Democrats’ win in Wisconsin court race is loss for Musk

Judge Susan Crawford survived President Joe Biden’s endorsement and a late-surging conservative Brad Schimel, defeating him in a way that the face of the election was billionaire Elon Musk. Musk and his affiliated groups sunk at least $21 million into the nominally non-partisan race and paid three individual voters to each endorse Schimel in a pathetic last-minute effort to sabotage the first major statewide contest that made the race the first major test of the political impact of Musk, whose prominence in President Donald Trump’s administration has skyrocketed with his rapid-cost-cutting initiative at his slumping federal agencies.

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Crawford and the Democrats who backed her made Musk the focus of their arguments for holding the seat, contending he was “buying” the election, which set records for the costliest judicial race in history.

“Today Wisconsinites fended off an unprecedented attack on our democracy, our fair election and our Supreme Court. Crawford said in her victory speech. Wisconsin stood up and said that justice does not have a price, our courts are not for sale.”

Trump endorsed Schimel as the race turned into a proxy fight over national political issues. The state’s high court can rule on cases involving voting rights and redistricting in a state likely to be at the center of both next year’s midterm elections and the 2028 presidential contest.