Liberals will win majority of the Wisconsin Supreme Court, CNN projects
CNN
Democratic-backed candidate Susan Crawford will win Wisconsin’s Supreme Court race, CNN projects, maintaining the liberal majority on the court in a key battleground state less than three months into President Donald Trump’s second term.
Democratic-backed candidate Susan Crawford will win Wisconsin’s Supreme Court race, CNN projects, maintaining the liberal majority on the court in a key battleground state less than three months into President Donald Trump’s second term. Crawford, a liberal circuit court judge in Dane County, will beat the conservative candidate Brad Schimel, a Waukesha County judge who received Trump’s backing in the final stretch of the campaign. The race was officially nonpartisan, but Crawford’s victory will be seen as a bright spot for Democrats in Wisconsin and nationwide as voters handed the president’s preferred candidate a defeat in the first major political test of the second Trump era. Crawford and her Democratic allies also worked to turn the election into a referendum on Trump ally Elon Musk, who poured millions of his personal fortune into the race. It quickly became the most expensive judicial contest in US history. Musk and groups affiliated with him spent more than $19 million in the state, including funding field operations and television advertisements. Crawford tied the tech billionaire directly to Schimel in her appearances, at times referencing Musk at “my opponent.” Democratic groups ran television ads linking the Tesla CEO to Schimel. In all, the candidates and outside groups spent more than $90 million — shattering spending records set just two years ago, when a liberal judge captured an open seat and flipped control of the court. Schimel and Republicans had hoped to draw on the network of voters who supported Trump in November’s presidential election, when he narrowly won the battleground state. Schimel hugged Trump closely throughout the campaign and even appeared in a live chat with Musk on his social media site X.
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