Political parties, megadonors drop money on Wisconsin Supreme Court race

MADISON, Wis. — Billionaire megadonors are opening their wallets to influence the high-stakes race for control of the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

The winner of the April 1 election between Dane County Circuit Judge Susan Crawford and Waukesha County Circuit Judge Brad Schimel will determine whether the court in battleground Wisconsin will remain under liberal control or flip to a conservative majority.

The 2023 Wisconsin Supreme Court race, which was also for ideological control of the court, was the most expensive judicial race in U.S. history. This year's race is shaping up to be even more expensive and has already garnered national attention from multi-billionaire Elon Musk, who's also a loyalist of President Donald Trump.

The race is nonpartisan in name only, as the most recent campaign finance reports filed this week show. Some of the country's most deep-pocketed political megadonors are getting involved.

Democratic philanthropist George Soros gave $1 million to the Wisconsin Democratic Party in January. Other large donors included Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker at $500,000; Milwaukee philanthropist Lynde Uihlein at $490,000; Gloria Page, the mother of Google co-founder Larry Page, at $470,000; and LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman at $250,000.

After those donations came in, the Democratic Party made three transfers to Crawford's campaign totaling $2 million. The party previously gave Crawford $1 million.

''Susan Crawford is George Soros' ideal investment,'' Schimel's campaign said in a statement Tuesday. ''On Wisconsin's Supreme Court, Susan Crawford has an agenda and Soros is buying into it.''

On the Republican side, billionaire Wisconsin businesswoman Diane Hendricks gave the state GOP $970,000 in January. She owns ABC Supply based in Beloit. Liz Uihlein, president of shipping and packing company Uline, gave the party $650,000 and Joe Ricketts, the founder of Ameritrade and co-owner of the Chicago Cubs, donated $500,000.

Shortly after receiving the donations, the Wisconsin Republican Party transferred nearly $1.7 million to Schimel's campaign. Hendricks also gave Schimel's campaign the maximum $20,000 donation.

Under Wisconsin law, individuals can't give more than $20,000 to Supreme Court candidates. But political parties can receive unlimited donations, which they can then give to the candidates.

Haley McCoy, a spokeswoman for the Wisconsin Democratic Party, accused Schimel of ''begging at the feet of radical right-wing billionaires.''

Schimel has raised $5.1 million since he entered the race in December 2023, including the nearly $1.7 million from the Republican Party. Crawford has raised more than $7.7 million since she got into the race in June, including $3 million from the state Democratic Party.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court has been at the center of some of the battleground state's largest battles in recent years, including the outcome of the 2020 presidential election and legislative redistricting.

Cases affecting abortion rights and the fate of a 2011 anti-union law are currently before the court, with other battles over reproductive rights, election laws and congressional redistricting looming.