Susan Crawford won a seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court’s NBC News Project, allowing the Liberals to maintain a narrow majority on the battlefield Supreme Court, rebelling against Elon Musk after he spent millions of dollars against her.
Democrat-backed Dane County Circuit Judge Crawford secured a 10-year term in court through Waukesha County Circuit Judge and former Republican Attorney General Brad Simel. As the first major battlefield state election of President Donald Trump’s second term, the technically nonpartisan contest attracted public attention and became the most expensive state Supreme Court competition in US history.
The result is a setback for Trump and his billionaire adviser Musk. Trump supported Shimmel in the final stretch of the race, and Musk poured himself into the heart of it, spent a huge amount of money, visited Wisconsin Day from Election Day, and frequently posted about his race on X-Feed. Second, Democrats and progressive groups have attacked his efforts to make Musk their main villain and cut the federal government and government through his influence over race and government efficiency.
Crawford’s victory also means that liberals will maintain their 4-3 advantage in court, at least for a term heading into another year, when they can decide on cases regarding abortion rights, union and collective bargaining rights, Congressional maps and constituencies.
Democrats overall retained a narrow ad spending advantage, despite more than $15 million that Musk and the group he partnered with fell to the race, according to Adimpact.
The democratic alliance group blows up the election with Simel, where millions of dollars are “trying to buy” masks, but Crawford himself repeatedly used the masks as foil at campaign events. Wisconsin Democrats have launched a town hall tour called “Peoplev. Musk,” in which deputies, including Minnesota Gov. Tim Waltz, bashing masks and doges.
He also pointed out that Tesla, the electric car company in Mask, sued in Wisconsin this year, challenging state laws that prohibit car manufacturers from owning dealers. The case could end in front of the state Supreme Court.
Democrats also attacked a $100 mask offer to Wisconsin voters to sign a petition to oppose the “activist judge.” Democratic state attorney general Josh Caul has failed to try and stop Musk from giving people $1 million to become “spokesmen” for Larry’s Sunday petition.
Conversely, the group on the left was far from racing about Trump, which carried the state narrowly in two of the past three presidential elections.
The anti-mask playbook is something Democrats can try to replicate in other elections this year and in the middle of 2026.
Simel said he accepted Trump on the day the race was closed and that the mobile strategist intended to try and try to juice conservative voter turnout.
In addition to running ads promoting Trump’s support, Simel appeared at a campaign town hall event with Donald Trump Jr. in March, informing a group on the canvas of conservative group Turning Point USA that he needed a “support network” around him to help Trump fight against the myriad suits he faced with his administration.
Although each side attempted to portray their enemies softly into crimes, Crawford attacked Simel with an ad focused on allegations that the state Department of Justice mishandled the maintenance of thousands of rape kits under his watch as attorney general.
Apart from Musk, the group on the left has made support for Crawford’s reproductive rights a central theme in advertising and message. The fate of the right to abortion and the state’s ban on abortion in 1849 was a hot topic for a pair of cases already in front of the court.
The state Supreme Court has heard of the challenge to the November ban and is widely expected to overturn the law, but was sworn in August before Crawford was sworn in. The state abortion provider resumed the proceedings in 2023 after ruling that 175 years ago law did not apply to consensual medical abortions, but the state Supreme Court is considering whether to override it altogether.
There is also another case in which Planned Parenthood directly asked the court to establish whether the state constitution has established abortion rights. Court Crawford can hear about the case.
Additionally, the court is likely to rule on cases that challenge landmark laws during the administration of the Republican government, which eliminates collective bargaining for most public workers, known as Act 10, 10.
And the court could decide on a case that challenges state’s congressional maps in favor of Republicans.
Liberal justice Janet Protasievich overturned the legislative map of gerrymanders in the state after joining the court in 2023. The court refused to hear a lawsuit attempting to redraw the Congressional map last year.
However, many Republicans fear that similar lawsuits will be accepted in the future, pointing to emails from groups alongside Democrats who suggested Crawford’s victory would “put two more seats in the homes.” This topic and its emails have become part of the ads run by external groups lined up in Schimel.
Liberals won a majority in 2023 in the Wisconsin Supreme Court for the first time in 15 years. The majority have once again been in line this year after liberal justice Anne Walsh Bradley announced her retirement. The state Supreme Court elections are also scheduled for annually in Wisconsin from 2026 to 2030.
Meanwhile, Wisconsin voters on Tuesday approved an amendment to ensshr the existing voter ID Act into the state constitution, the NBC News project.
The measure adds language to the constitution from the 2011 measure that requires voters to provide photo IDs when requesting voters to vote or absentee votes.
Conservatives said they tried to enforce the laws of the state constitution to make it more difficult to defeat them in the future. Republicans also hoped it would help boost voter turnout in the state Supreme Court competition.
