Liberal candidate Susan Crawford has won the Wisconsin Supreme Court election, NBC News projected Tuesday, preserving a liberal majority on the swing state’s highest court.
Crawford, a circuit court judge in Dane County, defeated Brad Schimel, a Waukesha County circuit court judge and former Republican state attorney general.
The election to replace 73-year-old Justice Ann Walsh Bradley, who announced her retirement nearly one year ago, was cast in part as a referendum on billionaire Elon Musk, who poured millions into the race to help Schimel. The winner goes on to serve a 10-year term.
Although the race was officially nonpartisan, clear ideological differences separated Crawford and Schimel — including on labor rights, abortion access and President Donald Trump’s Jan. 6 pardons, among others — as well as the groups that backed them. A slew of prominent Democrats, including former President Barack Obama, backed Crawford; Republicans by and large endorsed Schimel, including Trump.
The race has been the most expensive judicial election in U.S. history. Megadonors from both sides of the political spectrum poured millions into the race, and Musk offered up financial incentives to voters that some claimed were legally suspect. Tuesday’s result is likely to have far-reaching consequences on hot-button issues like abortion and voting rights in the battleground state.
Clarissa-Jan Lim is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW. She was previously a senior reporter and editor at BuzzFeed News.
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