A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
Voters in Wisconsin have been casting ballots in the state's closely watched Supreme Court election.
MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
It is the most expensive court race in American history, with billionaire Elon Musk and other out-of-state donors spending millions to decide the next justice of the court. Here's Musk over the weekend with a last-minute pitch for the conservative candidate and for what he says are the stakes for President Trump's agenda.
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ELON MUSK: They will try to stop all of the government reforms that we are - we're doing and we're getting done for you, the American people. So...
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MARTÍNEZ: Joining us for more is Wisconsin Public Radio's Anya van Wagtendonk. Anya, so this state Supreme Court race is getting lots of national attention. I mean, why is it getting that much attention, and who are the candidates?
ANYA VAN WAGTENDONK, BYLINE: Yeah, so this is a contest between Susan Crawford and Brad Schimel. It's technically a nonpartisan race, but Crawford is very clearly the liberal candidate, and Schimel is very clearly the conservative candidate. So whoever wins will determine the ideological balance of the court, and that obviously really matters for state law here, of course. But this is also just a really significant election coming after President Donald Trump's win in November. So it's a bit of a test of how voters feel about his first few months in office, and that's a big reason for all of that interest and just tons of money being spent here.
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah, that money - where's it coming from? I mean, the numbers are similar to what we see in U.S. Senate races. I mean...
VAN WAGTENDONK: Yeah, it is just wild. The latest estimates from WisPolitics, which is a news service here, show that this race has so far cost more than a hundred million dollars. That's almost twice what our last record-setting judge race here in Wisconsin cost two years ago. It's coming from both political parties and from all across the country. It includes Illinois Governor JB Pritzker and George Soros, who are backing Crawford. I've seen some celebrity names in the campaign finance reports also supporting her, and a few major conservative businesspeople are backing Schimel. But far and away the biggest and most significant spender has been Elon Musk supporting Schimel. He says it's really about congressional redistricting. He says that if Schimel loses, Democrats could gain more seats in the U.S. House. Crawford says it's about Musk's business interests. Here's Crawford at a debate with Schimel.
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SUSAN CRAWFORD: Elon Musk started spending that money within days of Tesla filing a lawsuit in Wisconsin.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: A quick question.
CRAWFORD: He's trying to buy access and influence.
VAN WAGTENDONK: You know, both candidates are making those accusations about campaign influence. In Crawford's case, she's referring to a case where Tesla is challenging Wisconsin's car dealership laws. Right now the company isn't allowed to sell cars in Wisconsin. And Musk isn't just making traditional campaign donations. He also gave out million-dollar checks to registered voters here. That's really skirting the line of, you know, not out and out paying them to vote, which is illegal.
MARTÍNEZ: Now, what else is at stake in this race?
VAN WAGTENDONK: Abortion law, I think, is the most significant issue. It's - there's a case to determine whether abortion is legal. It's already being heard by this court. It's unclear whether that case will have been decided before the winner of this race takes the bench. There's also a major case involving labor law and collective bargaining rights. That's probably going before the state court. Again, exact timing of that is unclear.
And then I'll just note that the Wisconsin Supreme Court has decided a number of voting and election-related cases in the past. It came incredibly close to overturning Joe Biden's victory in the state in 2020. So there's just such electoral interest tied up in having control of the highest court in what might be America's swingiest swing state.
MARTÍNEZ: The swingiest swing state. That's right.
VAN WAGTENDONK: (Laughter).
MARTÍNEZ: I was trying to say that five times fast, but for time, I won't (ph).
VAN WAGTENDONK: Yeah, exactly.
MARTÍNEZ: Wisconsin Public Radio's Anya van Wagtendonk, thank you very much.
VAN WAGTENDONK: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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