LEILA FADEL, HOST:
President Trump was not on the ballot, but elections in two states are being viewed as an early indicator of how voters feel about him after his first few months in office. In Florida, Republicans hung on to two congressional seats in deeply red districts, cementing their slim majority in the U.S. House.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Solid wins for Republicans, although the margins were a little bit less than they were just last year. In Wisconsin, in what became the most expensive judicial race in American history, the liberal judge Susan Crawford was elected to the state Supreme Court. She beat conservative Brad Schimel, who ran with Trump's endorsement and some $20 million from Elon Musk, along with groups affiliated with him. Here's Crawford last night.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
SUSAN CRAWFORD: 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...
(CHEERING)
CRAWFORD: ...For justice in Wisconsin. And we won.
(CHEERING)
FADEL: Chuck Quirmbach of member station WUWM joins me now from Milwaukee. Good morning, Chuck.
CHUCK QUIRMBACH, BYLINE: Good morning.
FADEL: OK, so what happened in the race?
QUIRMBACH: Well, in the end, the liberal judge from Madison, Crawford, won with a comfortable margin - about 235,000 votes, nine percentage points over Schimel, the conservative judge from suburban Milwaukee. Crawford even took some counties that have gone pretty often with more Republicans in recent years, including Brown County - that's mainly Green Bay - where Elon Musk held a rally Sunday night.
One of the other big stories from last night was the surge in voter turnout on both sides. Early voting and in-person voting exceeded many clerks' expectations. And, of course, there was the spending. Both sides spent really big. Elon Musk and groups associated with him spent about 20 million. Crawford had a lot of money to spend, though, too, including from mega donors like George Soros and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker.
FADEL: Now, Elon Musk became a big part of this race, as you point out, and Trump's endorsement, too. Anything to take away from Schimel's loss in that regard?
QUIRMBACH: Well, a few things. This race, even though it was - the court is nonpartisan, it was definitely a win for Democrats, and they're claiming victory against the president, his administration and Musk. And I heard that from voters, too. They say Musk's DOGE effort is going too fast, too broadly. From young voters, though, I also heard a lot about reproductive rights, which was the big issue in the last state Supreme Court election we had here two years ago.
From more conservative voters, I heard support for the president and for Musk and that Schimel could protect Trump's policies and agenda. The state GOP says they're disappointed about last night but are looking forward to 2026, when they say they'll have the opportunity to defend President Trump's agenda in more elections.
FADEL: OK, so back to the court. Liberals have kept their majority. What cases are expected to go before the justices?
QUIRMBACH: Well, abortion is already in front of the court. They're going to have to decide soon on whether an 1849 Wisconsin law that halted abortions here for 15 months right after the Dobbs decision is constitutional. Next, the matter of Act 10 - that's the big fight from 15 years ago that curtailed union bargaining rights for most public sector workers - and court could decide if parts of that law are unconstitutional. And one issue we heard a lot about from Musk and - was congressional redistricting - his contention that Democrats would try to pick up a couple of U.S. House seats here. Democrats told me last night when I asked about this, hey, we want to enjoy Crawford's win, and our lawyers will decide whether to pursue the redistricting issue before a court that will stay 4-3 liberal.
FADEL: Chuck Quirmbach of member station WUWM. Thank you, Chuck.
QUIRMBACH: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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