Democrats win Wisconsin Supreme Court seat in setback for Trump

Susan Crawford, the Democratic-backed candidate to the Wisconsin Supreme Court in the United States, defeated her main rival endorsed by President Donald Trump and Elon Musk on Tuesday. 

Susan Crawford beat Republican-backed Brad Schimel in a race that broke records for spending and was the highest-turnout Wisconsin Supreme Court election ever recorded. 

Her victory cemented a liberal majority in the court for at least three more years and concluded an election that had become a proxy fight for the nation’s political battles. 

“As a little girl growing up in Chippewa Falls, I never could have imagined that I would be taking on the richest man in the world for justice in Wisconsin. And we won”, she said in her victory speech. 

A judge from Dane County in Wisconsin, Susan Crawford, 60, has supported liberal positions throughout her career. She has led legal battles in favour of unions and is also known for her fights to protect abortion rights.  

Crawford has represented Planned Parenthood in cases challenging limitations on abortion rights and spoke against the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade – the decision that guaranteed a constitutional right to abortion – in 2022. 

Elon Musk and his allies had spent more than 21 million dollars to defeat Susan Crawford. The tech billionaire even travelled to Wisconsin two days before the election, to hand over $1 million checks to two voters. Democrats accused him of breaking the law by giving voters money in exchange for their votes, but their legal attempts to stop Musk's endeavour were unsuccessful.

“Today Wisconsinites fended off an unprecedented attack on our democracy, our fair elections and our Supreme Court", Crawford said after her election. “Wisconsin stood up and said loudly that justice does not have a price, our courts are not for sale."

Crawford's victory is a setback for Trump, ahead of the American president's new tariffs on all cars imported to the U.S. The tariffs are set to take effect on Wednesday and are just the latest decision towards what markets fear will become a global trade war.