The field is set for an April election to control the Wisconsin Supreme Court

Republican former Attorney General Brad Schimel will face Dane County Judge Susan Crawford in what might be conservatives’ last chance to control the court until 2028.

With only two candidates running for an open seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court —no February primary needed— what promises to be a no-holds-barred campaign got underway this week between a Republican former state attorney general and a judge with extensive experience working for a Democratic governor.

On April 1, voters will choose between Judge Susan Crawford and former Attorney General Brad Schimel, who is now a Waukesha County judge. The two are running to fill the seat currently held by progressive Justice Ann Walsh Bradley, who is retiring at the expiration of her ten-year term in office.

Conservatives have a double dose of motivation to win the seat. The 2023 victory by Justice Janet Protasiewicz ended more than 15 years of right wing control of the court. Moreover, because of how the terms are staggered, the elections in 2026 and 2027 will involve conservative justices defending their seats. If conservatives don’t win in April, they may not get another chance to take control of the court until Justice Rebecca Dallet’s term is up in 2028.

Crawford’s Experience

Crawford grew up in Chippewa Falls, a 1983 graduate of Chi-Hi. She went to college at Lawrence University in Appleton and law school at the University of Iowa. As an assistant attorney general, she argued cases before the Iowa Supreme before Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle “stole me away” in 1997.

“I started working as a criminal prosecutor,” Crawford told UpNorthNews during an interview in September. “Mainly prosecuting serious felony cases in the appellate courts [at] the Wisconsin Supreme Court and the Wisconsin Court of Appeals.”

“I served for a period of time at the Department of Corrections as chief of staff to the secretary [where] I had a view of the entire correctional system. I have visited many of our prisons in the state, talked to innumerable probation and parole agents, correctional, workers and inmates. And I think that’s a really important perspective on the system to see it from that angle.” 

Crawford then worked at the Department of Natural Resources as head of the Division of Enforcement to oversee the referral of cases to the state Department of Justice that involved serious violations of environmental law that threatened the safety of water, air, and other natural resources.

Crawford’s rise up the ranks led her to the governor’s office, where she served as Doyle’s chief legal counsel. At the end of Doyle’s term, she worked at the Pines Bach law firm before being elected in 2018 as a judge in Dane County.

“One thing I want to help people to understand is that as a judge, I can’t say how I would rule on any particular case that might be headed to the Supreme Court,” Crawford said. “But I can tell you about my values, how I’ve chosen to spend my time, using my legal skills and my experience in my career. And part of that has been really focused on protecting people and upholding their rights in our court.” 

To that end, like Protasiewicz in her race, Crawford is willing to offer signals about how her values shape her approach to cases in the broadest sense.

“So just with that background, on the topic of our democracy and voting rights for example, I think it’s really important for the court to protect the right to vote, to make sure citizens have access to the polls, and that all of our voting and election laws are being applied and interpreted and enforced fairly to help people to exercise their right to vote.”

Similarly, her approach to reproductive rights emphasizes the rights themselves, rather than seeking out restrictions that courts could impose on women.

“Look, I’m a mom. I have two kids who are now young adults. I have been through pregnancy, labor, and birth. It’s not for wimps. And I understand how important it is for women to have health care during those times and to have all the options available to them to make sure that they can make decisions about their bodies, about their pregnancies, [and] that they’re able to protect themselves.”

Crawford’s entry into the state Supreme Court race came with four of the biggest possible endorsements: the current progressive majority justices: Bradley, Protasiewicz, Dallet, and Jill Karofsky. 

“I think that they are doing a great job on the Wisconsin Supreme Court in making fair decisions. And I think that they have the same approach to the law that I do, which is that they understand and believe that it is really important to get to the facts. You know, truth is a really important value in our justice system and part of what we’re trained to do as a judge is to determine what the facts are. And I think they agree with me about that. They want to make fair, impartial decisions. They’re not there to push a partisan political agenda.”

“And by the way,” Crawford adds about Schimel, “I believe my opponent in this race is in this race to push a very extreme partisan agenda. He’s a long-time partisan politician and I think that is why he’s running for the Wisconsin Supreme Court. So I believe I’ve gotten those endorsements from those four justices because they, like me, believe it is really important to have a state Supreme Court that is standing up for the rights of Wisconsinites.”

Schimel’s Experience

Schimel’s term as Wisconsin Attorney General coincided with Scott Walker’s second term as governor, 2015-2019. In 2018, as Walker was unseated by Democrat Tony Evers, voters replaced Schimel with Democrat Josh Kaul. (Both Evers and Kaul were reelected in 2022.) As a lame duck governor, Walker appointed Schimel to a judgeship in Waukesha County days after the 2018 election, bypassing more than a dozen candidates who had applied—four of whom had letters of recommendation from Schimel.

Schimel is a graduate of Mukwanago High School, UW-Milwaukee, and the University of Wisconsin Law School. He was elected to four terms as Waukesha County district attorney before running for attorney general. 

As attorney general, Schimel was roundly criticized for a backlog of unprocessed rape test kits that had started to build up prior to his taking office. But during his first two years in office, nine kits were processed out of more than 6,000 that awaited testing. 

Schimel partially blamed his loss on President-elect Donald Trump who was midway through his first term at the time. “We did lose votes, I think, because people are not happy with some of President Trump’s language that he uses in his communications.”

He also acknowledged headwinds from voters unhappy that he was leading a 20-state lawsuit seeking to overturn the Affordable Care Act. Schimel was also part of a lawsuit opposing Environmental Protection Agency limits on carbon emissions from power plants.

There was also an uproar over the discovery that Schimel had spent $10,000 in taxpayer funds to mint 2,000 commemorative coins with his name on them.

On his campaign website, Schimel offers a preview of themes reminiscent of recent Republican talking points.

“From opening the border to releasing criminals on our streets, rogue judges across the nation are putting their radical agenda above the law. Brad Schimel will take back the Wisconsin Supreme Court and end the madness.”

Schimel raised eyebrows last week during an appearance on a conservative radio show by claiming members of the violent mob that stormed the US Capitol on January 6, 2021 didn’t get a “fair shot” in court because, he claimed, the Washington, DC district court is “overwhelmingly liberal.” It is standard for criminal defendants to be charged in the district where they allegedly committed the crimes for which they are being tried.

Big Money Returns to Wisconsin Elections

Crawford’s campaign reported this week that she had raised $2.8 million since getting into the race in June, while Schimel’s campaign reported $2.2 million since announcing his candidacy nearly 14 months ago. Both figures dwarf anything seen in previous state Supreme Court races.