Susan Crawford Projected Winner of Wisconsin Supreme Court Election, Keeping Court’s Liberal Majority

Democrat-aligned Dane County Circuit Judge Susan Crawford secured a victory in the Wisconsin Supreme Court election on Tuesday against Trump-backed Waukesha County Circuit Court Judge and former Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel, the Associated Press projected.

The race was called at 10:16 p.m. ET, a little over an hour after polls in the battleground state closed, showing Crawford preserving the court’s 4-3 liberal majority. At the time the race was called, nearly 70 percent of the votes had been counted, which was nearly 1.6 million votes, and Crawford was leading Schimel 55.9 percent to 44.1 percent. 

Crawford’s projected win and the court’s maintained liberal majority will likely have a huge impact on cases that will go before the court on issues like abortion, election integrity, and unions. Like every election since the Supreme Court overturned the invented federal right to abortion in 2022, Democrats and left-leaning media largely framed the election as another referendum on abortion. When Roe v. Wade was struck down, Wisconsin’s 1849 abortion restriction went into effect but was put on hold in December 2023 and is expected to come before the state’s high court later this year.

Democrats surrounding Crawford also pitched the election as a chance to redraw legislative maps that could ultimately cost Republicans two U.S. House seats and help Democrats close in on Republicans’ slim majority. Republicans heavily campaigned on this threat to President Donald Trump’s agenda, including tech billionaire Elon Musk, who threw his weight and cash behind Schimel.

READ MORE: Exclusive — Eyes on Wisconsin: State Supreme Court Race That Could Bring Trump’s Agenda to a Screeching Halt

The race became the most expensive judicial contest in U.S. history and was expected to reach $100 million, which practically doubles the previous record spent on a judicial contest held by the 2023 Wisconsin Supreme Court election. By Monday, more than $90 million has been spent on the race, the Associated Press (AP) reported, citing the Brennan Center.

While judicial races are nonpartisan, both sides of the political aisle are heavily invested in the results of the election. Wisconsin justices serve ten-year terms, and another chance to change the court will not arise until 2028.

Crawford was bankrolled by left-wing billionaires like George Soros, Reid Hoffman, and J.B. Pritzker — individuals known for lavishing millions of dollars on radical causes, like defunding police and transgenderism. Overall, Crawford raised more than $26 million and Schimel raised $14 million, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

A Journal Sentinel review of campaign reports found that 77 percent of Crawford’s donors come from outside of Wisconsin compared to only 15 percent of Schimel’s donors. Records cited in the report show that more than 100,000 people from all 50 states sent money to both campaigns.

The race follows a blowout Wisconsin Supreme Court election in 2023, in which liberal-leaning Janet Protasiewicz beat conservative candidate Dan Kelly and flipped the balance of the court to 4-3 majority liberal. The balance of power was up for grabs again with the retirement of liberal Justice Ann Walsh Bradley.

The April 1 ballot also included elections for superintendent of public instruction as well as local-level races like school board, city council, and judges. All Wisconsin ballots included a referendum question asking whether to make the state’s existing voter ID law permanent by adding it to the state constitution, which has been projected as passing.