Elections to state Supreme Courts are not usually closely watched affairs. But the April 1 election to fill the seat of a retiring Wisconsin Supreme Court justice is drawing massive amounts of cash, top-flight political personalities, and the kind of national attention rare for any state-wide race.
Wisconsin is a bellwether state and is a critical battleground state for both parties. The Wisconsin Supreme Court is made up of seven justices who serve 10-year terms. Currently, there are four liberal justices on the non-partisan court and three Republicans. One of the liberals is retiring, leaving an opening for either party to control the highest court in the state.
The two candidates are polar opposites. Dane County Judge Susan Crawford, who is backed by liberals, and Waukesha County Judge and former Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel, who is backed by conservatives, are running in the April 1 election. Crawford has already accepted a million dollars from a George Soros-backed group and attended a partisan fundraiser that was billed as an effort to unseat two Republican congressmen.
Donald Trump and Elon Musk have recently endorsed Schimel. Musk has poured $13 million into the race, offering voters $100 if they provide contact information and signe a petition opposing activist judges. The race will cost both sides a total of $100 million.
Under a liberal majority, the Democrats gerrymandered a state legislative map that cost several Republicans their seat. In November 2024, Democrats flipped 10 seats in the state Assembly and four seats in the state Senate, reducing Republicans’ majority. With a left-wing majority on the court, Democrats are expected to challenge the redistricting map of 2020 in order to gerrymander two Republicans, Reps. Bryan Steil of Janesville and Derrick Van Orden of Prairie du Chien, out of Congress.
Crawford met by video in January with a liberal group that billed the race as a chance to redraw the state’s House districts. Crawford has said she didn’t discuss redistricting during the call, but Schimel and Republicans have said the meeting shows what’s at stake if she wins.
Musk and Schimel’s audio live stream included some technical glitches and featured Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisconsin), who contended the court’s liberals could reverse the state’s voter ID law and its restrictions on collective bargaining for most public workers in the state.
The group did not discuss the two biggest cases on the court’s docket, which together will determine whether abortion will remain legal in the state. The cases are expected to be decided before August when a new justice is sworn in, but they will shape what kind of future abortion litigation could come to the high court. Crawford supports abortion rights; Schimel has long opposed abortion but during the campaign has said he would respect the will of voters.
Democrats are desperate. They see a chance to overturn the 2024 election by using judicial chicanery and are pulling out all the stops to make it happen.
Republicans are looking to reclaim the court and protect the hard-won gains of voter ID and collective bargaining restrictions for state workers -- and, perhaps soon, have the opportunity to alter the abortion laws in the state.
So, there's a lot at stake in one judicial election with nationwide ramifications for the future.
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