Voters go to the surveys on Tuesday in Wisconsin for a Hot-Button race that could offer a barometer on how Americans feel at this time in the second mandate of President Donald Trump.
The Waukesha County Judge backed by the Republicans, Brad Schimel, and Dane County Judge backed by Democrat, Susan Crawford, are the candidates in the career of the Supreme Court of the Marqueo State on Tuesday, which technically is not partisan, but has become the center of a political storm, as well as the objective of millions of millions of groups linked to the groups of groups linked to the groups. of technology and key triumph advisor.
The election will determine which of the candidates, competing to replace the retired judge Ann Walsh Bradley, will help determine the ideological inclination of the court, which is currently inclined liberal.
“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 winner of this career will join the bank as the court potentially be dealt with issues 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 could also obtain 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.
Elon Musk arrives at a town hall with a cheese head hat at the Ki Convention Center on March 30, 2025 in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
Scott Olson/Getty Images
Musk has indicated that he is interested in the race due to the possibility that the court would assume the cases of redistribution of districts, which could affect the balance of power in the United States house if decisions make the Maps of Congress come back to work.
“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.
Musk has involved that “the future of civilization” is at stake with the race. 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, the candidate backed by Republicans, is a former state attorney general and judge of the Circuit Court in Waukesha County. He has 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, 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 has turned Musk into a main objective of her campaign.
The candidate of the Supreme Court of Wisconsin, Brad Schimel, Centro, speaks with supporters as former governor Scott Walker, left, watches, March 31, 2025, in Madison, Wis.
Scott Bauer/AP
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, backed by Democrats, is a judge of the Dane County Circuit Court and a 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.
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.”
The judge of the Dane County Circuit Court, Susan Crawford, candidate for the Supreme Court of Wisconsin, speaks during a campaign stop, on March 29, 2025, in Milwaukee.
Scott Olson/Getty Images
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.
Voters have 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 voted early in person or by mail, according to the Wisconsin Electoral Commission.
The judge of the Dane County Circuit Court, Susan Crawford, candidate for the Supreme Court of Wisconsin, talks to supporters during a campaign stop at the headquarters of the Waukesha County Democratic Party, on March 29, 2025, in Waukesha, Wis .. Milwaukee.
Scott Olson/Getty Images
Voters in Wisconsin will also vote on a voting initiative about whether they will consecrate a photo identification in the state constitution. The voter ID is already required by state law; Grease it in the constitution of the State would not establish new requirements, but it would probably make it difficult to undo the law.
Democratic groups and voting rights organizations have 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 is consolidating 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 and Katherine Faulders contributed to this report.
