logo
Liberal wins first major 2025 statewide battleground election in race turned into Trump-Musk referendum

Liberal wins first major 2025 statewide battleground election in race turned into Trump-Musk referendum

Yahoo02-04-2025

PAWAUKEE, Wis. — The liberal-leaning candidate won a high-profile and historically expensive election in Wisconsin on Tuesday, protecting progressive majority control of the battleground state's Supreme Court, which is likely to rule on crucial issues like congressional redistricting, voting and labor rights, and abortion.
Dane County Circuit Court Judge Susan Crawford defeated Brad Schimel, a former state attorney general who currently serves as a state circuit court judge in Waukesha County. Schimel, the conservative-aligned candidate in the race, was endorsed by President Donald Trump.
With a massive infusion of money from Democrat-aligned and Republican-aligned groups from outside Wisconsin, which turned the race into the most expensive judicial election in the nation's history, the contest partially transformed into a referendum on Trump's sweeping and controversial moves during the opening months of his second tour of duty in the White House.
Also front and center in the electoral showdown was someone who, along with Trump, was not on the ballot: billionaire Elon Musk, the president's top donor and White House adviser.
Republicans Sweeep Special Elections In Florida, To Hold Onto Two Gop-held Congressional Seats
"I never could have imagined that I'd be taking on the richest man in the world, for justice in Wisconsin. And we won," Crawford said in her victory speech, in her home base of Madison, Wisconsin.
Read On The Fox News App
And pushing back against her critics, Crawford said "my promise to Wisconsin is clear. I will be a fair, impartial, and commonsense justice on the Wisconsin Supreme Court."
Schimel conceded minutes after the Associated Press called the race, telling supporters in suburban Milwuakee that he had spoke to Crawford and that "the numbers aren't going to turn around and we're not going to pull this off."
"We'll get up to fight another day. But this wasn't our day," he added.
Musk, the chief executive of Tesla and SpaceX, who has taken a buzz saw to the federal government workforce as he steers Trump's recently created Department of Government Efficiency, dished out roughly $20 million in the Wisconsin race through aligned groups in support of Schimel.
And Musk, in a controversial move, handed out $1 million checks at a rally in Green Bay on Sunday evening to two Wisconsin voters who had already cast ballots in the contest and had signed a petition to stop "activist judges."
Why Elon Musk Handed Out Million Dollar Checks In Wisconsin
Wisconsin's Democrat state attorney general sued to block the payments, but the state Supreme Court refused to weigh in.
Calling the election a "super big deal," Musk said it was critical to the Trump agenda.
"I think this will be important for the future of civilization," he said. "It's that significant."
Musk wasn't the only mega-donor on the right playing in the Wisconsin showdown.
Shipping magnates Richard and Elizabeth Uihlein, who are among the biggest conservative contributors in the nation, also provided millions in support of Schimel and the Wisconsin GOP.
"If you told me six months ago this was what was going to happen, I would not have believed it. But yeah … some parts of this are way beyond my control anymore," Schimel said in a Fox News Digital interview during a bus tour stop Monday just outside Green Bay.
Schimel, who launched his bid 16 months ago, added that "other people can treat this how they want. If they think they want to make it a referendum on the president or Elon Musk, so be it."
"This is a referendum on Wisconsin," he said. "Can we restore objectivity to the Wisconsin Supreme Court?"
Big-money Wi High Court Race Will Have National Effects, As Redistricting, Unions, Trans Issues At Stake
Schimel also leaned in to the endorsement from Trump. A TV ad running in the closing stretch of the race spotlighted that voting for Schimel would protect Trump's agenda. The candidate also wore a "Make America Great Again" hat at some campaign stops during the final weekend ahead of the election.
Schimel spotlighted his final blitz to reach out to voters.
"We are doing six to eight rallies every single day in cities across the state," he said. "People are turning out in huge numbers, and we've got other surrogates going out around the state where we're not, doing the exact same thing. It's absolutely about getting those voters out."
And Schimel also got a boost from the conservative powerhouse organization Americans for Prosperity. The group said its grassroots army has connected with nearly 600,000 voters in Wisconsin since last November's election.
Trump, who narrowly carried Wisconsin in both of his White House victories, said the state is important because its Supreme Court can settle disputes over election outcomes.
"Wisconsin's a big state politically, and the Supreme Court has a lot to do with elections in Wisconsin," the president said Monday at the White House. "Winning Wisconsin's a big deal, so, therefore, the Supreme Court choice … it's a big race."
Schimel's camp and other conservatives repeatedly argued that a continuation of the liberal majority on Wisconsin's high court could lead to unfavorable congressional redistricting in the state, which could spell doom for two Republican lawmakers: Reps. Derrick Van Orden and Bryan Steil, chair of the House Administration Committee.
Trump, Obama, Weigh In On High Court Showdown In Key Battleground
Asked about the conservatives shining a spotlight on potential congressional redistricting, Crawford told reporters on Monday that "it's just not appropriate for me as a judge to express a view on that, especially on an issue that someday could come before the Wisconsin Supreme Court again. That's why I don't speak to the issue."
Tuesday's election was the first statewide contest held since Trump returned to the White House, and it was an opportunity for plenty of voters to vent against the president and his policies.
Crawford enjoyed a surge in fundraising, thanks in part to an energized base eager to resist Trump and Republicans.
"People are really motivated and want to make sure that we protect the Wisconsin Supreme Court," Crawford said in a Fox News Digital interview after a rally in Madison on the eve of the election.
Battleground State Showdown: Democrats Target Elon Musk
Crawford argued that voters "don't want to see some outsider, some billionaire, come in and try to buy a seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court, which is what Elon Musk is trying to do."
At her rally, Crawford said "this election is going to determine all of our fundamental rights and freedoms."
But Crawford also benefited from outside money, with roughly $2 million infused into the race by left-leaning financier George Soros, long a boogeyman of the right. Billionaire progressive Gov. JB Pritzker of neighboring Illinois has also spent big bucks in the race to support Crawford.
"I have gotten some generous contributions, and we've raised a lot of money in this race," she told Fox News. "But just to put that in perspective, in the last two months, Elon Musk has spent more than we have raised over the 10 months of this entire campaign, so his spending dwarfs that of any individual in any state supreme court ever and certainly one in Wisconsin."
Crawford and Schimel were battling to succeed liberal-leaning justice Ann Walsh Bradley, who has served on Wisconsin's highest court for nearly three decades. Liberal-aligned justices held a 4-3 majority on the state Supreme Court heading into Tuesday's election.
The showdown drew some top surrogates to Wisconsin, including progressive champion Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and MAGA star Donald Trump Jr., the president's eldest son.
The Democratic National Committee, in a statement following Crawford's victory, took aim at Musk.
"Make no mistake: Americans don't want Elon Musk running their federal government and they don't want him buying their local elections," the DNC argued.Original article source: Liberal wins first major 2025 statewide battleground election in race turned into Trump-Musk referendum

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Musk touts driverless Tesla test ahead of Austin robotaxi launch
Musk touts driverless Tesla test ahead of Austin robotaxi launch

Los Angeles Times

time17 minutes ago

  • Los Angeles Times

Musk touts driverless Tesla test ahead of Austin robotaxi launch

Tesla Inc. executives including Elon Musk promoted a video of one of its vehicles driving in Austin with nobody behind the wheel, hinting that it's close to launching its robotaxi service in the Texas capital. A black Model Y emblazoned with 'robotaxi' on its front door turned off South Congress Avenue in a touristy area of the city in the video, which was posted to Musk's social media platform X. Musk shared the video on his X account, as did Ashok Elluswamy, who leads Tesla's Autopilot teams and recently took over responsibility for the company's Optimus humanoid robot program. Although neither Musk nor Tesla have specified a precise launch date, Bloomberg has reported that Tesla aims to begin operating its robotaxi network on June 12. The company has been testing self-driving Model Y SUVs that will be used in the operation's initial phase. Model Ys with manufacturer plates and a person behind the wheel have been spotted driving around parts of Austin, including South Congress. The vehicles are expected to use an 'unsupervised' version of Tesla's suite of driver-assist systems known as Full Self-Driving. In a separate X post, Musk said the vehicle in the video was running on a new version of software. Musk has staked the future of his electric-vehicle company to robotics, autonomy and artificial intelligence. He's said the robotaxi launch in Austin will start small, with as few as ten to twenty vehicles, before growing over time. It's unclear who will be the first users of the robotaxi service, what app will be used or how much rides will cost. Carlson writes for Bloomberg.

Is Trump's troop deployment in LA a prelude to martial law?
Is Trump's troop deployment in LA a prelude to martial law?

Boston Globe

time18 minutes ago

  • Boston Globe

Is Trump's troop deployment in LA a prelude to martial law?

Neither did Hegseth announced that National Guard members and the Marines will stay in Los Angeles for Get The Gavel A weekly SCOTUS explainer newsletter by columnist Kimberly Atkins Stohr. Enter Email Sign Up At a Advertisement This is a Trump made-for-TV spectacle of authoritarianism disguised as law and order. It's likely a prelude to martial law. Rob Bonta, California's attorney general, is Advertisement Protests were sparked last week after Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials conducted several workplace raids in Los Angeles, including a But what began as boisterous but peaceful protests against Trump's anti-immigrant scheme which now demands 'If I didn't ''SEND IN THE TROOPS,'" Trump said Tuesday on social media, Los Angeles 'would be burning to the ground right now,' before he disparaged Bass and Newsom. Yes, there has been looting, and some cars have been burned and vandalized. But Trump is lying about the extent of lawlessness. Trump is following his bad policies with even worse provocations that could portend a modern-day Kent State tragedy with soldiers firing live bullets at protesters. But for Trump, the more chaos, the better. As a White House official said, 'We're happy to have this fight.' To some extent this fight to suppress dissent has been boiling in Trump for five years. During nationwide demonstrations after the police murder of George Floyd in 2020, Trump, then in his first term, asked members of his Cabinet whether protesters could be shot. 'He thought that the protests made the country look weak, made us look weak, and 'us' meant him,' Mark Esper, Trump's former defense secretary, Advertisement Esper recalled Trump saying to now-retired General Mark Milley, then chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, ''Can't you just shoot them, just shoot them in the legs or something?' … It was a suggestion and a formal question. And we were just all taken aback at that moment as this issue just hung very heavily in the air.' Ultimately, Trump was talked out of it. That won't happen this time, with an administration packed with people whose only loyalty is to him, not to the Constitution or rule of law. After Tom Homan, Trump's bloviating border czar, If not for the ICE arrest of But not now. Everything in Trump's second administration is designed to codify his authoritarianism. If Trump can convince enough people, especially among his white base, that he alone represents the thin orange line between civilization — as Advertisement Right now, the administration claims the military is in Los Angeles to protect federal buildings and assets — theoretically. Trump has not invoked the Insurrection Act, but neither has he ruled out unleashing US troops on protesters. With his draconian policies, Trump has lit the fuse for what could be a long and difficult summer of protests. With an occupying military force in this nation's second largest city, he has declared war against America itself. Renée Graham is a Globe columnist. She can be reached at

Trump promised not to send in military to tamp down on NYC protests — if NYPD keeps demonstrators in line
Trump promised not to send in military to tamp down on NYC protests — if NYPD keeps demonstrators in line

New York Post

time19 minutes ago

  • New York Post

Trump promised not to send in military to tamp down on NYC protests — if NYPD keeps demonstrators in line

President Trump promised NYPD brass over the weekend that he will not send in the military or National Guard to tamp down on anti-ICE protests in New York City — as long as cops keep the demonstrators in line, The Post has learned. Trump's pledge was made to Deputy Mayor of Public Safety Kaz Daughtry and NYPD Chief of Department John Chell as the pair palled around with the president at his New Jersey golf club. Sources with knowledge of the meeting said Trump had voiced concerns over the destructive mass protests engulfing Los Angeles and them being replicated in the Big Apple. Advertisement But Chell reassured the president that any demonstrations in the city would not get out of hand, the sources said. Kaz Daughtry and John Chell though didn't tee it up with the commander in chief. Linkedin/john-chell The two Big Apple police officials met with Trump on Sunday. Linkedin/john-chell Advertisement Trump then told the two he didn't believe the National Guard would be necessary in New York City. It came after he ordered an initial 2,000 National Guard troops to LA Saturday amid the raging protests over federal immigration enforcement raids. Since then, the Trump administration has in total dispatched roughly 4,000 National Guard members and 700 Marines to the city– sparking an emergency request by California Gov. Gavin Newsom Tuesday for a federal court to block the deployment. On Monday, Mayor Eric Adams and his police commissioner, Jessica Tisch, decried the anti-ICE riots in Los Angeles and issued a stern warning to New Yorkers to not follow suit. 'The escalation of protests in Los Angeles over the last couple of days is unacceptable and would not be tolerated if attempted in our city,' Adams said. Advertisement Tisch added that 'any attacks against law enforcement will be met with a swift and decisive response from the NYPD.' Earlier Monday, dozens of protestors calling for an end to the ICE raids were arrested at Trump Tower after refusing to leave the Manhattan high-rise. The meeting between Trump and Adams' allies raised eyebrows in New York City political circles — after Daughtry and Chell posted photos on social media from the Bedminster club. 'Great day on the links today with POTUS, #45-#47 – Donald J. Trump. Good conversation with a few laughs and a great lunch. Deputy Mayor of Public Safety Kaz Daughtry and I were grateful for the invite,' Chell wrote. Advertisement Sources said the two Big Apple officials didn't actually tee it up with the prez, despite the photos showing them chatting with him on the links. Still, Adams defended the outing on Tuesday, telling reporters, 'A lot of great deals have been made on the golf course.' 'I thank the two of them for doing it,' he said. 'Many of you who play golf know that great decisions are made on the golf course.' Both Chell and Daughtry also joined the mayor at Trump's inauguration earlier this year.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store