Control of the Wisconsin Supreme Court is at stake in a race that drew powerful political interests

By SCOTT BAUER
Associated Press

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Majority control of the Wisconsin Supreme Court will be decided Tuesday in a race that broke records for spending and has become a proxy battle for the nation’s political fights, pitting a candidate backed by President Donald Trump against a Democratic-aligned challenger.

Republicans including Trump and the world’s wealthiest person, Elon Musk, lined up behind Brad Schimel, a former state attorney general. Democrats including former President Barack Obama and billionaire megadonor George Soros backed Susan Crawford, a Dane County judge who led legal fights to protect union power, abortion rights and to oppose voter ID.

The election is considered a litmus test of how voters feel about Trump’s first months back in office and the role played by Musk and his controversial cost-cutting agency, the Department of Government Efficiency. Musk traveled to Wisconsin on Sunday to make a pitch for Schimel and personally hand out $1 million checks to two voters.

A state race with nationwide significance

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,” Trump said Monday. “Winning Wisconsin’s a big deal, so therefore the Supreme Court choice … it’s a big race.”

Crawford embraced the backing of Planned Parenthood and other abortion rights advocates, running ads that highlighted Schimel’s opposition to the procedure. She also attacked Schimel for his ties to Musk and Trump, who endorsed Schimel 11 days before the election.

Schimel’s campaign tried to portray Crawford as weak on crime and a puppet of Democrats who 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 be responding to both messages. Jim Seeger, a 68-year-old retiree, said he voted for Schimel because he’s 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 described as a “pushy billionaire” — and Trump got involved.

“He’s cutting everything,” Hazelton said of Musk. “People need these things he’s cutting.”

What’s on the court’s agenda?

The winner of the court’s open seat will determine whether it remains under 4-3 liberal control or reverts to a conservative majority.

The court will likely be deciding cases on abortion, public sector unions, voting rules and congressional district boundaries. Who controls it also could factor into how it might rule on any future voting challenge in the perennial presidential battleground state.

Last year the court declined to take up a Democratic-backed challenge to congressional lines, but Schimel and Musk have said that if Crawford wins, the court will redraw congressional districts to make them more favorable to Democrats.

Musk was pushing that message on election day, both on TV and the social media platform he owns, X, urging people to cast ballots in the final hours of voting.

There had been no major voting issues by midday Tuesday, state election officials said. Severe weather prompted the relocation of some polling places in northern Wisconsin, and some polling places in Green Bay briefly lost power but voting continued. In Dane County, home to the state capital, Madison, election officials said polling locations were busy and operating normally.

Record-breaking donations

The contest is the most expensive court race on record in the U.S., with spending nearing $99 million, according to a tally by the Brennan Center for Justice.

Musk contributed $3 million to the 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.

All the spending helped fuel an increase in early voting that was more than 50% ahead of levels seen in the state’s Supreme Court race two years ago, when majority control was also at stake.

Schimel has leaned into his support from Trump while saying he would not be beholden to the president or Musk. Democrats have centered their messaging on the spending by Musk-funded groups.

“Ultimately I think it’s going to help Susan Crawford, because people do not want to see Elon Musk buying election after election after election,” Wisconsin Democratic Party Chair Ben Wikler said Monday. “If it works here, he’s going to do it all over the country.”

Crawford benefited from campaign stops by Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, last year’s Democratic vice-presidential nominee, and money from billionaire megadonors including Soros and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker.

After casting his ballot Tuesday, Schimel told reporters he’s felt strong grassroots support and downplayed the national attention on the race. “It’s the Wisconsin voters that matter,” he said.

Crawford told reporters on Tuesday she doesn’t think it’s democratic for a billionaire to spend on a race the way Musk has in Wisconsin, but was confident that “voters are going to see through those tactics.”

Voters weigh in on Musk and reasons for whom they backed

At a polling place in Waunakee near Madison, 39-year-old Iraq War veteran Taylor Sullivan said he voted for Schimel for no reasons connected to Trump or Musk, but rather “because I support the police as much as Schimel does.”

In Milwaukee, 22-year-old college student Kenneth Gifford said he feels that Trump has done damage to American institutions and that Musk is trying to buy votes.

“I want an actual, respectable democracy,” he said.

Wisconsin has a long history of razor-thin presidential votes, but in the last court race two years ago, the liberal candidate won by 11 points. Both sides said they expected a much narrower finish this year.

The winner will be elected to a 10-year term replacing retiring Justice Ann Walsh Bradley.

If Crawford wins, the court stands to remain under liberal control until at least 2028. If Schimel wins, the majority will once again be on the line next year.

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Associated Press writers Ali Swenson in New York; Christina A. Cassidy in Atlanta; Thomas Beaumont in Green Bay, Wisconsin; and Mark Vancleave in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, contributed to this report.