Here’s hoping everyone has caught their breath after the craziness of the 2024 election season because there will be no rest in 2025. Not only are there gubernatorial contests in New Jersey and Virginia, plus special elections for those who have left Congress for positions in the Trump administration, there are smaller, but crucial, races like the Wisconsin Supreme Court election set to take place on April 1. And it’s shaping up to be a doozy.
The election pits conservative Waukesha County Circuit Judge Brad Schimel against liberal Dane County Circuit Judge Susan Crawford, and the stakes are high. The race will decide who replaces retiring Justice Ann Walsh Bradley, who is left-leaning. A Schimel win would be a pickup for Republicans and give the court a conservative majority.
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This election is one of the first opportunities for the Democrat Party to turn things around following their electoral thrashing last November, and the usual suspects are pouring money into Crawford’s campaign.
Democratic philanthropist George Soros gave $1 million to the Wisconsin Democratic Party in January. Other large donors included Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker at $500,000; Milwaukee philanthropist Lynde Uihlein at $490,000; Gloria Page, the mother of Google co-founder Larry Page, at $470,000; and LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman at $250,000.
Just two years ago, another Wisconsin Supreme Court race, which ultimately went to the liberal candidate, was the most expensive judicial race in U.S. history, and this year’s is expected to break even that record. Add in the fact that the left is desperate for a win—and are looking to the judiciary to fight the Trump agenda—and this race becomes unusually important in an off-year.
In response, an Elon Musk-affiliated PAC is stepping up in support of Judge Schimel, and Musk himself has tweeted his support.
Very important to vote Republican for the Wisconsin Supreme Court to prevent voting fraud! https://t.co/tB1qErm2cP
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 23, 2025
Barring President Trump himself weighing in on the race, the support of Musk is probably the most important and consequential endorsement Schimel could get in 2025. Musk’s political involvement in Trump’s 2024 campaign is widely believed to have helped the president get a second term, and the billionaire opened his wallet in a big way.
With the election weeks away, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports that Building America’s Future, a group backed by Elon Musk, has purchased more than $670,000 in television advertisements supporting Schimel.
The advertisements include $255,000 spent for the Milwaukee television market, $136,000 for the Madison television market, and $104,000 for the Green Bay television market, among other markets.
Musk poured money into the group during the 2024 elections, as part of his efforts to support the candidacy of Donald Trump and other Republicans running for office.
A win for Judge Crawford would be a huge victory for the Democrat Party, which has been comically bad at figuring out how to combat the new and supremely energized Trump administration, and they are looking more and more to the judiciary as their weapon to fight back. What better place to shore up that effort than in Wisconsin?
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Then there’s the infamous Blue Wall, of which Wisconsin is an important part. Democrats, ironically, are desperate to rebuild this wall, which fell like a house of cards when Kamala Harris’s name was put on the ballot. But, Trump only won there by the slimmest of margins — 49.7 percent to Kamala’s 48.9 percent.
Whether the outcome of this race is a conservative shift or a liberal hold, one thing is certain—this race is far more than just a judicial election. It’s a preview of the battles to come in 2026 and beyond. Stay tuned.
