WisPolitics tally: Supreme Court race spending hit $115 million, doubling record

Candidates and outside groups dropped nearly $115 million on Wisconsin’s Supreme Court race this spring, more than doubling the previous national record set just two years earlier, a WisPolitics tally shows.

With ideological control of the court again on the line, out-of-state money flowed into Wisconsin on both sides. More than 40% of the money Justice-elect Susan Crawford raised came from out-of-state donors. Meanwhile, Elon Musk poured some $25 million into a losing effort to bolster conservative Brad Schimel.

Together, Crawford and Musk accounted for half of what was spent on the race with the justice-elect reporting $33.4 million in expenses between her campaign launch in June 2024 and the end of the most recent reporting period.

Crawford senior adviser Sam Roecker said there was an outpouring of support for the Dane County judge’s campaign by those looking to “fight back” at what they saw as a corrupt effort by Musk to buy a seat on the state Supreme Court.





https://www.wispolitics.com/2025/wispolitics-tally-supreme-court-race-spending-hit-115-million-doubling-record/