Candidates and outside groups dropped nearly $115 million on Wisconsin’s Supreme Court race this spring, more than doubling the previous national record set just two years earlier, a WisPolitics tally shows.
With ideological control of the court again on the line, out-of-state money flowed into Wisconsin on both sides. More than 40% of the money Justice-elect Susan Crawford raised came from out-of-state donors. Meanwhile, Elon Musk poured some $25 million into a losing effort to bolster conservative Brad Schimel.
Together, Crawford and Musk accounted for half of what was spent on the race with the justice-elect reporting $33.4 million in expenses between her campaign launch in June 2024 and the end of the most recent reporting period.
Crawford senior adviser Sam Roecker said there was an outpouring of support for the Dane County judge’s campaign by those looking to “fight back” at what they saw as a corrupt effort by Musk to buy a seat on the state Supreme Court.
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“We have record fundraising because people were so upset about what they were seeing in this race and looking for a way to fight back against the right-wing attack on the judiciary,” Roecker said. “We were able to run around and put this investment into communications to voters in every corner of this state.”
In all, Schimel and those backing him accounted for $59 million of the spending WisPolitics was able to track.
While Crawford and those supporting her spent just under $56 million, the justice-elect parlayed her robust fundraising effort into an advantage in the ad wars.
That’s because candidates get a better rate on broadcast TV than outside groups, and for the full campaign, the Dane County judge reported $24.6 million spent on “media-TV.”
By comparison, Schimel, a former Republican AG and a current Waukesha County judge, spent $15.9 million on his entire campaign with $12.2 million of that marked media-TV.
“We tried to be as efficient as possible in how we used the money,” Roecker said. “We were up against tens of millions of dollars from right-wing special interests, including Elon Musk and his unprecedented spending.”
The state GOP commissioned a report after the April election that Crawford won by 10 points to review what went wrong, from messaging and field operations to spending and advertising, as well as third-party strategies. The party hopes to have the report completed in the coming weeks.
Schimel’s campaign declined comment on the updated spending tally.
Two years ago, WisPolitics tracked $56 million in spending as Janet Protasiewicz won an open seat on the court, flipping ideological control in liberals’ favor for the first time in 15 years. At the time, it was more than triple the previous national record for a state Supreme Court race.
With the retirement of liberal Justice Ann Walsh Bradley, control of the court was again on the line this spring. Republicans took particular interest in the race amid the suggestion that a Crawford victory would pave the way for a lawsuit to overturn the state’s congressional map, possibly impacting the race for control of the House in 2026.
Shortly after Crawford’s victory, two lawsuits were filed seeking to overturn the maps. But the court rejected both unanimously. A third suit asking for new lines has also been filed with the court yet to act on it.
The WisPolitics tally showed Musk-aligned PACs Building America’s Future and America PAC combined spent $21.7 million, according to a check of independent expenditure reports and media buys tracked by AdImpact. The world’s richest man also donated $3 million to the state GOP, which in turn pumped $9.6 million into Schimel’s campaign.
Musk’s financial commitment to the race was likely significantly higher. One of his political groups promoted the opportunity to receive $100 in exchange for signing a petition opposing activist judges. Those signing had to provide contact information that many saw as a way to turn out conservative-leaning votes. The group also gave away three $1 million awards to those who signed the petition.
None of that spending has been detailed to the state Ethics Commission.
Crawford’s fundraising operation is unparalleled in the history of Wisconsin Supreme Court races.
Protasiewicz two years ago raised $16.7 million for the 2023 campaign, with nearly $10 million of that coming from the state Dem Party.
Crawford raised $33.7 million, more than doubling what Protasiewicz raised. Along with the $11.7 million the state Dem Party gave to her over the full campaign, Crawford built a national fundraising network.
A check of Crawford’s filings shows $14.7 million came from out-of-state donors.
By comparison, Schimel raised $1.1 million from those outside Wisconsin.
