MADISON, Wis. (AP) 鈥� Susan Crawford鈥檚 over a conservative candidate and billionaire cemented a liberal majority on the state鈥檚 top court for at least three more years and dealt a devastating blow to Republicans who fear it paves the way for rulings that will overturn or block the GOP's agenda in the swing state.
Trump, Musk and other Republican leaders fear means the court controlled 4-3 by liberals will in a way that could help Democrats to win at least two seats and regain the majority.
Crawford's backers, including Democratic U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, said electing Crawford was important so she and other liberal justices can order Wisconsin's congressional boundary lines to be redrawn.
Last year, the court a Democratic-backed challenge to the state's congressional lines. That decision drew criticism from one of Wisconsin's two House Democrats, Rep. Mark Pocan, who said Wednesday that he hopes a new lawsuit will be filed soon.
鈥淚f you have two seats out of eight in a purple, 50-50 state, clearly there鈥檚 gerrymandering going on," Pocan said.
Abortion, voting rules and union cases await the court
Waiting in the wings are cases that could solidify the in Wisconsin and undo former Republican Gov. Scott Walker's that stripped collective bargaining rights from teachers and most other public workers.
Before the election, Walker said he worried the court would target the state's 鈥渞ight-to-work鈥� law that he signed and look for ways to scale back the program that allows students to attend private schools with a taxpayer-funded voucher.
Crawford pushed back against those allegations in an interview Wednesday.
鈥淎ny case that comes before the Wisconsin Supreme Court, I鈥檓 going to decide based on the law and not some partisan agenda,鈥� she told The Associated Press. 鈥淚鈥檓 not going to be making any decisions based on my policy views or any kind of political agenda. I鈥檓 going to be basing them on what the constitution requires and the law requires.鈥�
Jeff Mandell, general counsel of the liberal Madison law firm Law Forward, said he didn't think the strategy would be to 鈥渞efight every past battle.鈥�
鈥淪ometimes, when I hear that rhetoric it seems to me there鈥檚 a fear or belief that we have this whole file of prewritten lawsuits on every issue they鈥檝e won on the last set number of years,鈥� he said. 鈥淎t least for me, that鈥檚 not true.鈥�
Billionaires spent heavily in the race
Crawford in a race that saw spending of around $100 million, including more than and groups he controls. Democratic billionaires got behind Crawford, with George Soros contributing $2 million and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker throwing in $1.5 million.
Those supporting Schimel spent $8 million more than Crawford's backers, based on a tally by the Brennan Center for Justice.
All of the attention resulted in record-high turnout of over 50% of the voting age population, breaking the previous record for a Wisconsin Supreme Court election by about 10 points set in 2023.
based on unofficial results, just below the 11-point victory by the liberal candidate in the 2023 race. That election flipped control of the court from conservatives who had held it for 15 years.
The court has already handed Democrats wins
Over the past two years, the court has served as a check on Wisconsin's Republican-controlled Legislature.
The and Democrats picked up seats in the November election and hope to take control of at least one chamber of the Legislature in 2026.
The court also overturned a decision by the former conservative court that banned absentee ballot drop boxes.
Liberal's win has an impact on the 2026 governor's race
Schimel's loss had Republicans worried about what that means for 2026, when Democratic Gov. Tony Evers' is up for reelection to a third term.
And with a liberal court there to potentially block a Republican governor's agenda, Walker asked: "Who would ever want to run for governor?鈥�
Democrats say Crawford's win shows Republicans need to moderate.
鈥淭he people of Wisconsin are not really going in for some kind of large scale agenda that Trump and Musk are selling,鈥� said Patrick Guarasci, a top adviser to the Crawford campaign who has also been involved in gubernatorial races. 鈥淭he Republicans need to come back to the center.鈥�
Scott Bauer, The Associated Press
