With only days left until voters head to the polls in the Wisconsin Supreme Court race, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) is wading into what has become the most expensive judicial election in U.S. history. Moreover, it’s using the Left’s latest right-wing boogeyman, Elon Musk, to scare Democratic voters to the polls.
Next Tuesday’s contest between liberal candidate Susan Crawford and conservative candidate Brad Schimel for the prized seat on Wisconsin’s Supreme Court, technically a nonpartisan race, comes with the potential to sway control of the U.S. House of Representatives to Democrats after the 2026 midterm elections.
A Schimel victory will shift Wisconsin’s Supreme Court to majority conservative once again. A Crawford victory, however, will maintain the liberal majority. It will also embolden Democrats to file litigation that will result in the redrawing of the Dairy State’s congressional map to a more Democrat-friendly one. Experts speculate this would flip two Republican-leaning districts to Democrats. A version of this happened with Wisconsin’s legislative map after liberals took control of the court in 2023.
The importance of this race has not been lost on big-money donors of both parties.
Big Money
Among those pouring piles of cash into Crawford’s campaign are George Soros, who has fueled the campaigns of numerous radical Marxist district attorneys across the country and supported open borders campaigns; Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, who has presided over one of the largest state exoduses in the Union and whose family has used its fortune to fund various radical leftist causes; and LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, who has donated at least $64 million to radical left-wing causes and candidates since 2015.
Crawford’s war chest is almost twice that of Schimel’s, according to recent reporting from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. She has raised $26 million, almost double the $14 million Schimel has raised. Moreover, 77 percent of Crawford’s donors come from outside Wisconsin, compared with only 15 percent of Schimel’s backers.
This doesn’t include additional money allocated in support of both candidates. According to the Brennan Center for Justice and news outlet WisPolitics, more than $80 million has been shoveled into the race as of March 25. Analysts expect that amount to reach $100 million by election day on Tuesday. It is far more than the amount spent in the previous costliest judicial race in American history. In 2023, the Wisconsin Supreme Court race between liberal justice Janet Protasiewicz and conservative Daniel Kelly, who lost, netted $56 million.
Elon’s Election?
Despite Crawford receiving most of her support from outside and outraising Schimel, the Democratic National Committee is shamelessly billing the race as one that Elon Musk, a major donor to Schimel’s campaign, is trying to buy. Musk has donated $3 million to the Republican Party of Wisconsin for this race. Two pro-Schimel groups linked to Musk, America PAC and Building America’s Future, have also spent about $17 million, as of March 25.
Nevertheless, on Friday morning the DNC sent a scaremongering email with the subject line “Ahead of April 1 Elections, DNC Blankets Wisconsin Newspapers to Call Out Elon Musk’s Scheme to Buy Wisconsin Election for Brad Schimel.” In the email, the DNC painted Schimel as a Musk stooge:
As Elon Musk pours millions of dollars into an upcoming Wisconsin election to support a politician willing to do his bidding, the DNC will remind Wisconsin voters that “Wisconsin is not for sale” ahead of Election Day.
The DNC also announced that it will be blanketing local Wisconsin newspapers with ads “exposing Musk’s meddling in the Wisconsin Supreme Court race.” The ads will appear in newspapers across Wisconsin including the Chippewa Herald, Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter, Beloit Daily News, Daily Jefferson County Union, Janesville Gazette, Watertown Daily Times, and Oshkosh Northwestern.
Trump Endorsement
The race has prompted President Trump to not only endorse Schimel, but to call an audible on one of his nominations. On Thursday, he withdrew the nomination of Elise Stefanik for UN ambassador. He said in a Truth Social post:
I have asked Elise, as one of my biggest Allies, to remain in Congress to help me deliver Historic Tax Cuts, GREAT Jobs, Record Economic Growth, a Secure Border, Energy Dominance, Peace Through Strength, and much more, so we can MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN. With a very tight Majority, I don’t want to take a chance on anyone else running for Elise’s seat. The people love Elise and, with her, we have nothing to worry about come Election Day.
Investigative researcher and election expert Jacob Grandstaff recently explained at The Federalist the major role this race can play in swinging control of the House to Democrats:
In 2024, Rep. Bryan Steil, R-Wis., won the 1st Congressional District by 40,000 votes. Rep. Derrick Van Orden, R-Wis., won the 3rd Congressional District by just 11,000 votes. It would only take a slight reshuffling of District 1 into parts of Milwaukee and District 3 into part of Dane County to turn both into noncompetitive, safe Democrat districts.
Republicans hold a slim 218-213 House majority. The four vacancies requiring special elections are in evenly split safe districts, which could bring Republicans’ advantage to 220–215.
However, if Democrats pull an upset victory in New York District 21’s special election after GOP Rep. Elise Stefanik vacates her seat, Republicans will hold a razor-thin 219-216 majority. Handing Wisconsin’s 1st and 3rd Congressional Districts to Democrats through redistricting will give them a near automatic one-seat majority before anyone even casts a ballot in 2026.
Grandstaff wrote this just before Trump pulled Stefanik’s nomination.
Republicans currently hold 218 seats and Democrats 213 seats in the House. Four seats are now vacant, two of which are safe GOP seats and two safe Democratic seats.
Related Article:
Wisconsin Judicial Race Can Swing U.S. House to Dems in 2026
