The First True Test
April 1st is 15 days away.
While a lot has been made about the two Florida special elections for Congress, the truth is that a more realistic opportunity exists 1,400 miles north in the Badger State. That same day, the voters of Wisconsin will be voting in a spring off-year election to determine the immediate future of their State Supreme Court. With a current 3-3 ideological balance of the court due to the impending retirement of a liberal judge, the election will set the stage for how the court will eventually rule on such issues as voting rights, redistricting, and abortion access. Despite judicial elections being "nonpartisan" there is no doubt about the political ideology of the two candidates running: Judge Susan Crawford is the clear choice of the Democratic Party and Judge Schimel is the clear choice of Republicans. At a time when the courts are the last remaining firewall against Trump's increasing authoritarian tactics, this race in a critical swing state has the potential to not only impact the lives of Wisconsin voters for the next decade but also to deliver an early blow to the chaos and corruption we've seen from the Republican Party since inauguration day.
This election is quickly becoming a testing ground for the 2025 elections and beyond. Already there has been over $59 million invested into the race with the majority coming from dark money GOP groups. Schimel has been the largest beneficiary receiving $33.3 million including $6.2 million from Elon Musk's America PAC and another $6 million from his Building America's Future PAC which has already been releasing manipulative ads and text messages to voters ahead of the April 1st election. Fox News has been adamant in its portrayal of Judge Crawford as a "Soros-backed judge" demonstrating how George Soros remains a convenient boogeyman for those on the right wanting to downplay the increasing political involvement of their own billionaire Elon Musk. For Musk himself, he views this as the first opportunity to flex what he believes to be his newfound popularity in the political arena. He'd like nothing better than to inject his own money into the race to end up purchasing the Wisconsin State Supreme Court for the next decade-plus.
The challenge, like any in an off-year election, is generating interest at a time when our news has been flooded by the shock and awe of the current administration. While the diehard Republican and Democratic voters are aware of the upcoming election, a huge majority of them haven't yet formed an opinion on the candidates in the race. Despite having their one and only televised debate on March 12, a recent Marquette Law School poll found that 38 percent of voters didn't know enough about Judge Schimel while an even larger 58(!) percent did not know enough about Judge Susan Crawford. For a nonpartisan judicial election with neither candidate having a political party designation on the ballot, the winning candidate must have enough name recognition that people know enough to vote for him or her rather than relying on the D or R next to their name. Based on these recent numbers, it would appear that Judge Crawford has significant work to do and not a lot of time to do it.
That is why Democrats throughout the country must unite behind Judge Susan Crawford. You can donate directly to her campaign through this link. You can volunteer to postcard or phone bank from anywhere by identifying a campaign activity through Mobilize. If you know people in or around Wisconsin who can get plugged into the campaign directly, they can do so at Judge Crawford's official volunteer website. As we've learned this past decade, democracy can not be something we practice every 4 years. It also can not be something we only practice in our own backyards. Now more than ever, we have come to understand that an affront to one of us is an affront to all of us. On April 1st, our friends and neighbors in Wisconsin will be on the frontlines for democracy. Their win is our win and their loss is our loss. Let's help them by doing our small part in electing Judge Susan Crawford to keep the Wisconsin State Supreme Court in Democratic hands.
The stakes have never been higher.