Here's what national media said about the Wisconsin Supreme Court race, won by Susan Crawford over Brad Schimel

Yahoo

02-04-2025

The eyes of the nation turned to Wisconsin for a state Supreme Court election Tuesday, in which liberal-leaning Susan Crawford won in a landslide over Donald Trump-endorsed candidate Brad Schimel. The outcome maintained a 4-3 majority for liberals on the court.
The race said a lot about future decisions within the state, including potential redistricting that could have an impact beyond the state's borders. It also said a lot about Elon Musk, who personally invested more than $20 million in aspects of Schimel's campaign.
Here's how national writers looked at the outcome:
Politico's Irie Sentner quoted Pam Van Handel, chair of the Republican Party in Outagamie County, as someone taken aback by the outcome.
'I'm honestly shocked. I thought we had it in the bag,' she said. 'I thought (Musk) was going to be an asset for this race. People love Trump, but maybe they don't love everybody he supports. Maybe I have blinders on.'
Rohn Bishop, the mayor of Waupun, Wisconsin, and former chair of the Republican Party of Fond du Lac County, admitted that the race 'throws up a bunch of warning signs for the midterm election.'
Rachael Bade wrote that Donald Trump has told his inner circle that Musk will soon be taking a step back from his prominent role in the administration.
"The political threat Musk poses was highlighted Tuesday after Democrats seized on Musk's roughly $20 million investment in the Wisconsin race, with some openly calling it a referendum on the polarizing mogul," Bade wrote.
"While state-level supreme court elections are traditionally lower stakes than national races, the Wisconsin election gained nationwide attention, as it was a key contest in a swing state that would decide if a liberal or conservative majority would hold the judiciary there," Theo Burman of Newsweek wrote.
"It is one of the first major elections to take place since Trump, and Musk, came to power, making the contest a referendum on their ability to influence down-ballot elections."
Reid Epstein of The New York Times summarized it this way for Democrats:
"They have been engaged in a coast-to-coast rhetorical rending of garments since Mr. Trump returned to the White House in January and embarked with Mr. Musk on an effort to drastically shrink federal agencies, set aside international alliances and alter the government's relationships with the nation's universities, minority groups, immigrants and corporate world," he wrote.
"Coming on the heels of Democratic triumphs in special elections for state legislative seats in Iowa and Pennsylvania and the defeat of four Republican-backed state referendums in Louisiana, Judge Crawford's victory puts the party on its front foot for the first time since last November. Her win showed that, at least in one instance, Mr. Musk's seemingly endless reserves of political cash had energized more Democrats than Republicans."
CNN staff writers called it an "early — but useful — gut check of the electorate in one of the nation's marquee swing states."
But it also pointed out that Wisconsin remained a clear-cut purple state.
"Even Tuesday's vote hinted at the nuanced political views in the state," CNN wrote in its takeaways. "Crawford's victory, in the face of millions in spending by Musk and Trump's endorsement of her opponent, came courtesy of the same voters who enshrined voter ID in the state Constitution.
"One thing is clear: Republicans will need to rely on more than Trump's support and Musk's money to succeed in the state in 2026."
Jull Colvin of the Associated Press noted that Wisconsin and Florida results both provided early warning signs to Trump and the GOP.
The story quoted prominent conservative podcaster Charlie Kirk.
'We did a lot in Wisconsin, but we fell short," he said. "We must realize and appreciate that we are the LOW PROP party now,' Kirk said, referring to low-propensity voters who don't regularly cast ballots. 'The party has been remade. Special elections and off-cycle elections will continue to be a problem without a change of strategy.'
The story also quoted former Gov. Scott Walker.
'If you're somebody who showed up for Trump because you feel forgotten, you don't typically show up to vote in' these kinds of elections, he said, imagining voters asking themselves: "What does this have to do with Trump?"
Still, Walker said, 'I'd be a little bit careful about reading too much into what happens nationally."
Fox News writer Elizabeth Elkind spoke to Republican Rep. Scott Fitzgerald of Wisconsin before polls closed.
He indicated that the stakes in the election include Act 10, the state law that ended most collective bargaining rights for government employees when passed in 2011, with Fitzgerald helping to usher it through the state Senate.
"They clearly have their sights set on that," Fitzgerald said. "I think they're going to try and come up with some crazy dreamed-up angle on redistricting, and look for a suit that they can weigh in on to try and change the maps before the next election."
NBC News quoted a source "familiar with Musk's thinking" that the billionaire was brushing off the loss as an "uphill battle."
'Elon was a happy warrior this entire race, knowing full well it was an uphill battle," the story by Matt Dixon quoted from the source. "The only reason Schimel was able to make this a race was because Elon got involved. He put the Democrats on defense and made them empty their coffers in a race that should've never been competitive.
'He's going to continue to be active and isn't ceding anything to Democrats,' the source said.
MSNBC pundit Joe Scarborough, host of "Morning Joe," spent some time discussing their belief that Republicans in Washington, D.C., were privately enthusiastic about the outcome as a means of taking Musk down a peg.
"Elon Musk put himself front and center. I think it's safe to say after last night in Wisconsin, the heat shield has melted. It did not hold together coming back into Earth's atmosphere. … He spent tens of millions of his own dollars. I mean, they went all-in on this race and lost big."
The Editorial Board of the Wall Street Journal wrote a column that proclaimed, "The MAGA Backlash Arrives."
"But the elections are a warning to Mr. Trump to focus on what got him re-elected — especially prices and growth in real incomes after inflation. His willy-nilly tariff agenda undermining stock prices and consumer and business confidence isn't helping," it said.
"As for Wisconsin, Republicans in that state will now have to live with a willful Supreme Court majority that could reverse nearly everything the GOP accomplished under former Gov. Scott Walker. School vouchers, collective-bargaining reform for public workers, tort reform and more are likely to be challenged in lawsuits by the left. Congressional district electoral maps will also be challenged and could cost the GOP two House seats.
"The MAGA majority may have a shorter run than advertised."
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin Supreme Court race, Musk impact draw national media analysis