before the election to personally hand over $1 million checks to two voters.
“Today Wisconsinites fended off an unprecedented attack on our democracy, our fair elections and our Supreme Court,” Ms. Crawford said in her victory speech. “And Wisconsin stood up and said loudly that justice does not have a price, our courts are not for sale.”
Ms. Crawford defeated Republican-backed Brad Schimel in a race that broke records for spending, was the highest-turnout Wisconsin Supreme Court election ever and became a proxy fight for the nation’s political battles.
Overnight, Mr. Musk posted on his X platform that “The long con of the left is corruption of the judiciary.” In another comment, he seemed to take solace from voters’ approval to elevate the state’s photo ID requirement from state law to constitutional amendment.
President Trump, Mr. Musk and other Republicans lined up behind Mr. Schimel, a former state attorney general. Democrats including former President Barack Obama and billionaire megadonor George Soros backed Ms. Crawford.
The first major election in the country since November was seen as a litmus test of how voters feel about President Trump’s first months back in office and the role played by Mr. Musk, whose Department of Government Efficiency has torn through federal agencies and laid off thousands of workers. Mr. Musk traveled to Wisconsin on Sunday to make a pitch for Mr. Schimel and personally hand out to $1 million checks to voters.
Ms. Crawford was beating Mr. Schimel by more than 8 points, based on unofficial results. Turnout exceeded 52% of the voting age population, topping the record set in 2023 of nearly 40%. Spending was on its way to surpass $100 million.
Mr. Schimel told his supporters he had conceded to Ms. Crawford, leading to yells of anger. One woman began to chant, “Cheater, cheater!”
“No,” Schimel said. “You’ve got to accept the results.”
Mr. Schimel played bass with his classic rock cover band at his election night party both before and after conceding defeat, covering songs by the Allman Brothers, Tom Petty and others.
The court can decide election-related laws and settle disputes over future election outcomes.
“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.”
Ms. Crawford embraced the backing of Planned Parenthood and other abortion rights advocates, running ads that highlighted Mr. Schimel’s opposition to the procedure. She also attacked Mr. Schimel for his ties to Musk and Republicans, referring to Musk as “Elon Schimel” during a debate.
Mr. Schimel’s campaign tried to portray Ms. Crawford as weak on crime and puppet of Democrats who, if elected, would push to redraw congressional district boundary lines to hurt Republicans and repeal a GOP-backed state law that took collective bargaining rights away from most public workers.
Voters in Eau Claire seemed to respond to both messages. Jim Seeger, a 68-year-old retiree, said he voted for Mr. Schimel because he was concerned about redistricting.
Jim Hazelton, a 68-year-old disabled veteran, said he had planned to abstain but voted for Crawford after Musk — whom he called a “pushy billionaire” — and Trump got involved.
“He’s cutting everything,” Hazelton said of Musk. “People need these things he’s cutting.”
Ms. Crawford’s win keeps the court under a 4-3 liberal majority, as it has been since 2023. A liberal justice is not up for election again until April 2028, ensuring liberals will either maintain or increase their hold on the court until then.
She thanked each of the current liberal justices and hugged each of them after her win. One of the four is retiring, creating the open seat she won.
Published – April 02, 2025 06:15 pm IST