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'This Guy Is Toxic': Susan Crawford Defeats World's Richest Man Elon Musk in Wisconsin
"As a result of your strong grassroots organizing, you have defeated the wealthiest person on earth," said Sen. Bernie Sanders to the state's voters after the Supreme Court race was called. "You have set an example for the rest of the country."
Apr 01, 2025
The battle over a seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court was settled decisively on Tuesday night as the Democratic favorite Susan Crawford dispatched with far-right favorite Brad Schimel, a candidate backed by tens of millions of dollars in outside money and corporate interests, including an estimated $20 million or more from President Donald Trump sycophant and world's wealthiest individual Elon Musk.
As of this writing, Crawford, a Dane County Judge, was enjoying "an unexpectedly easy" win with 55.5% of the vote compared to the 44.5% received by Schimel, the state's former Republican attorney general. Numerous decision desks called the race in her favor shortly after polls closed, and the returns were clear.
"Thank you," Crawford said in a victory speech from the city of Madison shortly after 9:30 pm local time. "Alright, Wisconsin—we did it!"
Crawford said she had just received a concession phone call from Schimel—describing him as "gracious" in defeat—as she thanked the people of Wisconsin for delivering a hard-fought victory in what has been documented as the "most expensive judicial race ever" in U.S. history.
"Tonight, the grassroots have risen up to defeat Musk and the MAGA authoritarianism he's funding."
"Thank you for trusting me to serve you on the Wisconsin Supreme Court," she told the audience of supporters and national television cameras. "I'm so grateful to have earned the trust and support of voters across this great state." She explained that she got into this race—like how she had spent her life—"to do what's right, to protect the rights and fundamental freedoms of all Wisconites."
Crediting her career success to the values learned in the small Wisconsin town of Chippewa Falls—"where people watched out for each other" and people respected the ability to "tell right from wrong"—Crawford said that growing up she never imagined she would ultimately "be taking on the richest man in the world" in a political fight that has gained national attention and was widely seen as a political referendum on the first two months of the Trump administration's policies.
The battle, she said, was "over justice in Wisconsin—and we won!"
Musk has become a key factor in the race over recent weeks by spending millions of his own money backing Schimel. One gimmick he used over the recent weekend was handing out $1 million checks to people, according to critics, to purchase their support and vote.
Progressive lawmakers were among those chiming in with applause Tuesday night.
"Elon Musk spent MILLIONS to defeat Susan Crawford in Wisconsin—and it was an epic fail," declared Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) after announcing her victory. "Voters saw through his schemes, and our country is better off for it. Thank you, Wisconsinites."
Joseph Geevarghese, executive director of the progressive advocacy group Our Revolution, was among those celebrating Crawford's win as an apparent rebuke to Musk and President Trump.
"Despite pouring over $20 million into this race—including handing out million-dollar checks to voters—the world's wealthiest man has failed to secure a conservative majority on the Wisconsin Supreme Court," said Geevarghese. "Crawford's victory is a decisive win for protecting abortion access and workers' rights in Wisconsin. It also serves as a crucial safeguard against Donald Trump's ongoing attempts to subvert American democracy and erode judicial independence."
While the resounding defeat of Schimel by voters will be "viewed as a critical referendum on Trump and Musk’s dangerous, lawless agenda," he added, the amount of money spent during the race "also stands as a stark warning about the deep corruption within our broken campaign finance system. With spending exceeding $100 million, this election has become the most expensive state Supreme Court race in U.S. history, with billionaire donations flooding in on both sides."
"Tonight, the grassroots have risen up to defeat Musk and the MAGA authoritarianism he's funding," Geevarghese said. "But the fight to eliminate dark money from our political system is far from over. Continued inaction poses an urgent, looming threat to our democracy and way of life."
American Bridge, a research and rapid response group with close ties to the Democratic Party, feasted on Schimel's loss by deriding the GOP favorite as the "biggest loser in Wisconsin history."
"Wisconsinites have spoken, and together their votes decided that Wisconsin needs leaders who will protect our freedoms while rejecting the politics of fear and division."
Schimel, said the group's spokesperson Monica Venzke, "clearly can’t take a hint, but hopefully this time it sticks—Wisconsin wants nothing to do with him. Not even his out-of-state billionaire supporter could buy him this one. Imagine spending over $18 million and still losing."
According to Venzke, the defeat of Schimel despite the tens of millions spent by corporate forces "is just a preview of how voters are rejecting Trump's agenda of folding to billionaires. Republicans around the country have a choice: stand up to Trump, or lose."
Lucy Ripp, communications director for Better Wisconsin Together, which represents progressives' concerns in the state, also credited the work of the state's grassroots, which she suggested was a model for people nationwide.
"Wisconsinites have spoken, and together their votes decided that Wisconsin needs leaders who will protect our freedoms while rejecting the politics of fear and division," said Ripp. "Wisconsin voters chose common sense, progress, and freedom over a radical, right-wing partisan agenda that thrives on dividing our communities and leaving working families behind in service of billionaires and special interests."
"By maintaining a strong progressive majority, the Wisconsin Supreme Court will continue as a first line of defense in protecting Wisconsinites' constitutional rights and freedoms," added Ripp, "and a vital check on the Trump and Musk agenda amid the barrage of threats to our rights and livelihoods coming down from the White House."
As of this writing, neither Trump nor Musk had acknowledged Crawford's victory over Schimel on their main social media channels—though each celebrated the approval of a controversial and "regressive" voter I.D. law in the state. To some critics, their twin silence on the Supreme Court race felt like quite a loud statement.
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'This Is the State of American Democracy': Sanders Calls for Public Funding of Elections as Musk Buys Votes With $1 Million Checks
Independent groups spending on most expensive judicial race in U.S. history favor the right-wing Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate, according to the Brennan Center for Justice.
Mar 31, 2025
On the eve of what the nonpartisan law group the Brennan Center for Justice has deemed the most expensive judicial race in American history, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont is calling out billionaire Elon Musk's role in Tuesday's Wisconsin Supreme Court race and demanding the country move to public funding in elections.
"So. This is the state of American democracy," wrote the Independent senator on X on Monday. "The richest guy in the world is handing out million dollar checks in order to win a Wisconsin Supreme Court seat and elect an anti-choice judge." In addition to being the richest person in the world, Musk is also a key figure in Republican President Donald Trump's administration.
"We MUST overturn Citizens United and move to public funding of elections," Sanders continued, referencing the 2010 Supreme Court decision Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. That ruling stuck down existing limits on how much money a corporation can directly spend to support a political campaign, and has since enabled unlimited campaign spending by corporations and other outside groups—including what are known as dark money groups.
On Tuesday, voters in Wisconsin will decide a contest between Susan Crawford, a liberal Dane County judge, and former Republican attorney general and current Waukesha County Circuit Judge Brad Schimel, who are competing to fill the seat of retiring Justice Ann Walsh Bradley. The outcome of the race which will determine the ideological swing of the state's highest court, which since 2023 has had a liberal majority for the first time in over a decade.
Musk's super political action committee, America PAC, has spent over $12 million on the race to benefit Schimel—and another Musk-linked group, Building Americas Future, has spent nearly $6 million, according to the Brennan Center. Total spending in the race tallies $90 million, with $40.3 million going toward Crawford and $49.7 million going toward Schimel.
According to the Brennan Center, "Independent groups like super PACs and nonprofits spending untraceable dark money favor Schimel by a much larger margin: $13.5 million benefiting Crawford compared with almost $35.5 million boosting Schimel."
Musk was also accused of bribing Wisconsin voters by circulating a petition opposing "activist judges" through America PAC, and offering registered voters $1,000 if they sign the petition. Last week, Musk announced on social media that he would hold a rally on Sunday in Wisconsin and hand out $1 million checks to two voters who had already cast their ballots. He then deleted that post and clarified that "entrance is limited to those who have signed the petition in opposition to activist judges," adding, "I will also hand over checks for a million dollars to 2 people to be spokesmen for the petition," according to The New York Times.
Nevertheless, Wisconsin's attorney general appealed to the state Supreme Court to prevent Musk from using the giveaway tactic, but the court declined to hear the case Sunday.
Musk did hand out checks during a rally in Green Bay, Wisconsin on Sunday. One of the recipients was Nicholas Jacobs, the chair of the Wisconsin College Republicans.
During a discussion on X that Musk hosted with Schimel and U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) on March 22, Musk indicated that he has been keen to shape the race because the makeup of the court could threaten how the state's current congressional districts are drawn.
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Exactly Who Are Trump and Musk Meeting at Secretive $1 Million Per Plate Dinners?
"The American people have a right to know who was there and whether the Million Dollar Dinner menu for fat cats included a deep dish of juicy government contracts, a side of tasty tax breaks, or a sweet dessert of ending investigations and enforcement actions against their companies."
Mar 19, 2025
Democracy watchdogs want to know the identities of people paying exorbitant fees to attend private dinners with President Donald Trump at his exclusive resort home at Mar-a-Lago in Florida.
While the existence of such pay-to-play dinners has been known about since reporting by Wired earlier this month, the events continue, including a $1 million per plate dinner over the weekend, which included an appearance by Trump's top lieutenant, the world's richest man and far-right ideologue Elon Musk.
According to Wired's more recent reporting on the latest high-priced "candlelight" gathering at Mar-a-Lago, the invitation asked "prospective guests to spend $1 million per seat" and "Musk, whose so-called Department of Government Efficiency( DOGE) has spent the last six weeks ransacking federal agencies, sat next to Trump at the dinner."
In response, the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen on Tuesday demanded Trump "release the guest list of the Million Dollar-a-Plate candlelight dinners," speculating that any one of the wealthy attendees could be "government favor-seekers such as federal contractors or the CEOs of companies previously under investigation" before the Trump administration "stopped enforcement" or otherwise intervened.
"This exorbitant level of payment for presidential access raises serious concerns about the possibility of corruption by candlelight," said Jon Golinger, a democracy advocate for the group. "The American people have a right to know who was there and whether the Million Dollar Dinner menu for fat cats included a deep dish of juicy government contracts, a side of tasty tax breaks, or a sweet dessert of ending investigations and enforcement actions against their companies."
According to the reporting, the invitations for Saturday night's dinner—which was not placed on the president's official calendar—were sent by Make America Great Again Inc., a Super PAC aligned with the president, which spent an estimated half billion dollars supporting his 2024 run. "Donald J. Trump is appearing at this event only as a special guest speaker and is not asking for funds or donations," the invitation stated, though exclusive access to the president was the clear intent and troubling to those concerned about high-level corruption.
As Hafiz Rashid writes for The New Republic:
Trump holding fundraising dinners only two months into his presidency is historically unusual. Don Moynihan, a professor of public policy at the University of Michigan, told Wired that he “can't recall a sitting president in the first weeks of his administration asking for millions of dollars in fundraising.
"The concern is less about fundraising and more about access and influence. People hoping to get favorable treatment view it in their interest to donate money to Trump," Moynihan said.
Why wasn't this dinner on the White House's schedule? Perhaps Trump didn't like the attention given to the previous one, or there was something else going on. Mar-a-Lago is the site of many of Trump's ethically questionable actions, including one-on-one meetings with business leaders who are willing to pay him $5 million for the privilege. Perhaps Trump wants his moneymaking schemes to get as little attention as possible.
For Golinger of Public Citizen, the secretive dinners—where fabulously wealthy people have exclusive access to the president that working-class Americans could never hope for—is part of a much larger and nefarious effort by the rich and powerful to further increase their stranglehold on elected officials, a process which has only become easier with the loosening of campaign finance laws, including the 2010 Citizens Uniteddecision by the U.S. Supreme Court.
"These pay-to-play dinners are only possible because of Citizens United and show how desperately we need to fix it," Golinger said. "These dinners demolish the fiction of independent expenditures that the Supreme Court relied on 15 years ago to justify its Citizens United decision, which abolished reasonable limits on campaign spending."
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