Big-money WI high court race will have national effects, as redistricting, unions, trans issues at stake
While officially nonpartisan, battle lines have been drawn in what is expected to be a nationally watched, mega-moneyed Wisconsin Supreme Court election in one week, with potential nationwide implications.
Republicans are warning that the judge considered Democrats’ choice in the race, Dane County’s Susan Crawford, is primed to support efforts that could "draw out" two U.S. House Republicans in future redistricting maps and support what critics warned will be "legislating from the bench."
Meanwhile, Wisconsin Democrats are pushing back on criticisms after Hungarian-American financier George Soros poured $1 million into WisDems coffers in February – leading to a similarly large transfer to Crawford’s campaign, according to the AP.
Former Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel – the Republicans’ choice, who is now a Waukesha County judge – called Crawford "Soros’ ideal investment" – as Democrats returned fire at Schimel’s support from similarly deep-pocketed Elon Musk.
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Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker – whose family owns Hyatt Hotels – dumped $500,000 into the state party, and other six-figure pitches came from Lynde Uihlein – a Schlitz Beer heiress – LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman and the mother of a Google co-founder.
Joe Ricketts – co-owner of the Chicago Cubs and father of Nebraska’s GOP governor – was listed as a top donor to Wisconsin Republicans ahead of the election – as well as Liz Uihlein, a cousin-by-marriage of Lynde Uihlein and president of Uline shipping supply company. Donald Trump Jr. held an event for Schimel earlier this week.
Republicans are branding Crawford as "dangerously liberal," citing support from Soros, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, as well as activist groups who support gender-transition surgeries for minors and allowing biological men to compete in women’s sports.
A source familiar with the race also warned of Crawford’s candidacy as part of an ongoing "radical" shift in Wisconsin – both with liberal Justice Janet Protasiewicz’ similarly contentious election in 2023 and Gov. Tony Evers’ move to replace "mother" in the state budget dozens of times with "inseminated person."
Republicans also accuse Crawford of signaling a willingness to "legislate from the bench," citing his past role in challenging the state’s voter ID law and his appearance at a January event hosted by a liberal donor group aiming to unseat Reps. Bryan Steil of Janesville and Derrick Van Orden of Prairie du Chien.
In January, Wisconsin Republicans also claimed that Crawford would seek "selling two of Wisconsin seats" after a New York Times report cited donors hoping that Crawford’s win would lead to Steil’s and Van Orden’s ouster.
On Jan. 29, the Wisconsin Republican Party accused Crawford of "selling two of Wisconsin’s seats" in Congress because of her participation in an event with Democratic donors organized by the liberal group Focus for Democracy. The email invitation to the Jan. 13 event billed it as a "chance to put two more House seats in play for 2026."
They also said Schimel would preserve former Gov. Scott Walker’s sweeping Act 10 public-sector union reforms that led to massive protests a decade ago.
In an interview with Fox News Digital, Schimel criticized Crawford for purportedly "getting caught on a Zoom call with national billionaire liberal donors offering up how if she gets elected on the Supreme Court, they can turn two Republican congressional seats into Democrat congressional seats and therefore take away part of the majority for President Trump."
"Media in Wisconsin has paid somewhat of attention to it – but it certainly caught the attention of a lot of national media and a lot of national donors on her side because of such an obscene promise," Schimel said.
Schimel also discussed allegations regarding the transgender sports issue and education.
"I'm a judicial conservative," he said. "I follow the law. I don't try to legislate from the bench or make law as a judge. This is the problem with judicial activists. And yes, we should expect that we're going to see those kinds of activities from this court if liberals have a majority."
Schimel added that his career is his best credit for the role, quipping that for 35 years his "only client has been the people of Wisconsin."
Asked, as a judge, about national controversies involving judicial activism – including the immigration order situation between President Donald Trump and Obama-appointed Judge James Boasberg – Schimel said that nationwide injunctions have long been a sticky situation.
"I'm hoping that the U.S. Supreme Court is going to soon take up this question whether a district judge really has the authority to issue a nationwide injunction against the president or legislative act," he said, noting that as attorney general he was subject to similar volleys of litigation.
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Schimel warned that if he loses on April 1, the next election for a Supreme Court seat is 2028.
"All told, the liberals will have five years of unchecked power, and we won't recognize the state by the time we have a chance to take the court back again."
Fox News Digital also extended an interview invitation to Crawford and WisDems and received a statement from a campaign official in response:
"Judge Crawford has spent her career upholding the law, protecting our freedoms, and defending the Constitution," said Crawford spokesman Derek Honeyman.
"She'll be fair and impartial on the Wisconsin Supreme Court."
Honeyman said that Schimel and his allies are "desperate to mislead voters" and have been caught "manipulating" Crawford’s likeness in their campaign ads.
"Brad Schimel has a disturbing record of letting domestic abusers walk without jail time and even gave a sweet plea deal to a man caught with child pornography after taking thousands in campaign contributions from the man's lawyer," he said.
"Brad Schimel is too corrupt for the Wisconsin Supreme Court."
Crawford’s campaign’s latest ad targeted Schimel over allegations that he had let thousands of rape kits sit untested for years, and accused Musk of trying to "buy" him a seat on the high bench.
An ongoing tally eventually led to 6,800 untested rape kits being catalogued, and Schimel said in a statement to PBS that his office "found those survivors; got their consent to test those kids" and eventually tested at least 4,000.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., recently held a "Fighting Oligarchy" event in Kenosha, where he also assailed Musk's support for Schimel.
Fox News Digital's Andrew Mark Miller contributed to this report.