Spending by Billionaires on Wisconsin Supreme Court Race Still Rising

Cash. (CC0 Creative Commons).

On the eve of the high-stakes contest for the Wisconsin Supreme Court, money continues to funnel into Wisconsin.

Unprecedented levels of funding backing either Dane County Judge Susan Crawford or Waukesha County Judge Brad Schimel have come from across the country.

And while both candidates also received grassroots support from ordinary citizens, the bulk of their backing has come from prominent political groups and megadonors. Campaign contributions to individual candidates for Supreme Court are capped at $20,000 in Wisconsin, but people with more to spend can give unlimited amounts through political action committees or the state political parties.

That’s led to at least $81 million spent to date, according to a Brennan Center tally — with more being spent on behalf of Schimel than for Crawford, although her official campaign has raised more than his, including more from individual donors and in-state donors. A WisPolitics tally of spending put the total even higher, saying it had already eclipsed $100 million.

Among the heaviest spenders are out-of-state billionaires, whose millions in donations could go a long way to determining whether conservatives or liberals have a majority on the court. The Wisconsin Supreme Court is due to decide cases affecting abortion and labor rights, and could have a say in congressional redistricting, voting rights and more.

Big donors have extra motivation this year. Wisconsin’s court race is seen nationally as the highest-profile election since President Donald Trump took office, and it’s being treated as a referendum on Trump and his top advisor, Elon Musk.

Here are four major players in what has become the most expensive judicial race in U.S. history.

Elon Musk

By far the biggest spender in the race has been Musk, the Tesla founder who now holds a prominent position in the White House as the head of cost-cutting Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.

Musk first emerged as a political power player during the 2024 presidential cycle, when he was the election’s biggest spender, spending more than $291 million, according to OpenSecrets, a campaign finance watchdog. Much of that money supported Trump’s reelection campaign, but some also went to a number of U.S. House races.

Now, the Wisconsin court race is seen as an early test of his prowess outside of Washington. He endorsed Schimel in January and has donated $3 million to the Republican Party of Wisconsin to date. Groups linked to him, including Building America’s Future and his own America PAC, have also spent more than $17 million, according to the Brennan Center.

Some of that spending has tested the bounds of what’s legal under Wisconsin campaign finance law. Musk recently established a giveaway for Wisconsin voters who signed a petition opposing “activist judges,” and then surprised one signer with a $1 million check. He turned that up a notch Friday, announcing a Sunday event in Wisconsin to give two residents $1 million each. Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul has filed a lawsuit to try to block the giveaway, calling it illegal and an “egregious attempt to buy votes.” Three courts rejected the lawsuit, including a unanimous Wisconsin Supreme Court Sunday night.

Crawford backers have sought to tie Schimel to Musk — and Trump — by pointing to mailings from Musk-backed groups that promise Schimel will support Trump’s agenda. Schimel has said he has no control over outside group messaging but he has actively courted Trump voters and promoted Trump’s endorsement in his campaign ads.

During a recent joint appearance with Schimel on X, the social media company that he owns, Musk described the race’s high stakes as nothing less than “preserving democracy in America.” A Crawford victory, he argued, could lead to new congressional maps in Wisconsin, which could tilt the delicate balance of power in Congress.

Meanwhile, a lawsuit filed by Tesla seeks to allow the company to open dealerships in Wisconsin. It could eventually find its way to the state Supreme Court, and Crawford has argued Musk is trying to buy a Supreme Court justice to support his interests.

George Soros

Long a boogeyman of the political right, George Soros, the nonagenarian financier, has been a longtime supporter of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin among other left-leaning candidates and causes throughout the nation. In this cycle, he’s donated $2 million to the state party, although his Democracy PAC is not among the outside groups contributing to Crawford.

That’s come as his political contributions have declined somewhat overall, at least by megadonor standards. According to OpenSecrets, he was not among the top 100 political donors last year, although some of his nonprofits disbursed funds to other groups. Two years before, he was the country’s top political donor.

Just as Crawford wants voters to equate Schimel with Musk, Schimel wants voters to do the same with Crawford and Soros. In a statement, Schimel described Crawford as “George Soros’ ideal investment.” On social media, Schimel said Crawford “takes her marching orders from George Soros.”

At the candidates’ only debate earlier this month, Schimel said Soros is “a dangerous person to have an endorsement from.” That’s a reference to other causes that Soros-linked groups have supported, such as electing progressive prosecutors.

“I have never promised anything, and that is the difference,” Crawford argued.

JB Pritzker

This election cycle isn’t the first time Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker has gotten involved in politics with his neighbor to the north. The billionaire from Chicago, where his family’s name is splashed across buildings, has supported Wisconsin liberal causes before, and was the keynote speaker at last summer’s Wisconsin state Democratic Convention, where he castigated Trump and advocated for a Midwestern Democratic wave.

The Hyatt Hotels heir made some waves himself for self-funding his own gubernatorial campaigns and was a big backer of the Wisconsin Democratic Party when Gov. Tony Evers was up for reelection. Now, he’s given $1.5 million to state Democrats since Crawford entered the race.

According to reporting from the Chicago Tribune, Pritzker said Crawford losing could spell “deep trouble” for Wisconsin.

“This is a battle that everybody understands will determine perhaps the future for Wisconsin politics … certainly for the next several years,” he said.

While it hasn’t come close to Wisconsin’s recent Supreme Court elections, Illinois has had its own high-dollar court races. They prompted Pritzker to sign a law in 2021 banning out-of-state campaign contributions to judicial candidates in his own state.

Richard and Elizabeth Uihlein

Richard and Elizbeth Uihlein, seen here in a 2017 promotional video, own the Pleasant Prairie-based Uline company. They’re also among the nation’s largest donors to conservative candidates. Screenshot via YouTube

The shipping magnates Richard and Elizabeth Uihlein may be better known for their Pleasant Prairie-based shipping supply and packing company Uline, but they are among the biggest conservative donors in the country.

While they run a Wisconsin company, the couple is from Lake Bluff, Illinois. They maintain a low profile, but they were the fourth-most significant political donors in the 2024 election cycle, according to OpenSecrets.

They’ve been major players in past Wisconsin elections, with one or both sometimes picking sides in conservative primaries, like the 2018 campaign for U.S. Senate. More recently, Richard Uihlein was a major donor to former Justice Dan Kelly in Wisconsin’s 2023 Supreme court race.

In this cycle, Richard has donated $1.65 million to the Wisconsin Republican Party and Elizabeth has donated more than $2.34 million. Their PAC, Fair Courts America, has also put $3.96 million into the race, all in support of Schimel.

All told, that’s nearly $8 million from the couple.

Out-of-state billionaires fuel Wisconsin Supreme Court election was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.