National figures across the political aisle are descending on Wisconsin as early voting is underway for the April 1 election, where the race between Waukesha County Circuit Judge Brad Schimel and Dane County Circuit Judge Susan Crawford is heating up and making history as the most expensive judicial race in the country.
Donald Trump Jr. headlined a Turning Point Action town hall in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, on Monday with Turning Point President and Co-Founder Charlie Kirk. Turning Point Action, a nonprofit focused on electing conservative leaders, launched a “Commit 100” voter turnout operation in Wisconsin to support Schimel’s candidacy, the Republican-backed former Wisconsin attorney general.
“We understand that these kind of races that people don’t always hear about, they could tip the scales of the entire future of the Republic. . . . We have to save our court in order to save this great state of Wisconsin,” Kirk told Wisconsin voters on Monday.
The Democratic National Committee (DNC) announced on Tuesday a coordinated campaign for Crawford, the Democrat-backed candidate for Wisconsin Supreme Court. The DNC said it will host 12 text and phone banks and deploy thousands of volunteers to deter Elon Musk’s influence on the election.
‘HE CANNOT BUY AN ELECTION HERE IN WISCONSIN’: SANDERS SLAMS MUSK IN STATE TRUMP WON BY LESS THAN 1%
“When I went to Wisconsin to knock doors last month, folks told me they don’t want billionaires like Elon Musk running our federal government, and they certainly don’t want him buying our elections,” DNC Chair Ken Martin said in a statement.
“After what I heard on the ground, we’re investing earlier than ever before. The best way to curb Elon Musk’s influence is to organize everywhere, win races, and stop him in his tracks. Right-wing billionaire money is allergic to grassroots organizing, which is why Democrats will call more than 2 million Wisconsin voters—hosting 12 text and phone banks and sending thousands of volunteers into action. The DNC is all hands on deck, because Wisconsin is not for sale,” he added.
“Americans for Prosperity-Wisconsin’s grassroots army has connected with over 300,000 voters since before Thanksgiving – hearing from parents, business owners, and community members alike and their message is clear— Wisconsinites know that radical Susan Crawford would not protect the rule of law, our public safety, or preserve our constitutional rights. AFP-WI remains laser focused on supporting Brad Schimel through April 1st because the future of our state, and our country, depends on it,” Megan Novak, State Director for Americans for Prosperity Wisconsin, said in a statement to Fox News Digital.
The group will lead canvassing efforts in the Milwaukee area on Friday.
The winner of April’s Supreme Court election will hold the “nonpartisan” position for a 10-year term, dictating the balance of power in Wisconsin that could determine the battleground state’s political trajectory. Due in part to billionaire investments from Musk and George Soros, the race is on track to be the most expensive judicial race in the United States, according to campaign finance reports.
The Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chair Ben Wikler described the election as an “all-hands-on-deck moment” and framed the election as a competition against Musk himself.
“With Wisconsin voters up against the world’s richest man, this is an all-hands-on-deck moment and we’re thrilled to have the support of the DNC in this fight,” Wikler said. “Elections in Wisconsin often come down to a hairsbreadth, and every voter we can turn out to support Judge Susan Crawford and Dr. Jill Underly on April 1 can make the difference between keeping Wisconsin on a path of progress or letting Elon Musk and Donald Trump drag us backwards.”
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., during a stop on his “Fighting Oligarchy” Tour in Altoona, Wisconsin, targeted Musk for donating to the conservative candidate Schimel. Campaign reports reveal Musk’s Building America’s Future and America PAC have spent millions on Schimel’s campaign. The Wisconsin Democratic Party responded with a $2 million donation to Crawford, which included a $1 million donation from Soros.
April’s election is expected to shatter the fundraising record set by the 2023 Supreme Court race, when Justice Janet Protasiewicz’s victory secured a 4-3 liberal majority for the Badger State. Schimel and Crawford are competing to replace the liberal-leaning Justice Ann Walsh Bradley. A win for Schimel would give conservatives the majority, while a win for Crawford would maintain the liberal majority.
“We remember back in 2023, a couple of years ago, the off-election year, where we should have won that Supreme Court seat, and we didn’t. And now the balance of power is slipping in one direction. And we did not want to be taken by surprise again,” Kirk said on Monday to explain his involvement in the race.
“George Soros . . . JB Pritzker and all those other billionaires are spending millions of dollars here,” Gov. Scott Walker, R-Wisc., said at the Turning Point Action town hall.
Walker said Democrats have fallen in step with Crawford because “if she’s elected, they’re going to pick up two more seats currently held by Republicans in the House of Representatives from Wisconsin by gerrymandering those seats.” He said that “could be the end of President Trump’s agenda” in Wisconsin.
“We cannot let that happen. The court is not for partisanship. The court is the place to uphold the Constitution and the laws of the state. That’s why we need to elect Brad Schimel,” Walker said.
“They will redistrict the hell out of this thing,” Trump Jr. added. “They will break every rule imaginable. They will negate everything and say you don’t have standing and say you can’t combat it. We made such incredible gains over the last few years, because people saw exactly what was at stake and got engaged. We cannot take our foot off the gas for one second.”
Conservatives urged Wisconsin voters on Monday night to “stay vigilant” despite Republicans winning big on November 5.
“We have to stay vigilant,” Schimel said. “If we want the voices of people with morality to be heard, if we want freedom-loving people, who don’t want to be a socialist nation, to be heard, we have to get out and vote. And we’ve got to get our neighbors, our friends, our families, everybody to come with us. This is our mission. We’ve got to go and finish this job on April 1st.”
Trump Jr. echoed the conservative judge’s sentiment, reminding Wisconsinites they “can’t just show up when Trump’s on the ticket.”
“They’re trying to negate the election. They’re trying to negate the mandate. So we all have to just stay involved all the way through. It doesn’t matter what it is. We can’t just show up when Trump’s on the ticket. We [have] to show up because we understand what [Democrats’] entire apparatus is trying to do to our country.”
Trump Jr. said the “lawfare” his father experienced was only possible because of liberal judges, and now that Trump is back in the White House, it’s those very judges who are trying to block his executive actions.
“That’s what’s at stake right here. That could become Wisconsin. This one race is the difference between that essential anarchy or a one-party monopoly—and sanity, our Constitution, common sense. It literally hinges on this one little battle by most political respects, but it’s so fundamentally important,” Trump Jr said.
Wisconsin could be a bellwether for upcoming elections in 2025 and the midterms in 2026—an opportunity to gauge public perception during Trump’s first few months back in the White House.
“This is the roadblock that could be for this entire state, perhaps even the entire region. This is a marker. This is what they will use to drive turnout, to get enthusiasm, to raise more funds for every other race that we got for the next two years,” Trump Jr. said.
Gov. Tim Walz, D-Minn., and Wisconsin Democrats are holding a “People v. Musk” town hall in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, on Tuesday night, closing out the first day of early voting in Wisconsin for the April 1 election.
The race between Crawford and Schimel is one of the first major elections in a battleground state since the 2024 presidential election. Trump won battleground Wisconsin by less than a percentage point in 2024.
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