SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
A state election in Wisconsin next week has attracted an endorsement from President Donald Trump and $20 million from Elon Musk and groups with which he's associated. National Democrats say it'll be one of the first opportunities for voters to push back on the Trump administration. Early voting is surging, fundraising has broken national records. The race is for one seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Wisconsin Public Radio's Rich Kremer joins us now from Eau Claire. Thanks so much for being with us, Rich.
RICH KREMER, BYLINE: Good to be here.
SIMON: Who's on the ballot?
KREMER: So this is a matchup between conservative county judge Brad Schimel, who served four years as Wisconsin's Republican attorney general, and liberal county judge Susan Crawford, who previously worked for a Democratic governor and has represented Democrats and Planned Parenthood as a private attorney. The race is officially nonpartisan, but our state parties are heavily involved.
SIMON: And why? Why all the money, why all the national attention?
KREMER: Well, it depends who you ask. Republicans say it's about preventing a liberal majority from redrawing U.S. House district maps in hopes of flipping two GOP-held seats. Democrats say it's about keeping a conservative court majority from shutting down lawsuits aimed at expanding abortion access. More broadly, though, this is the first statewide election since President Donald Trump was reelected, and both sides are framing it as a kind of a barometer of how people feel about his first months in office. The president held a tele-rally (ph) with Brad Schimel Thursday night. Here's what he said.
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PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: You know, I know you feel it's local, but it's not. It's really much more than local. The whole country is watching.
KREMER: And Democrats agree. Here's how the head of Wisconsin's Democratic Party, Ben Wikler, put it at a rally earlier this month.
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BEN WIKLER: We have this gift. We have this incredible privilege, which is that we get to organize, fight back and win an election that sends a message to the world, to the country, to this state, and to ourselves. We have this moment.
SIMON: Now, we noted that Elon Musk is a major donor in the election. Tell us about some of the other big donors, and what does that indicate about the race?
KREMER: We've seen contributions from across the political spectrum. Liberal megadonors like LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker and George Soros have been backing Crawford's campaign. Schimel has received donations from conservative megadonors Richard and Elizabeth Uihlein, along with recent U.S. Senate candidate Eric Hovde and others from Wisconsin.
But when combined with his affiliated political action committees, Elon Musk is reportedly the single largest spender. It's worth mentioning Tesla is currently suing the state in a case that could make it to the court. It's to allow the company to sell cars here. And there's another legal battle Musk is involved with in Wisconsin. Just yesterday, the Wisconsin attorney general filed a lawsuit aimed at blocking him from giving million-dollar payments to people who signed his petition opposing what he calls activist judges.
SIMON: And I gather there's been an early surge in voting. What do voters you've talked to say about the race?
KREMER: So earlier this week, we saw nearly twice as many early in-person absentee ballots cast than at the same point in Wisconsin's 2023 Supreme Court race. One voter I spoke with from western Wisconsin - he's a Democrat, Logan Morningstar - said he's become more involved in state and local politics since Trump's reelection, because he just doesn't like what he's seeing happening in Washington.
LOGAN MORNINGSTAR: I didn't vote for an oligarchy. I didn't grow up in a country where we had kings. I grew up in a democracy, where we had elected officials who serve the public and are meant to do what the public has interest in.
KREMER: Republicans have said the election is about keeping a liberal court majority from blocking Trump's agenda. Republican door-knocking volunteer, Angela Kretchmer of southeastern Wisconsin, told me the goal is to get conservatives who voted in November to the polls on Tuesday.
ANGELA KRETCHMER: So we just have to remind them, yes, now we took our federal government back. It's now time to focus on local.
KREMER: And, Scott, races in Wisconsin tend to be very close, and this one could be especially close.
SIMON: Thanks so much, Rich Kremer, in Eau Claire, with Wisconsin Public Radio. Thank you.
KREMER: Thank you.
(SOUNDBITE OF AUKAI AND RICHARD HOUGHTEN'S "SLOW SUN") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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