Trump Urges Votes For Conservative WI Supreme Court Candidate

Jumping on the phone to “save the country from the people trying to destroy it,” President Trump telephonically campaigned with conservative Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate Brad Schimel on a “tele-town hall” Thursday evening to rally the troops ahead of Tuesday’s nationally watched election. 

“I’m asking everyone to get out and vote for a great American patriot, tough-on-crime Brad Schimel,” Trump said during the brief call with Schimel supporters. 

Trump endorsed the Waukesha County judge a week ago, calling Schimel’s opponent, Dane County Judge Susan Crawford, a “radical left liberal … the handpicked voice of the Leftists who are out to destroy your State and our Country.” 

The president didn’t mince any words again during Thursday’s tele-rally, calling Crawford a “deranged left-wing [George] Soros-funded lunatic.” 

‘Two Additional Seats’

The Wall Street Journal has billed the contest “the most important election of 2025.” It has attracted national attention and record spending as a first test of Trump’s second term, and for the national shadow it casts. If Schimel wins, conservatives will take back the court after losing control in 2023 for the first time in 15 years. If Crawford wins, liberals will hold a 4-3 majority for the next few years. She would replace long-time leftist Justice Ann Walsh Bradley. 

Crawford has come under fire for appearing on a Zoom call with big Democrat donors pitching the liberal candidate’s election victory as a way to help Democrats “win two additional U.S. House seats, half the seats needed to win control of the House in 2026.” The implication is that electing Crawford and a liberal-controlled court would open the door for a favorable ruling on redrawn Wisconsin congressional maps. Under the current district lines, Republicans hold six of the Badger State’s eight House seats.

This week, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., echoed the donor advisor call’s sentiments. 

“The lines are broken, right? As soon as possible, we need to be able to revisit that and have fair lines,” Jeffries said of the state’s congressional maps, which liberals insist have been “gerrymandered” by a Republican-controlled legislature. “The only way for that to be even a significant possibility is if you have an enlightened Supreme Court.” 

Musk and Soros Money Battle

Democrats are furious that multibillionaire businessman and top Trump adviser Elon Musk is dropping millions of dollars on the race. They were apoplectic after Musk announced on his X social media platform Thursday that his political action committee is giving a Green Bay man $1 million for signing the PAC’s “Petition In Opposition to Activist Judges.”  

Musk’s America PAC announced last week it would hand out $100 to voters who signed the petition, similar to the Musk-affiliated PACs $1 million daily giveaways before November’s presidential election.  

Democrats, of course, have no problem with their billionaires — like socialist George Soros and Big Tech leftist Reid Hoffman — dumping millions of dollars into the race to back Crawford. Crawford has shattered records on donations to her campaign, hauling in at least $26.5 million as of this week, according to a review by WisPolitics.com. That’s nearly $10 million more than liberal Janet Protasiewicz raised in her 2023 successful bid for the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Like Protasiewicz, the brunt of Crawford’s campaign cash is coming from out of state and from some very wealthy leftist donors. She has outraised Schimel by more than 2-to-1 in the most recent reporting period, according to the latest campaign finance reports. 

‘The Whole Country is Watching’

Schimel told participants on the tele-town hall that his “opponent pretends she’s a moderate” but she will act as a  liberal activist on the court. Crawford’s endorsement list is long on left-wing organizations and members of the legal community. 

“I’ve never seen conservatives so united, so fired up to win,” Schimel said. He added that he’ll need at least 60 percent of Trump voter turnout from November to beat Crawford, a tough task in a traditionally low-turnout spring election. Trump won swing state Wisconsin by some 28,000 votes in November, with significant turnout in the presidential election, on his way to sweeping every battleground state and winning the electoral and popular votes. 

Trump said Tuesday’s election is an important test for his ambitious agenda of getting the U.S. economy back on track, draining the swamp, and taking on the Deep State. 

“I know you feel it’s local, but it’s not,” Trump said during Thursday’s call. “It’s really much more than local. The whole country is watching.”

Matt Kittle is a senior elections correspondent for The Federalist. An award-winning investigative reporter and 30-year veteran of print, broadcast, and online journalism, Kittle previously served as the executive director of Empower Wisconsin.