A liberal candidate for a pivotal seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court docket overcame $25 million in spending from Elon Musk and defeated her conservative opponent on Tuesday, The Related Press reported, in a contest that turned a sort of referendum on Mr. Musk and his slashing of the federal authorities.
With turnout terribly excessive for a spring election in an off 12 months, Decide Susan Crawford handily beat Decide Brad Schimel, who ran on his loyalty to President Trump and was aided by Mr. Musk, the president’s billionaire coverage aide.
Mr. Musk not solely poured cash into the race but in addition campaigned personally within the state, even donning a cheesehead. However his starring function appeared to inflame Democratic anger in opposition to him much more than it helped Decide Schimel.
The barrage of spending within the race could almost double the earlier document for a single judicial election. With about 95 p.c of the vote counted on Tuesday night, Judge Crawford held a lead of roughly 9 factors.
“At present, Wisconsinites fended off an unprecedented assault on our democracy, our truthful elections and our Supreme Court docket,” she mentioned in her victory speech on Tuesday night time. “Wisconsin stood up and mentioned loudly that justice doesn’t have a value. Our courts will not be on the market.”
For Democrats, the result’s a jolt of momentum. They’ve been engaged in a coast-to-coast rhetorical rending of clothes since Mr. Trump returned to the White Home in January and embarked with Mr. Musk on an effort to drastically shrink federal businesses, put aside worldwide alliances and alter the federal government’s relationships with the nation’s universities, minority teams, immigrants and company world.
