The April 1 Wisconsin Supreme Court election has taken on national significance, with Democratic donors, activists and the national grassroots organization Swing Left framing the race as a chance to redraw the state’s congressional map and flip two Republican-held U.S. House seats.
A two seat flip would erase the Republicans’ current 218-215 advantage in the House of Representatives.
Wisconsin’s Liberal Supreme Court Justice candidate Susan Crawford’s participation in a national donor briefing discussing this strategy has intensified the mid-term redistricting controversy.
Only two candidates are running to replace retiring Justice Ann Walsh Bradley, a reliable liberal jurist on the Court.
Crawford, a Dane County Circuit Judge and former top Democratic operative, is running against conservative Waukesha County Circuit Judge Brad Schimel in a contest that will determine whether the court’s 4-3 liberal majority holds or shifts to conservative control. The race has drawn millions in donations from billionaire megadonors, with Democratic philanthropist George Soros, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman from California funneling (legally) significant funds through the Wisconsin Democratic Party to Crawford’s campaign. Republicans, backed by Wisconsin business owner Diane Hendricks and other GOP donors from Wisconsin and across the country, are supporting Schimel.
Swing Left, which mobilizes its network of 1 million grassroots volunteers and donors to elect Democrats, recently publicized its involvement in the race. In their announcement, the group emphasized that the election could influence the maps for 2026 midterms and have implications on the 2028 presidential election.
This is not speculation or conjecture.
Crawford participated in a Jan. 13 donor briefing organized by the liberal group Focus for Democracy. An email invitation to the event, titled “Chance to put two more House seats in play for 2026,” featured Crawford alongside Wisconsin Democratic Party Chairman Ben Wikler who recently failed in his attempt to become chair of the Democratic National Committee. The New York Times reported that the call was organized by Hoffman, raising concerns among Republicans that Crawford’s potential victory could very well lead to a court-ordered redistricting favoring Democrats.
Republicans seized on the donor call, accusing Crawford of bias.
“Susan Crawford was caught offering 2 congressional seats in exchange for donations. She will use our Supreme Court as a political weapon.,” Schimel’s campaign posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.
However, Crawford’s campaign dismissed the allegations.
“She has not publicly or privately commented on congressional redistricting at any time and was on this call briefly to share her background and why she is running,” spokesperson Derrick Honeyman explained in a statement.
The controversy brought the engagement of America Pac, a political organization backed by billionaire Elon Musk, which began running ads in Wisconsin this week to support Schimel. The ads, airing on local television and digital platforms, focus on Crawford’s participation in the donor briefing and portray her as beholden to out-of-state liberal donors. Democrats criticized the move, with the state party accusing Musk of attempting to “buy” the court, while Republicans welcomed the support as a way to offset the millions in national money coming in to assist Crawford.
The court’s liberal majority was secured in 2023 with a double digit blowout victory for liberal candidate Janet Protasiewicz over conservative Dan Kelly. Kelly was attempting a comeback to the court after losing his seat in 2020 , also by double digits, to now-Justice Jlll Karofsky.
After Protasiewicz joined the court, it struck down the Republican-drawn state legislative maps, leading to Democratic gains in the state Legislature in the November 2024 elections. However, the Court left the congressional district maps intact. Democrats now see a potential Crawford victory as an opportunity to revisit the issue.
Beyond redistricting, the race could impact abortion laws, the public labor laws commonly known as Act 10 and various election reforms. The current court has not let precedent be a guiding factor in their recent decisions as they’ve revisited issues settled by the state Supreme Court under previous Conservative majorities.
Crawford has raised over $7.7 million, including $3 million legally passed through the state Democratic Party, while Schimel has collected $5.1 million, with nearly $1.7 million via the state Republican Party account. With spending projected to exceed the $56 million record set in the 2023 Supreme Court race, the contest is shaping up as a critical test of political enthusiasm in the early stages of Trump’s second term.
Which is why, for the next month and a half, Wisconsin will once again receive national attention as a political battleground.
