U.S. Circuit Court Judge Susan Crawford is running to become a member of the Wisconsin Supreme Court and succeed retiring justice Ann Walsh Bradley. It is a 10-year term.
The former prosecutor Crawford said: “I’m running for Supreme Court justice to protect the basic rights and freedoms of Wisconsinites under our constitution. Those rights are threatened by an all-out effort to politicize the court to drive a right-wing agenda – I believe Wisconsin deserves better.”
Crawford has received the endorsements of four of the seven sitting Wisconsin Supreme Justices (Bradley, Rebecca Dallett, Jill Karofsky, and Janet Protasiewicz). She also has the backing of former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Louis Butler and U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin, among others.
During an interview with MeidasTouch (below), Crawford revealed that the world’s richest man, Elon Musk, “is spending millions of dollars on these phony attack ads against me and trying to get Brad Schimel on the Supreme Court.”
Judge Susan Crawford: I think that is exactly why Elon Musk is spending millions of dollars on these phony attack ads against me and trying to get Brad Schimel on the Supreme Court. He’s got a partisan agenda; Brad Schimmel is only too willing to help him out with that. We need… pic.twitter.com/y0NEyirXS4
— Acyn (@Acyn) March 9, 2025
Republican Brad Schimel, former Attorney General of Wisconsin, is also a Wisconsin circuit court judge.
According to the Minnesota Star Tribune, Musk has spent more than $5 million to support Schimel’s campaign, including $2 million on television ads from his PAC Building America’s Future, and $3.2 million on digital ads, mailers, and canvassing from his America PAC.
Crawford said of Musk: “He’s got a partisan agenda; Brad Schimmel is only too willing to help him out with that. We need to have a Wisconsin Supreme Court that’s working for the people of Wisconsin, not one that is working for Elon Musk.”
Note: Musk’s company Tesla filed a lawsuit in January against the state of Wisconsin, which has blocked Tesla from opening dealerships in the state. It’s a case that could end up before the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
Schimel denied that Musk and his financial backing would influence him if elected. He said: ‘‘I don’t have any agenda that I’m working alongside anyone,” and noted that Crawford also has the support of “out-of-state” billionaires, including George Soros and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker.
Howls of protest are rising from every corner of Wisconsin, and of the country. And we’ve got the first statewide test coming up in 32 days: Wisconsin’s Supreme Court race. Help us beat Brad Schimel and Elon Musk—by chipping in to elect Susan Crawford:https://t.co/Oig07D7hF0
— Ben Wikler (@benwikler) February 28, 2025
Note: According to the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, the nonprofit organization that tracks campaign spending, “groups backing Schimel have already spent about $12.3 million on the race, compared with just $2.8 million for Crawford.”
The 2025 Wisconsin Supreme Court election will be held on April 1, 2025.