Republicans including Trump and Elon Musk lined up behind Brad Schimel, a former state attorney general. Democrats like former President Barack Obama and billionaire megadonor George Soros backed Susan Crawford, a Dane County judge who is pro-abortion and opposes voting ID.
The first major election in the country since November is seen as a litmus test of how voters feel about Trump’s first months back in office and the role played by Musk in Trump's efforts to fight waste and fraud in the federal government.
On Monday, Trump hinted as to why the outcome of the race was important. The court can decide election-related laws and settle disputes over future election outcomes.
“Wisconsin’s a big state politically, and the Supreme Court has a lot to do with elections in Wisconsin,” he told reporters in the Oval Office. “Winning Wisconsin’s a big deal, so therefore the Supreme Court choice … it’s a big race.”
Crawford embraced the backing of Planned Parenthood and other abortion advocates, running ads that highlighted Schimel’s opposition to the procedure.
Schimel’s campaign says Crawford is weak on crime and a puppet of Democrats who, if elected, would push to redraw congressional district boundary lines to hurt Republicans.
The winner of the court’s open seat will determine whether it remains under 4-3 liberal control, as it has been since 2023, or reverts to a conservative majority, as it was the 15 years beforehand.
The court will likely be deciding cases on abortion and congressional district boundaries. Who controls it also could factor into how it might rule on any future voting challenge in the perennial presidential battleground state — raising the stakes for national Republicans and Democrats.
