Elon Musk Fails In Attempt to Buy Wisconsin Supreme Court as Judge Susan Crawford Beats Brad Schimel
Democracy Now!
April 2, 2025
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We go to Madison, Wisconsin, to speak with The Nation's John Nichols about Tuesday's pivotal state Supreme Court election, in which liberal Judge Susan Crawford convincingly defeated conservative candidate Brad Schimel.
Crawford's election is a major victory for Democrats after billionaire Trump ally Elon Musk poured about $25 million into the Wisconsin race, helping to make it the most expensive judicial election in U.S. history. 'This is a huge signal from a battleground state that Americans are genuinely upset, genuinely angry, I think, with Trump and with Musk,' says Nichols.
Tuesday also saw a pair of special House elections in Florida where Republicans held both seats, helping to maintain the party's narrow majority in Congress. While Democrats were unlikely to flip the deep-red districts, Nichols notes 'there was a huge shift in both of the Florida districts toward the Democratic candidates.'
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Transcript
- 0:00
- We Begin Today's Show in Wisconsin where
- liberal judge Susan Crawford defeated
- the trump-backed Brad Shimmel for a seat
- on Wisconsin state supreme court in the
- most expensive judicial election in US
- history many of you the races a
- referendum on Elon Musk the world's
- richest man and Trump megga donor who's
- been heading the Trump administration's
- efforts to dismantle key federal
- agencies judge Crawford won
- 55% of the vote even though musk spent
- over $25 million on the race to help
- elect shimel on Sunday night musk gave
- out $1 million checks to two Wisconsin
- voters one of whom happened to be the
- chair of the Wisconsin Federation of
- young
- Republicans judge Crawford made a
- reference to musk during her visory
- speech as a little girl growing up in
- chip will Falls I never could have
- imagined that I'd be taking on the
- richest man in the world
- 1:10
- for justice in Wisconsin and we
- won and Wisconsin's stood up and said
- loudly that Justice does not have a
- price our courts are not for
- sale while Democrats are celebrating the
- results in Wisconsin as expected
- Republicans won two closely watched
- House races in conservative districts in
- Florida but the races were much closer
- than in November joining us from Madison
- Wisconsin is John Nichols the nation's
- National Affairs correspondent his new
- article headlined Wisconsin rejects
- musk's money Trump's lies and the
- right-wing assault on the
- Judiciary John overall I think it's
- being estimated that there was something
- like $100 million spent on the state
- 2:03
- judicial race can you talk about the
- significance of the um liberal judge
- Crawford's Victory uh by quite a large
- margin uh it was quite a large margin
- Amy and and let me tell you um I don't
- think we can overestimate the
- significance going into this race when
- people would ask me about it I would say
- there's no middle ground uh if Crawford
- wins it will be a huge signal that
- Americans are rejecting obviously the
- the money that that Elon Musk is using
- to try and buy elections but also
- they're rejecting the direction of the
- Trump Administration on the other hand
- if Brad Shimmel had won it would have
- been taken by Trump and musk as you know
- a total Vindication for what they're
- doing the reason that was so is because
- Wisconsin is an absolute Battleground
- State it's incredibly closely divided in
- 3:01
- the last seven elections five for
- president of United States five have
- been decided by under 30,000 votes so
- this is a state where where things are
- usually very very close but it wasn't
- that way on Tuesday Susan Crawford did
- win by the better part of 200,000 votes
- uh she did win that
- 5545 Victory and what's perhaps most
- significant is she won communities and
- regions of the state that had voted for
- Trump just 5 months ago in a very very
- high turnout election so uh as I suggest
- I just don't think you can overestimate
- the significance this is a huge signal
- uh from a Battleground state that
- Americans are genuinely upset genuinely
- angry I think with Trump and with
- musk and and John that wasn't the only
- race in Wisconsin there was also an
- election for State superintendent of
- Public Instruction what happened there
- 4:00
- well you're sure you're exactly right ju
- and the the race for superintendent of
- Public Instruction which is the state's
- top uh education job uh and is a very
- significant job it's the post that
- current governor Tony iers held before
- he became Governor um was intensely
- fought it was a battle between the
- incumbent Jill underly who has been an
- absolute supporter of public education
- she's a former rural educator uh versus
- a woman named Britney kinzer who was
- supported by the Republicans and who uh
- was supported by advocates for voucher
- programs that would take money out of
- public education very clear choice
- Kinser had a lot of resources she was uh
- backed by a lot of the same campaigners
- that were out there for Brad Shimmel in
- the Supreme Court race and Jill underly
- won uh it wasn't quite as big a victory
- as the Supreme Court race but it was
- roughly a
- 5347 victory a very clear solid win so
- 5:02
- in both Statewide races in the
- Battleground state of Wisconsin the
- progressive the clearly Progressive
- candidates
- won and John could you comment on the uh
- the results in of the two Congressional
- special elections in
- Florida sure those are important
- elections because you know special
- elections in the first weeks of a a new
- president's term often give us an
- indication of you know kind of where
- sentiment is going now these were
- heavily gerrymandered districts they
- were designed to elect Republicans there
- was there was no question of that and
- the prospect that a Democrat would
- actually win one of these seats was was
- uh you know pretty hopeful on the part
- of any Democrat who thought that would
- happen however there was a huge shift in
- both of the Florida districts toward the
- Democratic candidates both of whom by
- the way were not you know famous people
- per se or or you know particularly
- 6:00
- powerful figures and they were running
- against very prominent uh officials in
- Florida on the Republican side and yet
- what we saw is that counties in in Rural
- and uh more urban Florida that had
- actually been you know pretty supportive
- of trump uh in some cases shifted toward
- the Democrats and uh overall uh it was a
- a result that I think Democrats can
- point to and do a sophisticated analysis
- essentially what they need to say is
- this look um these weren't districts
- that that we were going to win but these
- are districts where you could get a
- measure of where the sentiment is moving
- in the United States and and that's what
- I would say uh remember we have a lot of
- congressional districts across the US
- that Republicans hold but that are much
- much more closely divided it's a it
- would be an easier Run for the Democrat
- so if you see this kind of shift in
- 7:00
- districts across the country in 2026
- there's simply no question that the
- Democrats would take the House of
- Representatives so and again those were
- two special elections in Florida for the
- seats of the embattled National Security
- adviser Mike Waltz and for Gates who was
- named as attorney general nominated by
- Trump but then ultimately had to pull
- out and pull out a congress around
- various drug and sex scandals um but I
- wanted to go back to Wisconsin for one
- minute and ask not only the significance
- for the country I mean uh if you take
- what Elon uh musk said he said it's for
- the future of Western Civilization but
- his candidate was defeated but what this
- means for example in particular about
- abortion rights uh as the Democrats keep
- the majority on the Wisconsin state
- supreme court
- John sure in Wisconsin it was a very
- very clear choice Susan Crawford uh has
- been a very strong supporter of abortion
- 8:00
- rights for a long time uh she is in
- addition to being in the past a lawyer
- for uh labor unions she was a a lawyer
- in cases brought by Planned Parenthood
- and so there was no question of where
- she stood on the issue and she put it
- front and center in her campaign on the
- other hand Brad Shimmel is a longtime
- Republican politician who'd been very
- closely associated with the anti-choice
- position and in fact was backed by uh
- Ardent Advocates of a ban on abortion
- rights and so the choice couldn't have
- been clearer and I think that that there
- are always people who like to tell you
- that abortion is fading as an issue that
- as time passes you know perhaps it's not
- as resonant but when I was talking to
- voters yesterday I was struck by the
- very strong turnout of young voters I
- was at a polling place on the University
- of Wisconsin campus shortly before the
- polls closed and there were literally
- young women running in to cast their
- vote trying to make it in time you know
- before the close cling the polls and uh
- 9:01
- in talking to these folks you found a
- number of them were putting the issue of
- of abortion rights very high on their
- list so I think it continues to be a
- very resonant
- issue to ask you about all this money
- that Elon Musk is pouring into these
- political campaigns I mean talk about
- taking citizens united the Supreme Court
- decision of putting it on steroids your
- sense of the the legality of all of this
- of offering a million dollars uh in uh
- uh to particular
- voters sure this must spending and the
- way he did his spending has been
- incredibly controversial in Wisconsin
- the Attorney General did bring an action
- against him uh other legal groups have
- been you know raising this issue uh it
- didn't get uh litigated before uh the
- election but I I don't think there's any
- question that there's going to be a
- continuing examination
- 10:00
- of how musk spent his money and of real
- questions of whether there were
- violations of Wisconsin election law but
- there's something deeper uh as regards
- all this one even if it was legal uh
- what we need to understand is that we
- had a situation in Wisconsin where the
- wealthiest man in the world tried to buy
- an election he poured his money in and
- as roughly 25 million uh in in addition
- to all these other gimmicks all these
- other stunts and I think that a lot of
- of political an analysts would have told
- you well that's going to win because
- money wins in politics but that didn't
- happen in Wisconsin so when we talk
- about the significance of this beyond
- the legalities there's a political
- significance the message out of
- Wisconsin is that musk's money doesn't
- win and that message matters for
- Democrats obviously going in to uh the
- 25 uh fall elections as well as the 2026
- 11:03
- midterm elections it also matters for
- republicans in Congress because there's
- no question uh Elon Musk has tried to
- intimidate them by threatening to use
- his money to punish any Republican that
- stands up to Donald Trump's agenda well
- now those Republicans have a
- counternarrative another piece of
- information which says that yeah maybe
- musk's money could protect you in a
- primary but it might not be enough to
- protect you in a general election and so
- we've got a very significant signal out
- of Wisconsin about money in politics in
- general and about Elon musk's money in
- particular I mean it is remarkable that
- one of Elon musk's $1 million recipients
- went to the chairman of the Wisconsin
- college
- Republicans um a person who had worked
- for um Ron Johnson uh to get him elected
- and in the fall of 2024 worked as a for
- Turning Point action Charlie Kirk's
- group
- um M but I want to turn to Texas for one
- 12:03
- minute as we wrap up in an interview
- with the New York Times Democratic House
- minority leader Hine Jeff accused
- Republican Texas governor Greg Abbott of
- slow walking a special election to
- replace congressmember Sylvester Turner
- in Houston who died last month um this
- is really significant I mean it looks
- like Abbott is not going to call a
- special election at least at this point
- but will keep it open this seat which
- would most likely go to a Democrat
- representing Houston of course until the
- November
- 2026 election we just have 30 seconds
- sure I've written about these issues a
- lot in the past uh Governor's playing
- with special election dates it is an
- absolute assault on Democracy we need to
- understand that congressional seats
- House Seats are filled in elections they
- aren't appointed and so when you have a
- governor of one party saying we're not
- going to let people elect a successor to
- 13:02
- a member who has passed away that
- Governor is saying that I'm going to
- leave you the people of a a major
- American city unrepresented for the
- better part of a year and a half uh it
- is absolutely unacceptable and and
- Texans should be raising an outcry about
- what governor Abbott appears to be doing
- John Nichols we thank you for being with
- us the nation's National Affairs
- correspondent we link to your various
- articles of democracy now. or
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