Liberals Win Michigan High Court Race, Trump and Musk Suffer Setback

On Tuesday, April 1, voters in Wisconsin elected Susan Crawford as the new Supreme Court Justice in the state, maintaining a liberal majority of 4-3 in the court. This outcome is seen as a significant setback for President Trump and his allies, including billionaire Elon Musk, signaling that the judiciary will continue to be a key battleground during Trump’s term in office.

According to data from the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University, both candidates, state parties, and external groups collectively poured over $90 million into the election, making it the most expensive judicial election in American history. Crawford, currently a county judge, defeated conservative judge Brad Schimel, a former Republican State Attorney General.

With 75% of the votes counted, Crawford leads with 55% over Schimel’s 45%, with a gap of approximately 178,000 votes. Schimel has conceded defeat, congratulating Crawford over the phone and delivering a concession speech in front of his supporters.

Given that this election will determine the balance of power in the court, Musk and related political groups invested over $21 million to support Schimel. Crawford described the election as a showdown between her and the “out-of-state billionaire.”

Addressing her supporters, Crawford said, “I must say, as a little girl from Chippewa Falls, I never thought I would one day challenge the richest man in the world for justice and for Wisconsin — and we won!”

In two other races testing Trump’s support, two Republican candidates in Florida won special elections to fill vacancies in the Federal House of Representatives due to Trump appointing Cabinet members. These wins maintain the Republican majority in the House with 220 seats to 213.

While it was expected that Republicans would easily hold onto these two seats before the voting, attention was still on whether the Democratic party could narrow the gap. In the district covering Daytona Beach, Republican State Senator Randy Fine defeated Democratic candidate and public school educator Josh Weil with a lead of about 14 percentage points. Incumbent Trump National Security Advisor Michael Waltz won the seat last November by a 33-point margin.

In another race near Pensacola, Republican and Florida’s Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis also defeated Democrat Gay Valimont with a lead of nearly 15 percentage points. Valimont had previously lost to Matt Gaetz, who was once nominated by Trump as the Attorney General, by a 32-point margin last November.

This election is seen as an early referendum on Trump’s governance in the state and the rulings of the state’s Supreme Court on major cases such as abortion rights, labor rights, redistricting, and election rules could have far-reaching implications for both parties.

In November last year, Trump narrowly won Wisconsin by less than a percentage point, the smallest margin among all states in the country. Musk held a rally the Sunday before the election and through his “America PAC,” distributed $1 million in bonuses to voters, which attracted attention.

Last Friday, State Attorney General Josh Kaul filed a lawsuit to block Musk’s action of distributing the million-dollar checks, believing that these payments violate state laws. However, both the trial court and the appellate court in Wisconsin have rejected Kaul’s legal challenges, with the state’s Supreme Court also refusing to hear the case.

Meanwhile, Crawford’s campaign also received support from Democratic billionaires, including left-wing financier and activist George Soros, and Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker.