19 Winners and Losers in Historic Election

Elon Musk speaking at the 2025 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland. Photo by Gage Skidmore. (CC BY-SA 2.0)

If ever there was an election where some of the biggest winners and losers were not on the ballot, this was it. At times it seemed that the Wisconsin Supreme Court election was all about one loudmouth with a $25 million megaphone who didn’t live in Wisconsin. Oh yes, he heads the list.

Loser: Elon Musk. Wow, did he lose big. Liberal George Soros, as always, quietly donated, $2 million this time, to the Democratic Party. Musk spent 12 times more than this on the election in addition to offering cash rewards to “petition signers” that he clearly wanted to vote for conservative Supreme Court candidate Brad Schimel. Musk wore a cheesehead hat, held rallies in Wisconsin and made the election all about him. And was soundly defeated.

Musk had talked about doing the same thing in other state elections. Democrats will love it if he does. Meanwhile, President Donald Trump, who doesn’t like losers, might start separating himself a bit from Elon. And Musk’s company Tesla, which is fighting to change a state law barring manufacturers from opening dealerships, might get a chilly reception from the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

Loser: Donald Trump: He will blame the loss on Musk. But he endorsed Schimel, and the Republicans ran ads warning voters that liberal Supreme Court candidate Susan Crawford will stymie Trump’s agenda. Her victory was a loss for Trump. Meanwhile in two congressional districts in Florida he won by more than 30 points in November, the GOP candidates won yesterday by only half that. This election is the first referendum on the Trump administration and the response is clearly negative.

Winner: Women Justices: Have you noticed that almost every time the liberals win a Wisconsin Supreme Court election the winner is a woman? The two who didn’t, Lisa Neubauer in 2019 and JoAnne Kloppenburg in 2011, both lost by a tiny, .5% margin, and Kloppenburg against an incumbent, David Prosser. The four liberal justices who held the majority in Wisconsin, including retiring justice Ann Walsh Bradley, were all standing behind Crawford as she gave her victory speech, and were all hugging each other. Odds are Democrats are already looking for a woman candidate to run against conservative Rebecca Bradley next year.

Winner: Shirley Abrahamson: The late liberal lion of Wisconsin’s high court — who never lost an election — was a role model for every one of the justices on that stage last night. She would be proud of what they have accomplished.

Loser: Scott Walker. The former Republican governor of Wisconsin has been in his Richard Nixon-mode for six years now, plotting his comeback. This election was his latest attempt. Walker claimed the credit for recruiting Musk to get involved in this election and got coverage from the New York Times for this. Crawford should send Scooter a bouquet of roses.

Loser: Keith Gilkes: Walker was nice enough the share the credit for his master plan with the Republican consultant who worked on Walker’s past campaign. Methinks Gilkes won’t be putting his Musk-y strategy on his resume.

Losers: Richard and Elizabeth Uihlein: The uber-conservative Uihleins, who live in Illinois but run a Wisconsin-based company and have a summer home in Wisconsin’s Northwoods, spent nearly $8 million — second only to Musk in Wisconsin history — to elect Schimel. Richard has complained in the past about being advised to back losers. Well Dick, you’ve done it again.

Loser: The Super Wealthy: In many ways the Supreme Court election was a rejection of the richest 1%, both in Wisconsin and Washington. As Crawford put it in her victory speech: “As a little girl growing up in Chippewa Falls, I never could have imagined that I’d be taking on the richest man in the world for justice in Wisconsin.”

Winner: Socialists: While the rich were rebuffed, Bernie Sanders is drawing big crowds across the nation condemning the “wealthy autocrats” in Washington. And in Milwaukee Alex Brower won the race for 3rd District alderman, calling himself a “Sewer Socialist” and invoking the golden days of party members like Dan Hoan. We knew the East Side was liberal, but that liberal?

Loser: School Choice: If there was ever a race for State Superintendent of Public Instruction that a school choice supporter should have won, it was this one. Incumbent Jill Underly was not backed by the state teachers union nor by Gov. Tony Evers, a former superintendent. But Underly ran a surprisingly strong campaign, probably helped by the turnout of liberals in the high court race, and defeated voucher supporter Brittany Kinser.

Loser: Republican Party. It was Brad Schimel who pushed to nationalize the Supreme Court race, and state GOP leaders got aboard that train, turning this into a referendum on Trump at time when the president was decimating federal services and laying off middle class workers. Bad timing.

Winner: Democratic Party: The party’s state leader Ben Wikler came up with the “People Against Musk” campaign to counter the massive spending of Musk. Republicans doubted it would work, as campaigns against wealthy backers never get any traction, but this one did. “In a moment of national darkness, Wisconsin voters lit a candle,” Wikler tweeted. “Let the lesson of Wisconsin’s election ring out across the country.”

Loser: We Energies: Brower ran for the Common Council calling for the city to take over We Energies and make it a public utility. He’s unlikely to succeed, but will be shining a light on ever-rising prices charged by the utility. That might make We Energies think twice about the next rate hike.

Winner: Unions: They now have a liberal Supreme Court until at least 2028 to rule on labor cases. That will include a challenge to the Act 10 law, passed in 2011, that decimated public union rights. The case is likely to come before the high court.

Winner: Reproductive Rights. Schimel backed the 1849 law that has been seen as outlawing abortion, while others say it made feticide illegal. Odds are the court’s liberal majority will go with the latter interpretation.

Loser: Mayor Cavalier Johnson. His backing of Daniel Bauman in the race for 3rd district alderman comes on the heels of his losing endorsement in August of Jarrod Anderson in the Democratic primary over incumbent Ryan Clancy in the 19th Assembly District. That’s two times Johnson opposed Socialists and lost. Apparently that’s still not advisable in Milwaukee.

Loser: Nation Consulting: The political consulting firm led by Thad Nation, one of the all-time great names for a consultant, worked for Dan Bauman in this election and Jarrod Anderson in August, joining Johnson’s losing bets against Socialists. Somewhere Frank Zeidler is smiling. (Update: “I’ll take the loss on Bauman,” Nation wrote me in response, “but considering I did Underly which you labeled a surprisingly strong campaign, I think I should get some credit for that.” Point taken.)

Winner: Fair Maps: Republicans are scared the court’s liberal majority will rule in favor of new maps for the state’s eight congressional districts which are still badly gerrymandered. If the court does, it will strike a blow for democracy — and against Republican overreach.

Winner: Robin Vos and Republican legislators: They came up with the idea of enshrining photo ID in the Wisconsin Constitution and the referendum item passed easily.

Loser: Democracy. Republicans were giddy when they first passed the photo ID law because they were sure it would reduce turnout by minorities and college students. Studies have shown it did indeed discourage some from voting, perhaps as high as 10% of voters in some districts. Meanwhile, the GOP base is changing, as well-to-do voters (who don’t lack photo ID) are increasingly gravitating to the Democratic Party. It would be ironic if over the long haul the Republicans’ cynical tool to suppress the vote — now required by our state constitution — comes back to bite them.