Susan Crawford’s Supreme Court victory in Wisconsin is a feminist, pro-labor and anti-billionaire backlash—signaling a seismic shift in grassroots power ahead of 2026.
In a record-breaking election, Wisconsin voters elected liberal judge Susan Crawford to the state Supreme Court, defeating right-wing candidate Brad Schimel in what became the most expensive judicial race in U.S. history. With over $100 million spent, the race became a referendum not just on abortion rights and union protections, but on billionaires like Elon Musk attempting to buy political power.
Crawford’s win is more than just a victory for Democrats. It is a rebuke of President Donald Trump, aggressive masculinity and right-wing efforts to strip away reproductive freedom. It also marks a turning point in organizing, as voters turned out in force to defend their rights and shape the future of the court.
Democratic voters turned out in record numbers. In all 72 counties in the state, Crawford received a higher share of Kamala Harris’ 2024 vote—78 percent in total—than Schimel did of Trump’s, capturing only 62 percent.
Crawford won 55 percent of the vote, with over 2 million votes cast, securing a 10-year term and preserving the highest percentage of women justices on any state court in the nation: Six of the seven on the court are women—albeit, all white, in a state where 20.5 percent of the population identifies as people of color, including Hispanic and Latino residents.
“Tuesday should be a massive warning to Republicans nationwide at every level of government,” said Wisconsin Assembly Minority Leader Greta Neubauer. “Elon Musk’s money can not save you from your bad policy positions and the chaos coming out of Washington.”
Neubauer delivered her remarks during an April 4 virtual press event hosted by the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee (DLCC) which works to elect Democrats to statehouses and build progressive infrastructure. The event focused on what this win means, not just for Wisconsin, but for Democrats nationwide. While Trump continues to target vital social programs, Democratic leaders hope to position themselves as a critical counterbalance, defending working families and democratic values.
Wisconsin’s election makes clear that Americans across the country, including those who voted for Trump in 2024, are outraged. Although midterm elections are still months away, this win is being seen as both a reflection of public frustration and a signal of Democratic momentum heading into 2025.
Crawford’s Win Is a Win For Women
Schimel’s defeat in a state with a 175-year-old abortion ban on the docket proved once again that voters will show up to defend reproductive rights. Neubauer noted that Tuesday’s resounding results echoed Janet Protasiewicz’s 2023 election shortly after the fall of Roe—good news for Democrats and very bad news for Republicans.
Schimel, an antiabortion advocate, backed Wisconsin’s archaic 1849 abortion ban and previously defended a restrictive abortion law as state attorney general (2015–2019). In contrast, Crawford has long championed women and workers. At Pines Bach law firm, she represented feminist organizations like Planned Parenthood and the League of Women Voters, including a 2011 case challenging Wisconsin law requiring abortion providers to have hospital admitting privileges.
“Wisconsin’s next state Supreme Court justice may be a make-or-break vote to decide whether or not an abortion ban will cut off access to care,” said Reproductive Freedom for All president and CEO Mini Timmaraju. The nonprofit organization endorsed Crawford in February. “Now that Trump has allowed states to ban abortion, state courts are on the front lines of our fight for reproductive freedom more than ever.”
Taylor Salditch, executive director of Supermajority, a nonprofit empowering women in politics, emphasized the significance of Crawford’s victory: “Women spoke loud and clear, we won’t be bought.” Salditch praised the strong turnout of women voters in Wisconsin as a rebuke of right-wing efforts to restrict abortion access and undermine democracy.
The election also underscored the broader political power of women and workers. Professor Juan Cole of the University of Michigan said, “The Trump regime has exalted toxic masculinity and signaled its intent to liquidate workers’ unions. The problem for Trump is that a majority of Americans are women, or workers, or both.”
Now that Trump has allowed states to ban abortion, state courts are on the front lines of our fight for reproductive freedom more than ever.
Mini Timmaraju, Reproductive Freedom for All president and CEO
Just days before the election, antiabortion extremists blocked access to a Milwaukee clinic.
Meanwhile, the right-wing political advocacy group (PAC) Look Ahead America, led by former Trump campaign staffer Matt Braynard, spammed nearly 250,000 Wisconsin residents with provocative, gender-targeted images: Emily Ratajkowski for men, and a shirtless man holding a puppy for women. Both images were used without consent. Photographer Mike Ruiz, whose image was taken from a 2015 animal rights calendar, told The New York Times, “I am disgusted that they used a beautiful philanthropic project to save animals in dire need, a project which means so much to me, to spread their propaganda.”
The group also circulated a misleading candidate comparison chart focused on hot-button issues like gender identity, unions and “late-term abortion.”
Despite such tactics, abortion rights activists showed up in record numbers, echoing the energy that fueled the blue wave of 2018 and Democratic wins in 2021. Among them was 105-year-old Ruth Bradley Mcneely-Wells, born the year the 19th Amendment granted women the right to vote, yet denied full voting rights herself until the passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965. Still advocating and voting, she serves as a reminder of the legacy and future of feminist activism.
A Win for Workers
Crawford’s election also represents a major victory for labor rights in Wisconsin, a defining issue in a state still grappling with the aftermath of Act 10. The controversial 2011 state law, championed by Republicans, stripped public employees of most collective bargaining rights, delivering a crushing blow to teacher’s unions and paving the way for broader GOP efforts to undermine union protections across both public and private sectors.
We need Washington to be a partner. But right now, they’re just hurting the people of Wisconsin.
Wisconsin Assembly Minority Leader Greta Neubauer
As an attorney, Crawford’s firm represented Madison Teachers, Inc., ALF-CIO local 61 and the Milwaukee sanitation workers’ union in a lawsuit challenging Wisconsin’s Act 10. Her opponent, Brad Schimel, was a vocal supporter of the law.
Leader Neubauer emphasized the broader economic stakes, pointing to Trump’s tariffs and their harmful impact on Wisconsin’s farming economy. Manufacturing jobs, especially union positions, remain the backbone of communities across Wisconsin. In Racine County, a historic manufacturing community that voted for the conservative Supreme Court candidate in 2023 and Trump in 2024, Crawford won by fewer than 1,000 votes.
“We need Washington to be a partner,” said Neubauer. “But right now, they’re just hurting the people of Wisconsin.”
Billionaires Can’t Buy Courts
With a Tesla case potentially heading to the state’s Supreme Court, Elon Musk invested over $20 million into the race–$3 million personally and over $19 million through affiliated groups. He even offered voters a million-dollar giveaway for signing a petition opposing “activist” judges. At a Green Bay rally, he highlighted the court’s ability to reshape the congressional maps.
“Whichever party controls the House to a significant degree controls the country, which then steers the course of Western civilization,” he said.
But, his intervention backfired. “They found it insulting that he came to Wisconsin, put on a cheese head, and offered people $1 million for voting,” said Neubauer. “People vote because they believe in our democracy and choose the candidate they think is going to be the best person for the seat. The idea that he would just hand out million-dollar checks, it doesn’t feel right.”
Crawford’s win made clear that Wisconsinites won’t be bought. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said it plainly: “The Republicans are going to try to distance themselves from Elon Musk. It’s not going to work. It’s too late. You’re attached at the hip, and you’re going to feel the consequences of it, just like you did in Wisconsin.”
Democratic Strategy Going Forward
The victory in Wisconsin was a first clear reaction against President Trump and Elon Musk.
Alongside Crawford, Jill Underly, backed by Democrats, was reelected as state superintendent, while Democrat James Malone flipped a statehouse seat in rural Pennsylvania.
Louisiana voted “no” on all four of Gov. Jeff Landry’s (R) conservative amendments after a strong campaign against them.
In response, Trump rescinded his nomination for Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) as U.N. ambassador, not willing to take the chance that voters would replace her seat with a Democrat if given the chance.
Following the election results, DNC chair Ken Martin stated the outcome provides Democrats with a clear path forward: “We’re seeing early what happens when we organize everywhere, fight like hell, and mobilize grassroots energy in defense of the values we hold near and dear,” he wrote.
The DLCC has a very competitive target map moving forward: investing in state-level races, building toward flipping legislatures in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, Arizona, Pennsylvania and New Hampshire. In Wisconsin, Democrats came within 4,000 votes of flipping the Assembly last cycle. Now, they are closer than ever to securing a Democratic trifecta.
Neubauer added, “We proved in 2024 that local races, that community engagement was a way to break through to voters even when there were billions of dollars being spent in these battleground states.”
While the November 2026 election is still a year and a half away, Neubauer said, “The Trump administration is doing the work for us.”
Youth Will Lead the Way
Youth turnout has shaped elections in Wisconsin in recent years, with the highest voter turnout for ages 18-24 in the country in 2020. Crawford’s turnout advantage was strongest in college towns and rural areas, where Democratic organizing was especially effective. In Dane County, home to Madison and Wisconsin’s largest universities, Crawford won an overwhelming 81.7 percent. In 2023, a historic surge in youth turnout played a decisive role in Protasiewicz’s election according to NextGen America president Cristina Tzintzún Ramirez.
At the Feminist Majority Foundation’s (FMF) Young Feminist Leadership Conference the weekend before the election, youth determination rang through every speech. Hannah Irvine, a senior at Cornell University, spoke of her fight to organize and engage her fellow students.
“History has shown us that change is not a straight line, it is a battle of persistence, and persistence is something our movement has in abundance.”
“[I] think that these elections are going to be proxies, or almost like weather devices for figuring out what kind of storm we’re going to be up against next year,” Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) said in an interview.
Across the U.S., approval ratings for Trump and Musk are plummeting.
Taylor Salditch of Supermajority said Crawford’s victory will motivate feminists going forward. “This landslide victory is a reminder that, when we organize and when we come together as a community, we win. And we’ll be heard at every single ballot box between here and the midterms,” she said. “The path ahead won’t always be easy, but we know when we show up for each other to protect our freedoms, a world where women are truly equal is possible.”
Looking ahead, Democrats are ready to hold Republicans accountable and secure key victories in Virginia, Pennsylvania and New Jersey this year. With grassroots energy behind them, they’re determined to take back the House in 2026.
At Crawford’s victory celebration, she was joined on stage by fellow women judges, including retiring Justice Ann Walsh, whose seat she claimed.
“I never thought I would be taking on the richest man in the world for justice,” Crawford reflected. “And, we won.”