The Wisconsin Supreme Court race has become the most expensive judicial contest in U.S. history, as conservatives face the chance to take back the 4-3 liberal majority, and Democrats view the battle as a chance to push policy and redraw legislative maps that could ultimately lose Republicans two U.S. House seats.
The April 1 election is between Trump-backed Waukesha County Circuit Court Judge and former Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel and Dane County Circuit Judge Susan Crawford who previously represented left-wing groups like Planned Parenthood as an attorney and is endorsed by groups like the pro-abortion EMILY’s list. The candidates are making their final pitches on Monday ahead of the election and after the end of early voting on Sunday.
The race is expected to reach $100 million, which practically doubles the previous record spent on a judicial contest held by the 2023 Wisconsin Supreme Court election. To date, more than $90 million has been spent on the race, the Associated Press reported, citing the Brennan Center.
“For perspective, about $100 million was spent on 68 supreme court elections across 26 states in 2021 and 2022 combined, according to a Brennan Center tally,” the report states.
“I think this will be important for the future of civilization,” Elon Musk said of the election at a rally for Schimel in Green Bay on Sunday. “It’s that’s significant.”
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.
Democrats’ view of the race as a pathway to power in D.C. is not mere speculation and has been touted openly. An email invitation obtained by Breitbart News to a briefing on Jan. 13 with Democrat donors, Crawford, and Wisconsin Democrat Chairman Ben Wikler has a subject line that reads: “Chance to put two more House seats in play for 2026.” Notably, aides of tech billionaire Reid Hoffman helped to organize the event, the New York Times reported. Hoffman, allegedly a past visitor to Epstein Island, later contributed to the race, along with other left-wing billionaires.
“But winning this race could also result in Democrats being able to win two additional US House seats, half the seats needed to win control of the House in 2026,” the email reads.
The two seats are currently held by Rep. Bryan Steil (R-WI) in the 1st Congressional District in southeast Wisconsin and Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-WI) in the 3rd Congressional District in the western part of the battleground state.
“They got caught saying the quiet thing out loud, and they revealed what they’re up to. This is, as it was in 2023, a power play to attract enormous amounts of money from partisan donors and turn that into results on the court,” Schimel told Breitbart News in an exclusive phone interview, referring to the email. Breitbart News previously reached out to Crawford’s campaign for comment but did not receive a response, although the candidate has denied wrongdoing in statements to other outlets
“When people talk about the timeline that President Trump has to push his goals, that timeline will be cut short or even shorter if they use the Wisconsin Supreme Court to gerrymander the maps as a court and change our representation in the House of Representatives,” Schimel added.
On the state level, the court will have the opportunity to rule on highly consequential issues like abortion, election integrity, and unions.
Overall, Crawford raised more than $26 million and Schimel raised $14 million, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Records cited in the report show that more than 100,000 people from all 50 states sent money to both campaigns.
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.
“This is crazy that people from California are going to decide who’s on our Wisconsin Supreme Court. That’s wrong. I’m running for the people of Wisconsin and well over four-fifths of my money and donors come from people who vote right here in Wisconsin. We’ve got to make sure we turn that into votes on April 1st,” Schimel said during an appearance on Breitbart News Saturday.
However, both candidates drew most of their actual cash from Wisconsinites, the report found, adding that two-thirds of Crawford’s funds came from state residents, compared to 94 percent for Schimel.
Crawford’s campaign has drawn the support of 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.
Schimel has received the endorsement of kingmaker President Donald Trump, as well as Trump’s top advisor, Tesla CEO and head of DOGE Elon Musk. Musk and two groups he backs have spent more than $21 million on the race, according to an assessment by Brennan Center for Justice. A breakdown by the Journal Sentinel found that $3 million went to the Republican Party of Wisconsin, while the rest went to America PAC and Building America’s Future.
Democrats have pounced on Musk’s involvement in the race as a talking point, painting the election not only as a referendum on abortion, but a chance to refute the so-called Trump/Musk agenda.
There seems to be a great flush of voter enthusiasm for the spring election. According to AP, through the last day of early voting on Sunday, 644,800 people had cast ballots, which is 57 percent higher than early voting numbers in the battleground state’s 2023 Supreme Court election.
Both majority Democrat and Republican counties have seen massive increases in early voting. Milwaukee County, which is the state’s largest county and heavily Democrat, has seen a 40 percent early voting increase compared to 2023. Dane County, which is also liberal and the second largest county in the state, has seen a 43 percent increase, according to the report.
Three suburban Milwaukee counties of Waukesha, Ozaukee, and Washington, all of which lean red, have seen massive increases in ballot returns as well. Early voting is up 62 percent in Waukesha County, 53 percent in Ozaukee County, and it is nearly double what it was in 2023 in Washington County, the report details.
Katherine Hamilton is a political reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on X @thekat_hamilton.
