Why Wisconsin Matters
“It’s really much more than local. The whole country is watching.”
If you live anywhere outside of Wisconsin, why would you care about the state’s Supreme Court election tomorrow? Well, Donald Trump and Elon Musk sure do care a lot — and so do their Democrat antagonists — which sets the stakes pretty high.
The election pits former state Attorney General and now Waukesha County Judge Brad Schimel against Dane County Judge Susan Crawford. If the more conservative Schimel wins, it will tip the court back in the right direction from its previous 4-3 leftist majority. Progressive Justice Ann Walsh Bradley recently retired, leaving a 3-3 split.
Wisconsin’s court is expected to hear challenges to the state’s abortion and voter ID laws, as well as its election map, which will have huge implications for the current slim majority Republicans hold in the U.S. House. Multiple op-ed writers have called it the most important election of 2025.
“In the Great State of Wisconsin, a Radical Left Democrat, one who is insistent on bringing hardened CRIMINALS, that we removed to far away places, back into our Country, allowing men into women’s sports, Open Borders, and more, is running against a strong, Common Sense Republican, JUST CALL HIM BRAD, for the Wisconsin Supreme Court,” Trump posted on Truth Social on Sunday after previously endorsing him. “It’s a really big and important race, and could have much to do with the future of our Country. Get out and VOTE, NOW, for the Republican Candidate — BRAD!!!”
Trump has also called Crawford a “deranged left-wing [George] Soros-funded lunatic.”
Meanwhile, Musk’s America PAC has been giving $100 to every registered voter in the Badger State who signs a petition “rejecting the actions of activist judges.” Two of those signers received $1 million each. Musk turned up the rhetorical heat at a rally Sunday. “What’s happening on Tuesday is a vote for which party controls the U.S. House of Representatives,” Musk told the crowd after tossing his cheesehead foam hat to them. “That is why it is so significant. Whichever party controls the House to a significant degree controls the country, which then steers the course of Western civilization. I feel like this is one of those things that may not seem that it’s going to affect the entire destiny of humanity, but I think it will.”
Whew — from Wisconsin to Western civilization and the entire destiny of humanity itself.
Meanwhile, Democrats have been running ads attacking Schimel by tying him to Trump and Musk, both of whom are underwater in state approval ratings, though Trump did win the state twice. They’re also explicitly making this court race about future House races in a state with a current 6-2 Republican delegation. “Chance to put two more House seats in play for 2026,” read one fundraising email sent on behalf of Crawford. “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.”
Likewise, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries thinks the congressional “lines are broken” and that the only fix is “an enlightened Supreme Court.” That gets to the crux of the argument, too. Who makes laws — legislators or judges? Democrats don’t care so long as they win.
The two sides have already spent over $90 million on this supposedly nonpartisan judicial race, shattering the previous record of $50 million in 2023.
Indeed, as Trump put it, “It’s really much more than local. The whole country is watching.”
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