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On April 1, Wisconsin voters will decide the ideological bent of their state’s Supreme Court in an election that has drawn the attention and cash of Elon Musk. The two candidates vying for a ten-year term are liberal trial court judge Susan Crawford and former Republican attorney general and current trial court judge Brad Schimel.

The election is technically apolitical—the candidates don’t run as Democrats or Republicans—but in reality it’s anything but. The election comes after the retirement of liberal Justice Ann Walsh Bradley last year. Since a 2023 Supreme Court election, the court has had a liberal majority for the first time in over a decade. Now, Justice Bradley’s retirement and the upcoming election threaten to throw that balance back to conservatives.

The consequences of a conservative majority on the court would be wide-ranging, potentially handing conservatives victories on abortion, elections, and organized labor. That’s why the election is being flooded with cash by the world’s richest man. All in all, the election has seen more than $66 million in spending, with $13 million of that coming from groups associated with Musk. The majority of the cash, $36 million, is benefiting Schimel. Some campaign finance experts have anticipated as much as $100 million to be spent, on an off-year state Supreme Court election.

With the massive flow of national money into a state race, it’s clear that this election has consequences that will likely reverberate across the country. Political observers are also looking at the election as a referendum on the Trump administration, Elon Musk, and the Democratic Party’s ability to hold on to power in a critical swing state.

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