In an expensive and closely-watched race, Democrat Susan Crawford defeated Republican Brad Schimel to solidify a liberal majority on the state court for at least the next three years.
Crawford, a Dane County judge, checked all the political boxes for a loyal Democrat: Protecting the power of labor unions, defending abortion, and opposing voter I.D.
Julaine Appling, of Wisconsin Family Council, tells AFN the justice-elect spoke a lot about “reproductive freedom” on the campaign trail.
“She was very clear about that on the campaign and tried to make it sound as if Brad Schimel was going to outlaw abortion,” Appling says. “We know that she also opposed voter I.D. She opposed our Act 10 law that went into place in 2011."
In the days leading up Election Day, conservatives also warned a liberal-majority state court will gerrymander several GOP-led congressional districts. That means a state court in Wisconsin can affect the fragile GOP majority in Congress.
In the end, however, voters in the swing state delivered for Crawford. She defeated Schimel 55%-45% in a race conservatives believed they could win.
Appling says her side was also disappointed in the election outcome after an “unbelievable” amount of money was spent by both sides. There was also a “huge” voter turnout, nearly 2.4 million voters, for an off-year judicial election.
Donald Trump, in his historic win last November, won the swing state 49%-48% over Kamala Harris. Voter turnout for that presidential election, which is historically always high, was 3.3 million.
“So we obviously wish that Brad Schimel had won,” she tells AFN. “We believe him to be a man who is an originalist when it comes to the Constitution.”
