GOPers Can’t Afford To Lose Wisconsin’s Supreme Court Race

While conservatives may have the 2024 presidential election in their rearview mirror, there’s another upcoming race pivotal to the future of U.S. national politics that requires their immediate attention.

On April 1, Wisconsin voters will head to the polls to determine which political party will control the state’s supreme court for the next several years. While technically “nonpartisan,” the high court currently hosts a 4-3 leftist majority, which was made possible after Democrat-backed Janet Protasiewicz defeated Republican-backed Daniel Kelly in 2023.

The 2023 race gave Democrats control of the court for the first time in 15 years.

With left-wing Justice Ann Walsh Bradley set to retire, this year’s matchup between conservative Brad Schimel and leftist Susan Crawford will decide whether Republicans can take back their majority. Thus far, both candidates have raised millions of dollars in what is expected to be one of the most significant elections of the 2025 cycle.

The importance of winning the Badger State’s Supreme Court race cannot be overstated. Should conservatives fail to get Schimel across the finish line, continued left-wing dominance of Wisconsin’s high court will turn the Midwestern swing state into a Democrat stronghold.

In the less than two years Democrats have controlled the court, the judicial body’s leftist justices have taken it upon themselves to effectively legislate from the bench and advance numerous Democrat priorities impacting state and national politics.

Chief among these was their decision to reverse a 2022 ruling by the court’s then-conservative majority that deemed the widespread use of ballot drop boxes in the 2020 election to be illegal. As The Federalist’s Matt Kittle reported, “Unmanned absentee ballot boxes have sparked myriad election integrity concerns, including a high-profile scandal in a Connecticut election.”

The July 2024 ruling — while apparently contradictory to state law — paved the way for drop boxes to be used in Wisconsin’s 2024 general election. Democrat-majority localities such as Madison and Milwaukee reported deploying more than a dozen each in 2024, according to the Associated Press.

In the November race, President Donald Trump won Wisconsin by 0.8 points, while Democrat Sen. Tammy Baldwin won reelection by 0.9 points.

[RELATED: Republicans Are Paying The Price For Ignoring Off-Year Elections]

Losing control of the state Supreme Court also cost Wisconsin Republicans numerous state general assembly seats.

As Dan O’Donnell recently wrote in these pages, “The day after Protasiewicz was sworn in, leftist groups filed a lawsuit challenging [the state’s legislative maps], and the new leftist majority dutifully struck them down that December.” The decision all but forced the GOP-controlled legislature to adopt Democrat Gov. Tony Evers’ proposed map, which helped net Democrats 10 Assembly seats and four Senate seats and cost Republicans their supermajority in the upper chamber.

The leftist-controlled court is also currently considering whether to strike down Wisconsin’s 1849 pro-life law.

[READ: In Wisconsin Supreme Court Race, Only Brad Schimel Will Protect Election Laws]

While egregious, these rulings are only the tip of the iceberg, according to Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis. Speaking with The Federalist, the Badger State Republican predicted that if the Wisconsin Supreme Court “retain[s] a liberal majority, [it] would legislate from the bench by overturning conservative gains like Act 10 and voter ID, and also gerrymander congressional districts that could cost us the Republican majority in the House.”

Unlike Schimel, who has publicly defended Wisconsin’s voter ID law, Crawford has a history of engaging in lawfare against the state’s photo identification requirement for voting. Regarding gerrymandering, Wisconsin Democrats have already forecast plans to use the high court’s leftist majority to “win control of the House in 2026.” This would likely include the redrawing of congressional maps to flip more House seats currently held by Republicans.

With two vacancies, the GOP currently holds a 218-215 majority in the lower chamber.

“Without voter ID and other election integrity measures, Wisconsin’s 10 electoral votes may never again be awarded to a Republican presidential candidate,” Johnson said. “This crucial election has national impacts and will require national support.”

Conservatives cannot afford to drop the ball on April’s Supreme Court race as they did during the 2023 contest. The future of Wisconsin politics and its implications for the nation are simply too important.

Shawn Fleetwood is a staff writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He previously served as a state content writer for Convention of States Action and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClearHealth, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood