Top donors to Susan Crawford, liberal candidate for Wis Supreme Court (so far)

by The Badger Project, The Badger Project
January 16, 2025

The left-leaning candidate has received a huge financial boost from the state party as Wisconsin Democrats continue their fundraising edge.

By Peter Cameron, THE BADGER PROJECT

Dane County Circuit Court Judge Susan Crawford, the political left's candidate for Wisconsin Supreme Court in 2025, raised nearly $3 million through the end of 2024, thanks in part to a $1 million donation from the Democratic Party of Wisconsin.

By comparison, her only opponent at the moment, Waukesha County Circuit Court Judge and former Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel raised a little more than $2 million through the end of 2024, according to mandatory campaign finance filings with the state.

Per state law, the maximum a person can give a candidate for Wisconsin Supreme Court is $20,000. But a loophole in state campaign finance law allows political parties to raise unlimited amounts and donate unlimited amounts to candidates.

Campaigns for Wisconsin Supreme Court are technically nonpartisan, though both major parties dump money into the coffers of their preferred candidate.

The race projects to be one of the court's most expensive ever. Whichever side's candidate wins will control the majority of the highest court in the state.

The candidates and special interest groups spent a record-smashing $51 million in the last race for Wisconsin Supreme Court in 2023, according to the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, an organization that tracks campaign finance in the state. That election flipped the majority of the court from the right to the left for the first time in years. The court then ended the Republican gerrymander of the state's political districts.

Crawford previously worked as a prosecutor for the state's Department of Justice under then-Attorney General Jim Doyle. When the Democrat was elected governor, she went with him, serving as his chief legal counsel. After, Crawford worked in private practice, representing Planned Parenthood, among many other clients.

The seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court is opening because left-leaning Justice Ann Walsh Bradley is retiring.

The general election is April 1. The winner will earn a 10-year term on the state's high court.

Donors who have given Crawford the legal maximum $20,000

This article first appeared on The Badger Project and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.