On Tuesday night, at 9:43 pm ET, a little less than an hour after the polls closed in Wisconsin, liberal Judge Susan Crawford was announced the winner of the state's Supreme Court race. She was heavily backed by Democrats. After an April 2023 race saw Judge Janet Protasiewicz, who was also backed by Democrats, win an open seat, the court shifted to a 4-3 liberal majority. Liberals get to maintain their majority on the court.
Decision Desk HQ projects Susan Crawford wins election to the Wisconsin Supreme Court.#DecisionMade: 9:41 PM EDT
— Decision Desk HQ (@DecisionDeskHQ) April 2, 2025
Results: https://t.co/xANhmetrz1 pic.twitter.com/jATzSTGp0m
With an estimated 35 percent of the vote in, Crawford enjoys 58 percent support to Republican-backed Brad Schimel's 42 percent support. Schimel had previously served as the Republican attorney general for Wisconsin as well as a district attorney and circuit court judge.
While President Donald Trump, former Gov. Scott Walker, Elon Musk and the Republican State Leadership Committee (RSLC) were valiantly involved in encouraging Wisconsin voters to choose Brad Schimel, Crawford still emerged victorious. As Walker in particular had warned, she was a Soros-backed judge. She also received a considerable amount of donations from out of state.
Crawford's win is not entirely unexpected. Beyond how Wisconsin is one of the key swing states, some polling showed a close race, though one where the Democrat-backed judge enjoyed an edge.
— Tom Bevan (@TomBevanRCP) April 1, 2025
There's further nationwide implications as well, beyond the donations she received. As Walker in particular has warned about, and as Townhall has covered, Republicans could lose two Congressional seats due to redistricting.
As Guy covered last Tuesday, a week before this race:
...Supporters of the leftist candidate have made it explicitly clear that one of their political goals in this race is to redraw the state's Congressional lines, just as the current 4-3 liberal majority recent eliminated and reestablished the state's legislative districts. They openly intend to try to swing two US House seats to the Democrats, which would be a very big deal, as anyone who's been keeping even a casual eye on national politics knows.
CNN's Manu Raju spoke with one of the Republicans who feared he would be affected, Rep. Derrick Van Orden. He predicted his seat would be gone, as would Rep. Bryan Steil.
Van Orden represents Wisconsin's 3rd Congressional District, while Steil represents the state's 1st Congressional District and chairs the Committee on House Administration.
GOP Rep. Derrick Van Orden predicted he and Rep Bryan Steil would end up losing their seats if Dem-backed Susan Crawford wins the WI Supreme Court race — because of redistricting.
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) April 2, 2025
“We both lose,” he told me. “So that's why everyone's paying attention to this on a national level”
There was a silver lining, however. Voters also voted in favor of a ballot initiative to require voter ID. Trump had posted his support of that ballot initiative, as well as his support for Schimel.
Decision Desk HQ projected the initiative to have passed at 9:21pm ET, minutes after the polls closed. With just 7 percent of the vote reporting, a vote for Issue 1 enjoyed 70.1 percent support.
Republicans also at least saw wins with special elections from Florida. State Sen. Randy Fine won his race to replace now former Rep. Mike Waltz, who resigned on January 20 to serve as Trump's national security advisor. Florida's Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis also won his race to replace now former Matt Gaetz, who resigned last November not long after he was nominated to serve as Trump's attorney general, though he withdrew his name from consideration.