- Conservative Brad Schimel and liberal Susan Crawford are going head-to-head in Tuesday’s Wisconsin Supreme Court election.
- As of Sunday, Schimel and Crawford’s campaigns had spent more than $90,000, making it the country’s most expensive judicial election.
- On Sunday, Musk handed out two $1 million checks to Wisconsin voters who showed support for Schimel.
- As of March 26, Musk had donated $19.3 million to the race.
President Donald Trump‘s right-hand man, Elon Musk, has helped make Wisconsin’s Supreme Court election the most expensive judicial race in U.S. history.
On Tuesday, Wisconsin voters will select a justice to fill the seventh seat of the state’s Supreme Court bench, which will determine whether the court leans 4-3 conservative or liberal. Though the Supreme Court is supposed to be nonpartisan, tens of millions of dollars have been raised this election cycle to ensure a desired sway between conservative Brad Schimel and liberal Susan Crawford.
As of Sunday, Schimel and Crawford’s campaigns had spent more than $90,000, with more than $49,000 supporting Schimel and about $40,000 supporting Crawford, according to the Brennan Center for Justice. This spending surpassed the previously-held record for the country’s most expensive judicial election, which was $51 million − set in 2023, also in Wisconsin.
Here’s what to know about Wisconsin’s Supreme Court election.
Musk lures voters with financial gains
Over the weekend, Musk handed out two $1 million checks to two Wisconsin voters at a Green Bay rally “in appreciation” for supporting Schimel. The funds came from Musk’s political action committee, America PAC, which donated to Trump‘s campaign during the 2024 election.
After handing out the checks, Musk promoted a program, available via the America PAC website, which will financially benefit voters. Each Wisconsin resident who recruits a voter receives $20 (and so will the recruited voter). Residents who recruit 100 people will receive an additional $100, the website states.
But providing financial incentives isn’t the only way Musk contributes to the election.
As of March 26, Musk had donated at least $19.3 million to the race, $2 million of which was a gift to Wisconsin’s GOP, according to previous USA TODAY reporting. America PAC and a political nonprofit Musk funds, Building America’s Future, contributed about $16 million to Schimel’s campaign, too.
Why do Trump, Musk care about the Wisconsin Supreme Court?
Tuesday’s election will determine the political tilt of Wisconsin’s top court, which considers issues like abortion rights, labor rights and possibly even election rules.
In a Truth Social post on March 21, Trump urged Wisconsin residents to vote for Schmiel.
“And if she wins, the movement to restore our nation will bypass Wisconsin,” Trump said about Crawford, who he described as a “radical left liberal. “All voters who believe in common sense should get out to vote early for Brad Schimel.”
Who is Brad Schimel?
Schimel, 60, is a circuit court judge in Waukesha County. He served as Waukesha County’s district attorney before being elected Wisconsin’s attorney general in 2015. He returned to the Waukesha County Courthouse in 2019.
Abortion and voter ID are some of the most popular issues in the Wisconsin Supreme Court election. Before Roe v. Wade was overturned in June 2022, Schimel supported Wisconsin’s pre-established law that bans abortion without exceptions for rape and incest. However, Schimel has recently changed his tone, saying he would respect the “will of the voters” on the issue.
While serving as Wisconsin’s attorney general in 2018, Schimel suggested on a conservative talk show that Trump had won Wisconsin in 2016 because the state’s voter ID law kept elections “clean” and “honest.”
Who is Susan Crawford?
Crawford, 60, is a circuit court judge in Dane County. Previously, she was a chief legal counsel to Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle and served as administrator of the Office of Enforcement and Science in Wisconsin’s Department of Natural Resources. Before that, she was an assistant attorney general in the Iowa Department of Justice, followed by the Wisconsin Department of Justice.
When it comes to abortion rights, Crawford told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, a part of the USA TODAY Network, that she felt the overturning of Roe v. Wade was “wrong.”
Previously, Crawford tried to block Wisconsin’s law that requires voters to show a photo ID, calling it “draconian” in 2018. However, since running for the Supreme Court, Crawford has become more quiet on the issue.
Who makes up the Wisconsin Supreme Court?
The Tuesday election occurs after Justice Ann Walsh Bradley announced her retirement last spring. First elected to the Supreme Court in 1995, Bradley leans more toward liberal ideologies.
Here are the other justices on the Wisconsin Supreme Court:
- Chief Justice Annette Kingsland Ziegler
- Justice Rebecca Grassl Bradley
- Justice Rebecca Frank Dallet
- Justice Brian Hagedorn
- Justice Jill. J. Karofsky
- Justice Janet C. Protasiewicz
Ziegler, Bradley and Hagedorn lean more conservative, while Dallet, Karofsky and Protasiewicz lean more liberal.
Contributing: Savannah Kuchar, USA TODAY and Andy Sullivan, Reuters, Hope Karnopp, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Greta Cross is a national trending reporter at USA TODAY. Story idea? Email her at [email protected].
