DNC to make first major post-election investment into Wisconsin Supreme Court race
The Democratic National Committee is set to announce on Tuesday its earliest-ever new election cycle investment into the Wisconsin Supreme Court race, which will see Dane County Judge Susan Crawford, the Democratic-backed candidate, take on Republican-backed Brad Schimel, a former state attorney general and current Waukesha County judge, ABC News has learned exclusively.
To help boost organizing on the ground, the Democratic Party will host phone banks and call more than 2 million Wisconsin voters in support of Crawford.
The DNC's new investment will be used for on the ground operations, including organizing, peer-to-peer texting, and mobilizing thousands of volunteers to help the Wisconsin Democratic-coordinated campaign. Last month, DNC Chair Ken Martin was in Wisconsin canvassing for the Wisconsin Democratic coordinated campaign.
The April 1 election will decide who will take the open seat on the court and whether the bench will remain under control by the liberal justices or flip to a conservative majority, with major cases involving abortion, redistricting, and election laws being brought up.
The investment being made by the DNC comes on the first day of early voting in Wisconsin and marks the first investment by the organization since the 2024 election.
The race will also preview how voters in the battleground state feel a few months into President Donald Trump's second term. Trump won the state by just under 30,000 voters in the 2024 election.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court race is also seen as one indication of Elon Musk's influence beyond Washington and how Democrats try to push back against the richest man in the world, linking him to Schimel, the Republican-backed candidate.
"With Wisconsin voters up against the world's richest man, this is an all-hands-on-deck moment and we're thrilled to have the support of the DNC in this fight," said Ben Wikler, chair of the Wisconsin Democratic Party. “Elections in Wisconsin often come down to a hairsbreadth, and every voter we can turn out to support Judge Susan Crawford and Dr. Jill Underly on April 1 can make the difference between keeping Wisconsin on a path of progress or letting Elon Musk and Donald Trump drag us backwards.”
A conservative group linked to Musk, Building America's Future, has spent more than $1.6 million on television ads in the race, while another, Musk's super PAC America PAC, has spent over $6 million on get-out-the-vote efforts and digital media, according to state campaign finance records.
"When I went to Wisconsin to knock doors last month, folks told me they don't want billionaires like Elon Musk running our federal government and they certainly don't want him buying our elections," Martin said in a statement.
But billionaires have also invested in support of Crawford, including George Soros and Illinois Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker.
Although Trump has not endorsed Schimel, Musk urged on X last month for people to "vote Republican for the Wisconsin Supreme Court to prevent voting fraud!"
The DNC is also working to support the Wisconsin Democratic coordinated campaign, with the state party recently announcing their "People vs. Musk" campaign to push back against Musk's influence in the race.
The state’s Supreme Court race is the most expensive judicial race in US history, according to The Brennan Center, a nonprofit public policy institute.
As of Monday, more than $59 million has been spent in the race, which the think tank says breaks the record for the most spending in a state supreme court election, surpassing the estimated $56 million poured into the 2023 Wisconsin Supreme Court race.
ABC News' Oren Oppenheim contributed to this report.
