If conservative Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate Brad Schimel wins the April 1 election, it will be because of the support from President Donald Trump’s close ally Elon Musk, Sen. Ron Johnson said Saturday.
His comments came as he and Schimel joined Musk in a live, half-hour discussion on the social media platform X, which the tech billionaire owns. The conversation took place less than 24 hours after Trump waded into the race with a long-sought endorsement of Schimel.
More: All our reporting on the Wisconsin Supreme Court race between Susan Crawford, Brad Schimel
“This is entirely winnable, and you know, if we do win it, again, we have to thank Elon for all the support he’s given this race, and I was really glad to see President Trump throw in his endorsement as well,” Johnson told the 10,000 people on the livestream.
Musk has poured more than $12 million into the race in a bid to get Schimel elected to the seven-member court. Liberals have backed Schimel’s opponent, Dane County Judge Susan Crawford. In January liberal megadonor George Soros and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker funneled a combined $1.5 million to the state Democratic Party to back Crawford. New contribution reports are due to be filed next week.
Whether Schimel, a Waukesha County judge, or Crawford wins the only nominally nonpartisan race will determine the ideological balance of the court.
Schimel, Musk and Johnson framed the election as having implications not only for Wisconsin but for Trump’s ability to implement his agenda nationally.
Schimel slammed the court’s current liberal majority, arguing that since they retook control from conservatives in 2023 the liberal justices “have been going through a political agenda and just knocking off their favorite wish list items.”
“The stakes couldn’t be higher here,” Schimel said.
More: Donald Trump Jr., and Charlie Kirk rally for Brad Schimel in Wisconsin Supreme Court election
In a statement, Crawford’s campaign mocked the technical issues that took place on the call and framed Schimel as one of Musk’s investments.
“Brad Schimel has always been at the beck and call of his campaign donors — and now it looks like Elon Musk wanted to do a check-in on his $12 million investment,” campaign spokesman Derrick Honeyman said in a statement.
Alison Dirr can be reached at [email protected].
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Musk will be to thank if Schimel wins Wisconsin race, Ron Johnson says
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