Wisconsin Supreme Court race is likely to double spending record

Yahoo

17-03-2025

Spending by candidates and outside groups combined will break records again in this year's Wisconsin Supreme Court race. (Getty Images)
Spending in the 2025 Wisconsin Supreme Court race could be two times as high as the record-breaking $51 million spent in the last election for a seat on the state's highest court, and outside spending is dwarfing what the candidates themselves have raised so far this year.
The race, between Dane County Judge Susan Crawford and Waukesha County Judge Brad Schimel, will determine whether the Court maintains a 4-3 liberal majority that flipped two years ago or reverts to a conservative majority that was in place for more than a decade previously.
'We're watching money just flood from out of state into Wisconsin,' said Nick Ramos, executive director of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, in a briefing Monday about campaign finance trends with two weeks to go before Election Day April 1. 'It would not be crazy to say that this race could be double what the last Supreme Court race was, especially with the trends and especially with the track that we're on.'
Crawford is ahead in fundraising by the campaigns themselves, raising $7.36 million. Among her donors, 35 have given the maximum Wisconsin allows an individual to donate to a single candidate, $20,000.
Schimel's campaign has raised $4.93 million. There are 47 donors who have given him the maximum allowed under Wisconsin law.
The Court race is officially nonpartisan, but over the last couple of decades candidates have divided along partisan as well as ideological lines. Crawford's campaign has received $3 million from the Democratic Party of Wisconsin's Political Action Committee (PAC), and the Wisconsin Republican Party PAC has given $1.68 million to Schimel's campaign.
Independent expenditures, however, have so far favored Schimel over Crawford by roughly 3 to 1. Independent expenditures, which explicitly favor or oppose a candidate, are spent by groups outside the campaigns.
Independent groups supporting Crawford have spent $7.79 million on pro-Crawford or anti-Schimel advertising — as much as her campaign has raised so far. But independent groups' spending on Schimel's behalf is almost three times that: $21.45 million.
With 15 days until Election Day, the independent expenditure total in the 2025 race is more than twice what it was at the same point in the 2023 state Supreme Court contest: $29.24 million compared with $14.4 million.
'Credit' for the trend goes to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in the Citizens United case that unleashed corporate and union spending on campaigns and to a 2015 rewrite of state law that brought on 'this wild west of campaign spending here in Wisconsin,' Ramos said.
The data also shows the outsized influence of billionaires on state politics, he said. Among the biggest spenders in the race are groups funded by Elon Musk and Richard Uihlein, Wisconsin Democracy Campaign reports.
The top two biggest-spending independent groups favoring Schimel are linked to billionaire Musk: America PAC, spending $6.53 million so far, and Building America's Future, spending $4.54 million, according to the Democracy Campaign.
Three other pro-Schimel organizations have been funded by Uihlein, owner of the office supplies company Uline: Fair Courts America, Americas PAC IEO, and American Principles Project PAC. Another Uihlein organization, Restoration PAC has also contributed to the American Principles Project PAC, according to the Democracy Campaign.
Launched 30 years ago, the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign tracks political spending in the state. The nonpartisan organization also promotes campaign finance reform as well as voting rights and access, along with other pro-democracy policies.
Ramos said voters shouldn't let the immense sums that a few are plowing into the race discourage them from going to the polls or to believe their vote won't matter. 'At the end of the day, money does not vote, people do, and your power and your voice is that vote,' he said.
Early voting starts Tuesday in Wisconsin, and the Democracy Campaign is taking part in campaigns to encourage people to vote early and 'for folks to just continue to be civically engaged,' Ramos added.
The Democracy Campaign also tracks spending on issue ads — advertising that does not include direct messages to vote for or against a candidate, but highlights information that paints candidates in a favorable or unfavorable light.
Issue ad spending is more difficult to track, and donors behind issue ad spending aren't required to be disclosed under Wisconsin law. Total issue ad spending data will probably not be available until the summer, said Molly Carmichael, the Democracy Campaign's communications director.
'Phony issue ads flood our airwaves with disinformation and, somehow, have even less reporting requirements than other forms of spending,' said Ramos. 'It's another part of our unregulated, unruly money in politics problems we're going to need to clean up.'
One set of issue ads in the Court race has come under scrutiny for masquerading as a pro-Crawford campaign while it's funded by a conservative group with ties to Musk.
The Facebook and Instagram ads as well as related text messages 'are labeled as coming from a group called Progress 2028 and are made to look like authentic messages of support' for Crawford, the Associated Press reported March 5. But records for the ads showed they were underwritten by a conservative PAC for which Musk is a major contributor, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The ads describe Crawford as a 'progressive champion,' the AP reported, while they focus 'on hot-button issues' and use language 'that potentially diminishes her standing with moderate or conservative voters.'
Spending in the hotly contested race for the office of state superintendent is just a fraction of the money being spent on the state Supreme Court race. That election will choose the person to head the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction (DPI).
Incumbent Jill Underly has raised $139,495 as of Monday, according to the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign. Kinser, a former charter school leader and school choice lobbyist, has raised more than double that, $316,316.
As with the high court race, the DPI contest is officially nonpartisan, but each candidate has been favored by one particular political party. The Democratic Party of Wisconsin has given Underly $56,118 from its PAC. The Republican Party has given Kinser $2,500.
Kinser has also benefited more from independent expenditures, with $40,518 spent to promote her or oppose Underly. Independent spending in favor of Underly or opposing Kinser has been about half as much, $23,177.
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