Former Gov. Scott Walker says Brad Schimel needs to “come out swinging, rhetorically,” Wednesday night in the first and only debate with Wisconsin Supreme Court rival Susan Crawford.
“I think he needs to make the point that particularly on law and order, I mean this is ‘catch and release Crawford,'” Walker said on WISN’s “UpFront” which is produced in partnership with WisPolitics. “This is someone who I think shouldn’t even be on the circuit court bench in Dane County. She’s that liberal and out of touch.”
Walker said “everything” is on the line on the April 1 ballot, including major cornerstones of the former governor’s legacy like Act 10 and voter ID. The race will determine ideological control of the high court.
“It’s not that I care about my legacy as much as the positive impact,” Walker said. “If people want to change, if they want to alter it, run for governor, run for the Legislature, make those changes.
“This changes the political makeup of the Supreme Court,” Walker said. “And even with that change two years ago, Justice Ann Walsh Bradley, who is aligned with the other three that make up the supposedly 4-3 liberal majority, she’s still someone who’s been on the bench a quarter of a century who still believes in precedent. Why things are so critical in this race is, if Susan Crawford is elected, you’ll have four brazen political activists on the court that are likely to push liberal agenda items as opposed to just upholding and determining what the law is.”
Walker praised the millions of dollars coming in from groups backed by Elon Musk in a race again poised to be the most expensive in history.
“I think we need someone to level the playing field because two years ago, people thought it was a mandate,” Walker said. “It wasn’t a mandate. It was a blowout. It was a blowout because so much more, you’re talking five, six, seven times as much money was spent on behalf of the radical liberal candidate. You’ve got to level the playing field or at least something close to that.”
WisPolitics previously reported more than $56 million was spent on the 2023 campaign. That included more than $32 million in spending by Justice-elect Janet Protasiewicz and the groups backing her, compared to $22.5 million by conservative former Justice Daniel Kelly and his supporters.
Walker said the key to Schimel’s win is ensuring Donald Trump supporters vote in earnest.
“Certainly some of the focus I put on, you have to go to every single person who voted for President Trump in this election last November and say if you want that agenda to continue, if they get rid of two House seats, that might stop the majority. And suddenly his agenda is dead on arrival.”
Wednesday’s 7 p.m. debate is hosted by WISN-TV at Marquette University Law School and moderated by “UpFront” hosts Matt Smith and Gerron Jordan. The debate airs statewide and will livestream on WISN’s app, Facebook and YouTube pages.
Meanwhile, Dem U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan says Susan Crawford needs to “show what she is” in Wednesday night’s debate.
“She’s a very well-respected jurist,” the town of Vermont Dem told “UpFront.” “She’s someone who has been a judge for quite awhile, and talk about how she’s going to be fair and impartial and what general values that you bring to the court. And I think if she does that, she’s going to do well.”
Pocan dismissed polling suggesting the candidates discuss the issues in the race, including abortion.
“The problem is, by law, they can’t, right?” Pocan said. “They’re not supposed to do it. So I think most people don’t realize that the nonpartisan nature of the court because of the way the partisan tilt of the campaigns are. But, you know, by actual practice, they’re really not supposed to address the issues, and I just think that’s where the disconnect is.”
A Marquette Law School poll also showed 62% of Wisconsin voters have an unfavorable view of the Democratic Party, which includes nearly 20% of Democrats.
“I mean, coming out of November, we don’t have a figurehead right now,” Pocan said. “There’s not a president or a vice president. And given that, there’s a bit of a vacuum, and that’s kind of natural. That happens.”
Pocan said he’s not worried about the unfavorable numbers ahead of the April 1 Supreme Court election.
“I actually think the intensity, because if I’m getting record calls right now, I broke my one-day record, I broke my weekly record,” Pocan said. “We’re getting a lot of people, that tells me there’s an interest. People are following things and watching it. I think that’s actually helpful. I think if more people are tired of what Elon Musk, an unelected billionaire, is doing while getting federal contracts, he’s firing federal employees and causing all kind of chaos. And now he’s trying to fund the conservative candidate for the Supreme Court because he wants to buy a Supreme Court seat because Wisconsin might be suing him. Look, all of those things are reasons that I think people are going to get out and vote.”
Charles Franklin, director of the Marquette Law School poll, says Wednesday’s debate is a critical moment for each candidate since a sizable number of voters still don’t know much about either Susan Crawford or Brad Schimel.
“I think it’s very important,” Franklin told “UpFront.” “Voters are interested in the race in general, but they just don’t know that much about the candidates. As you mentioned, 38% aren’t familiar enough with Schimel to say if they like him or don’t like him. It’s 58% for Crawford. Now, when we squeeze the sample down to the people who are most involved, most committed to voting, those numbers go down to 15 for Schimel and 36 for Crawford, but that’s still pretty high. I think the debate is an important moment, both for familiarity, but also for the candidates to express their positions.”
The Marquette Law School poll out last week showed 79% of voters said they want the candidates to discuss the issues.
“I think it is changing,” Franklin said. “But honestly, we don’t have data going back in the past except to 2023 when we asked about it. Also there we found 80% or so saying they wanted the candidates to discuss the issues, so people do want to know what they’re voting for. Of course the tricky part is what are the limits on what judicial candidates can talk about and not appear to be prejudging cases in the future and yet still give voters an understanding of who they are and what they’re for.”
ABC News Washington Bureau Chief Rick Klein says Wisconsin’s Supreme Court race will have nationwide implications and is a litmus test on President Donald Trump’s first 100 days in office.
“No question,” Klein told “UpFront.” “This is one of the biggest early tests of where a battleground state’s voters stand. And obviously, these are very ideological races. They’re technically nonpartisan, but we know what the makeup of the current Supreme Court is. We know that Elon Musk is interested in it. We know the national Democrats, national Republicans, are interested in it.
“People want to know where battleground state voters are,” Klein said. “And I think looking to this race in Wisconsin, just a few short weeks away, is going to give us some indications and, of course, have huge implications for people who live in Wisconsin because there are so many ideological issues that divide almost evenly.”
Klein said Musk’s backing of Schimel, and the millions of dollars from groups tied to him, will also have a national impact.
“He’s taken on a much different role than anyone I think has seen before,” Klein said. “The world’s richest man, with also the most powerful social media platform literally at his disposal, now empowered by the president to do almost anything he pleases when it comes to cutting the federal workforce or ending contracts, and to see him play now an exert influence in another way I think is another way that this race is a test case, because implicit or sometimes explicit in the messaging that Trump and his allies are bringing right now is if you’re not on board with us, Elon’s money is going to boot you out of office in a primary or a general election campaign down the road. So whether or how the influence is felt, I think, is going to be pretty critical here.”
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