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OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author’s opinion.
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President Donald Trump has endorsed the right-leaning candidate for a Supreme Court seat in a key swing state that could literally affect the make-up of the U.S. House.
Trump announced on Friday that he was backing Brad Schimel over Susan Crawford for a seat on Wisconsin’s highest court, which, if he wins, will reorient the court towards conservatives by a 4-3 margin. However, if Crawford wins, the court will remain liberal-leaning and could, therefore, decide the outcome of a congressional redistricting that could cost Republicans one or two seats in the narrowly divided House.
“There is a very important Election for State Supreme Court on April 1st, and Early Voting is now underway,” Trump said in a post on TruthSocial. “Brad Schimel is running against Radical Left Liberal Susan Crawford, who has repeatedly given child molesters, rapists, women beaters, and domestic abusers ‘light’ sentences.
“She is the handpicked voice of the Leftists who are out to destroy your State, and our Country — And if she wins, the Movement to restore our Nation will bypass Wisconsin. All Voters who believe in Common Sense should GET OUT TO VOTE EARLY for Brad Schimel,” the president said.
“By turning out and VOTING EARLY, you will be helping to Uphold the Rule of Law, Protect our Incredible Police, Secure our Beloved Constitution, Safeguard our Inalienable Rights, and PRESERVE LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL,” he said.
Crawford, a circuit judge, has had a questionable history of lenient sentencing, and during a recent debate, she was asked about a particularly egregious sentence she gave to someone who was convicted of the sexual assault of a child, Legal Newswire reported.
“I don’t regret that sentence because I followed the law in that case,” she said.
Crawford used Trump’s endorsement of her opponent to galvanize the anti-MAGA vote.
“Brad Schimel is a corrupt politician who let 6,000 rape kits sit untested and gave a plea deal to a child predator whose attorney gave him $5,000,” her campaign said. “Schimel has spent his entire career on bent knee to right-wing special interests, we assumed he had this endorsement locked up months ago.
“Schimel has said he wants to be a ‘support network’ for Trump and that the Wisconsin Supreme Court ‘screwed over’ Trump in 2020. Wisconsinites will reject Brad Schimel once again on April 1st,” the campaign said.
DOGE chief Elon Musk and GOP activist Scott Presler are working overtime to motivate Republican voters to turn out for a Supreme Court election in the key battleground state of Wisconsin with the GOP majority in the U.S. House literally at stake.
America PAC, a political action committee founded by SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk to support President Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign, is spending $1 million to back Brad Schimel’s canvassing and field operations.
Another Musk-backed group, Building America’s Future, purchased $1.5 million in commercials to support the conservative candidate.
A Crawford victory means the court’s current 4-3 liberal majority will remain intact and justices will likely approve a gerrymandering of the state’s congressional districts that will cost Republicans at least two U.S. House seats, potentially flipping the chamber to Democrats in 2026.
The state is split between a Democrat governor and a Republican legislature, so the Supreme Court “is the center of the action,” University of Wisconsin-Madison political scientist Barry Burden told CNN last month. “It’s become a place where a lot of hot-button issues people care about get decided.”
Meanwhile, Presler — who has been credited with helping flip Pennsylvania red during the last election cycle by registering tens of thousands of new Republican voters — is warning that there could be a repeat of a blowout 2023 election in the state in which liberal-leaning Janet Protasiewicz beat conservative candidate Dan Kelly and flipped the balance of the court.