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.








