Crawford backed by Democrat wins the Wisconsin Supreme Court race on Schimel backed by musk

Dane County Judge supported by Democrat, Susan Crawford, will win the Hot-Button Supreme Court in Wisconsin, projected The Associated Press on Tuesday. The race was seen as a barometer on how Americans feel at this time in the second mandate of President Donald Trump.

While the race is technically non -partisan, it became the center of a political storm, as well as the objective of millions spent by groups linked to Trump’s technological billionaire and a key advisor to Trump, Elon Musk, who supported Brad Schimel backed by Republicans.

The ABC affiliate, Wisn, reported on Tuesday night that electoral officials in Milwaukee said there is a voting shortage in some voting sites in the city due to “historical participation”, but that voters must remain online and that the staff is working to obtain resources in impacted voting places.

In a victory speech for supporters, Crawford recognized the immense attention and money that attracted the Court control race, particularly from Musk.

“I have to tell you that, when I was a girl who grew up in Chippewa Falls, I could never have imagined that I would face the richest man in the world for justice in Wisconsin, and we won,” he said. “So today, the Wisconsinitas defended an unprecedented attack against our democracy, our fair elections and our Supreme Court. And Wisconsin stood up and said aloud that justice is priceless. Our courts are not on sale.”

Schimel’s supporters shouted “No!” When he told them that he had called Crawford to admit, but he said: “No, no, no, you don’t have to accept the results … I’m not doing any joke. The numbers are not going to change. They are so bad and we will not achieve this.”

When asked earlier on Tuesday what would mean if Musk’s efforts work, Crawford said: “Well, I think it will be a sad day for democracy … but I am quite sure that voters will see through those tactics, and that we will have a successful day.”

Crawford and Schimel were competing for replacing Judge Ann Walsh Bradley, and his apparent victory will consolidate the liberal inclination of the court.

“This is being developed as a presidential style choice. It ignites its television, any local transmission station here throughout the Wisconsin state, is flooded with political advertisements for what is technically a non -partisan judicial race, but this is a complete political career … This is becoming a true litmus test for the first 100 days of the Trump administration,” Milwauke, Wisliate, Wisliate, Wishillate, Wishillate, Wiskiliat Wiskiliat Wiskiliat Wiskilia told ABC News Live presenter, Diane Macedo, last week.

The independent voter Eric Sams voted for Trump in November, but said he voted for Crawford on Tuesday.

“I think women’s rights are problems. Even Trump says it is a state problem. If it will become a state problem, then our state needs to have access so that women can have access to reproductive rights,” Sams said.

Dwayne Heulse also voted for Trump, but said Tuesday that the support of Schimel’s president did not matter.

“I don’t care who Trump supports,” he said. “I will go after the guy that I think is the best, and that is what I look first. He can support the man on the moon, but I will not vote for him unless he feels that this is a person who will comply with the qualities I want, especially as a judge.”

When asked Tuesday about national attention in the race, Schimel said: “If I told me six months ago that this was going to happen, I would not have believed it. But here we are, and you know, you just have to keep your head down. I have been running for Wisconsin voters, it has been a 72 cardy race.”

Crawford will join the bank as the court potentially deal with questions of key voters, such as access to abortion and redistribution of districts. For example, there is a case of the Supreme Court of Wisconsin with respect to whether the Wisconsin Constitution protects the right to abortion, which the court could consider after the new justice is sitting.

The race was also seen as a preview of how voters in the battlefield state feel a few months in Trump’s second mandate, especially because Musk and his work with the federal government through the government’s efficiency department become a key issue given the investments of their groups in the race.

Musk continued to promote the idea that Wisconsin’s choice is important due to how possible cases of districts redistribution could affect the balance of power in the representatives. He affirmed Fox News without offering evidence that if the conservative candidate loses, the Republicans could lose their majority in the Chamber because the districts of the Wisconsin Congress would be redesigned.

“Well, the reason why tonight’s elections are so important is that the judge’s race will decide if the Wisconsin district, the districts are redesigned. They are trying to gerrymander wisconsin to eliminate two republican seats. And as you know, the camera is currently republican republican by a thin margin of shaving, which means that losing this race judge Losing camera control, “Musk currently said.

However, the justice chosen will not take the districts of charges and order that they be reduced. The Court could visit the Congress districts again if the issue is presented before the Court in one case.

“That is why it is so significant, and anywhere controls the house, to a significant degree, controls the country that then directs the course of Western civilization,” Musk said in a high -profile town hall on Sunday in Green Bay.

On Sunday, the technology billionaire also controversially gave two $ 1 million checks to the attendees in a demonstration in their last effort to support Schimel.

Schimel is a former state attorney general and judge of the Circuit Court in Waukesha County. He received almost $ 20 million in support (as expenses for television ads) from Monday from groups linked to Musk, On behalf of the Brennan Center for Justice.

Schimel has also received Trump endorsements, Musk, Donald Trump Jr. and other key conservative figures.

Schimel has welcomed the conservative support, but said in a demonstration last week that he would deal with any case, even if it were a case presented by Trump.

However, Crawford and his allies have claimed that he would not deal with cases that involve Trump or Musk fairly, and she made Musk a main objective of her campaign.

Schimel, asked Thursday By ABC Affiliate Wisn To share his final argument before the last days in the race, he said: “My final argument is that people need to take this career seriously. So much is at stake. We have to restore objectivity to this court at this time … We have to put the court again in its appropriate role in which the law is not doing. It is not going through a political agenda. It is applying the law of the law, to the law of facts.

Crawford is Judge of the Dane County Circuit Court and former private lawyer. At some points, he represented democratic aligned groups such as Planned Parenthood, an organization that supports access to abortion.

The main liberal donors as the governor of Illinois JB Pritzker and Democratic donor George Soros have given money to the Wisconsin Democratic Party, and the state party has donated $ 2 million to Crawford. The National Democratic Party has also invested in the race. It also has the backs of former President Barack Obama and former vice president Kamala Harris.

Crawford He told Wisn That his final argument was about an impartial court: “It is about ensuring that we have a Supreme Court that is fair and impartial when interpreting our laws to protect the rights of the Wisconsinites. The other option is an extreme partisan, someone who is being sold to special interests, has a long history of doing that, and now has been tied to Elon Musk.”

According to Brennan Center for Justice, until Monday, more than $ 90 million has been spent in the race – Taking it into the most expensive judicial election in the history of the nation. That amount includes more than $ 49 million spent by Schimel or groups that support it, and more than $ 40 million spent by Crawford or groups that support it.

The non -profit organization says that the previous record of spending in a career in the State Supreme Court was in the Supreme Court of the Wisconsin State in 2023, when $ 56 million were spent.

The voters realized. A Wisconsinite who voted early told Wisn: “There is a lot of external money, in our state. And I wanted to make sure my voice is represented and not other people.”

Until Monday, around 644,000 people in Wisconsin had voted early in person or mail, according to the Wisconsin Electoral Commission.

Associated Press also projected that the voting initiative that will enshrine a requirement of having a vote photo identification in the Wisconsin State Constitution.

State law already requires an identification with a photo to vote in Wisconsin; Getting it in the constitution of the State will not establish new requirements, but it will probably make it difficult to undo the law.

Democratic groups and voting rights organizations criticized the voting initiative as voters potentially deprived of their rights. The supporters of the initiative argue that it will strengthen electoral security in Wisconsin and consolidate a requirement that has already been in force.

A survey of the Law Faculty of the University of Marquette Taken at the end of February He also discovered that most voters registered in Wisconsin support the identification with photo to vote, and separately, most voters recorded in Wisconsin said they would support the voting initiative.

Rachel Scott of ABC News, Ben Siegel, Will Steakin, Averi Harper, Hannah Demissie, Katherine Faulders and Kerr contributed to this report.