Crawford, a liberal circuit court judge in Dane County, will beat the conservative candidate Brad Schimel, a Waukesha County judge who received Trump’s backing in the final stretch of the campaign. The race was officially nonpartisan, but Crawford’s victory will be seen as a bright spot for Democrats in Wisconsin and nationwide as voters handed the president’s preferred candidate a defeat in the first major political test of the second Trump era. Crawford and her Democratic allies also worked to turn the election into a referendum on Trump ally Elon Musk, who poured millions of his personal fortune into the race. It quickly became the most expensive judicial contest in US history. Musk and groups affiliated with him spent more than $19 million in the state, including funding field operations and television advertisements. Crawford tied the tech billionaire directly to Schimel in her appearances, at times referencing Musk at “my opponent.” Democratic groups ran television ads linking the Tesla CEO to Schimel. In all, the candidates and outside groups spent more than $90 million — shattering spending records set just two years ago, when a liberal judge captured an open seat and flipped control of the court. Schimel and Republicans had hoped to draw on the network of voters who supported Trump in November’s presidential election, when he narrowly won the battleground state. Schimel hugged Trump closely throughout the campaign and even appeared in a live chat with Musk on his social media site X. But Democrats bet that seizing on that alignment would pay off with voters at a time when the two men have undertaken a controversial reshaping of the federal government. Issues such as abortion rights and the redistricting of congressional maps also emerged as flashpoints in the campaign. Crawford, who has represented Planned Parenthood as a private attorney, backs abortion rights. In a state with divided government — Gov. Tony Evers is a Democrat, and Republicans control the state legislature — the Supreme Court has become the final arbiter on policies that affect Wisconsites’ lives, including whether a 19th-century law that banned most abortions could be enforced today. And in a state that helps determine who wins the presidency, the high court would have the final word in resolving election disputes. Since the liberals won a 4-3 majority two years ago, the court has delivered major victories to Democrats — reversing a 2022 high court ruling that had imposed a near-total ban on ballot drop boxes and striking down state legislative maps drawn by Republicans. The court could revisit congressional maps that have helped the GOP hold a lopsided advantage of six out of eight US House seats, despite the paper-thin margins of victory for Republicans and Democrats in statewide races. Crawford will serve a 10-year term.
One of the most frustrating things I find is outside money moving into state elections. This should be prohibited. Money raised for presidential race should stay with the presidential race. Money raised in a particular state should only be allowed to be used in that state. I am well aware this happens across the board. Anyways, in case anyone thinks the Republican party caters to the billionaires, don't forget more billionaires support the Democrats and spend more. The Democrat party is bought at a high rate than the Republican party.
Citizens United has become long forgotten that it's now an oxymoron in more ways than one. I guess there's no hope or even discussion for Congress to rewrite those laws. Corporations are people with their speech as dollars. I thought cons didn't believe in evolution?
Musk spent $25M, but not only did he fail to buy the seat, he was probably too toxic and ended up helping the Democratic candidate.
This is basically the state of the Democratic Party today, a bunch of escaped mental institutions patients. Bwahahaha! TDS is a confirmed mental disorder diagnosis.
Who really ran the country when Mr potato head with dementia Joe Biden was president? You Dem clowns can’t hide it anymore, formal investigation is coming.
Wait she raised 26 million but those numbers say those 4 donors donated 32 million. Some math ain’t mathin. The person on twitter couldn’t be lying could they? Noooooo pshhhh
FIFY. You offer absolutely nothing of substance. Just posts of "you're a liberal", "I don't like leftists". Just dismiss anything that goes against whatever world view you currently have. Have an opinion other than "DEMONCRATS BAD".
I’m on board with that. There is a lot I would change about how we do elections, but this one thing would get broad consensus and could clean up 80% of the infection at the state level. Obviously there would be some tough SCOTUS precedent to overcome to make it so, but it would be worthwhile.
There was money that went directly to the campaign, and other money that was spent is support of the candidate (PACs and whatnot). Billionaires Musk and Soros push Wisconsin Supreme Court race spending over $100M In total, Schimel spent about 54 million and Walker 46 million.
No Im just done trying to believe you're a good person, I tried, you're just not very bright, and you're a racist, and you're a sexist, and you're a nazi.
