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AMY GOODMAN: We start at this time’s present in Wisconsin, the place liberal Decide Susan Crawford defeated the Trump-backed Brad Schimel for a seat on Wisconsin’s state Supreme Court docket in the most costly judicial election in U.S. historical past. Many considered the race as a referendum on Elon Musk, the world’s richest man and Trump megadonor, who’s been heading the Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle key federal businesses. Decide Crawford received 55% of the vote, though Musk spent over $25 million on the race to assist elect Schimel. On Sunday evening, Musk gave out $1 million checks to 2 Wisconsin voters, one among whom occurred to be the chair of the Wisconsin Federation of Younger Republicans. Decide Crawford made a reference to Musk throughout her victory speech.
JUDGE SUSAN CRAWFORD: As somewhat lady rising up in Chippewa Falls, I by no means may have imagined that I’d be taking over the richest man on the earth for justice in Wisconsin. And we received! … And Wisconsin’s stood up and mentioned loudly that justice doesn’t have a worth. Our courts should not on the market.
AMY GOODMAN: Whereas Democrats are celebrating the ends in Wisconsin, as anticipated, Republicans received two intently watched Home races in conservative districts in Florida, however the races had been a lot nearer than in November.
Becoming a member of us from Madison, Wisconsin, is John Nichols, The Nation‘s nationwide affairs correspondent, his new article headlined “Wisconsin Rejects Musk’s Cash, Trump’s Lies and the Proper-Wing Assault on the Judiciary.”
John, total, I believe it’s being estimated that there was one thing like $100 million spent on this state judicial race. Are you able to speak in regards to the significance of the liberal Decide Crawford’s victory by fairly a big margin?
JOHN NICHOLS: It was fairly a big margin, Amy. And let me let you know, I don’t suppose we will overestimate the importance. Going into this race, when individuals would ask me about it, I might say, “There’s no center floor. If Crawford wins, it is going to be an enormous sign that Individuals are rejecting, clearly, the cash that Elon Musk is utilizing to attempt to purchase elections, but in addition they’re rejecting the course of the Trump administration.” Then again, if Brad Schimel had received, it will have been taken by Trump and Musk as, you already know, a complete vindication for what they’re doing.
The rationale that was so is as a result of Wisconsin is an absolute battleground state. It’s extremely intently divided. Within the final seven elections, 5 — for president of the US, 5 have been determined by underneath 30,000 votes. So it is a state the place issues are often very, very shut. Nevertheless it wasn’t that manner on Tuesday. Susan Crawford did win by the higher a part of 200,000 votes. She did win that 55-45 victory. And what’s maybe most vital is she received communities in areas of the state that had voted for Trump simply 5 months in the past in a really, very high-turnout election. So, as I counsel, I simply don’t suppose you possibly can overestimate the importance. It is a big sign from a battleground state that Individuals are genuinely upset, genuinely offended, I believe, with Trump and with Musk.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, John, that wasn’t the one race in Wisconsin. There was additionally an election for state superintendent of public instruction. What occurred there?
JOHN NICHOLS: Effectively, you’re certain — you’re precisely proper, Juan. And the race for superintendent of public instruction, which is the state’s prime schooling job and is a really vital job — it’s the submit that present Governor Tony Evers held earlier than he turned governor — was intensely fought. It was a battle between the incumbent, Jill Underly, who has been an absolute supporter of public schooling — she’s a former rural educator — versus a lady named Brittany Kinser, who was supported by the Republicans and who was supported by advocates for voucher applications that might take cash out of public schooling. Very clear selection. Kinser had a whole lot of assets. She was backed by a whole lot of the identical campaigners that had been on the market for Brad Schimel within the Supreme Court docket race. And Jill Underly received. It wasn’t fairly as large a victory because the Supreme Court docket race, nevertheless it was a roughly a 53-47 victory — a really clear, strong win. So, in each statewide races within the battleground state of Wisconsin, the progressive — the clearly progressive candidates received.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, John, may you touch upon the ends in the 2 congressional particular elections in Florida?
JOHN NICHOLS: Positive. These are vital elections, as a result of, you already know, particular elections within the first weeks of a brand new president’s time period usually give us a sign of, you already know, form of the place sentiment goes. Now, these had been closely gerrymandered districts. They had been designed to elect Republicans. There was no query of that. And the prospect {that a} Democrat would truly win one among these seats was, you already know, fairly hopeful on the a part of any Democrat who thought that might occur. Nonetheless, there was an enormous shift in each of the Florida districts towards the Democratic candidates, each of whom, by the way in which, weren’t well-known individuals per se or significantly highly effective figures, and so they had been operating in opposition to very outstanding officers in Florida on the Republican facet. And but what we noticed is that counties in rural and extra city Florida, that had truly been fairly supportive of Trump, in some instances shifted towards the Democrats.
And total, it was a end result that I believe Democrats can level to and do a complicated evaluation. Basically, what they should say is that this: “Look, these weren’t districts that we had been going to win, however these are districts the place you possibly can get a measure of the place the sentiment is transferring in the US.” And that’s what I might say. Bear in mind, now we have a whole lot of congressional districts throughout the U.S. that Republicans maintain, however which might be a lot, far more intently divided. It will be a better run for the Democrat. So, if you happen to see this sort of shift in districts throughout the nation in 2026, there’s merely no query that the Democrats would take the Home of Representatives.
AMY GOODMAN: So, once more, these had been two particular elections in Florida for the seats of the embattled nationwide safety adviser Mike Waltz and for Gaetz, who was named as lawyer normal, nominated by Trump, however then, in the end, needed to pull out and pull out of Congress round varied drug and intercourse scandals. However I wished to return to Wisconsin for one minute and ask not solely the importance for the nation — I imply, if you happen to take what Elon Musk mentioned, he mentioned it’s for the way forward for Western civilization, however his candidate was defeated — however what this implies, for instance, particularly, about abortion rights, because the Democrats preserve the bulk on the Wisconsin state Supreme Court docket, John.
JOHN NICHOLS: Positive. In Wisconsin, it was a really, very clear selection. Susan Crawford has been a really robust supporter of abortion rights for a very long time. Along with being previously a lawyer for labor unions, she was a lawyer in instances introduced by Deliberate Parenthood. And so, there was no query of the place she stood on the problem, and she or he put it entrance and middle in her marketing campaign. Then again, Brad Schimel is a longtime Republican politician who had been very intently related to the anti-choice place and, in actual fact, was backed by ardent advocates of a ban on abortion rights. And so, the selection couldn’t have been clearer.
And I believe that there are at all times individuals who prefer to let you know that abortion is fading as a problem, that as time passes, you already know, maybe it’s not as resonant. However once I was speaking to voters yesterday, I used to be struck by the very robust turnout of younger voters. I used to be at a polling place on the College of Wisconsin campus shortly earlier than the polls closed, and there have been actually younger girls operating in to forged their vote, attempting to make it in time, you already know, earlier than the closing of the polls. And in speaking to those people, you discovered plenty of them had been placing the problem of abortion rights very excessive on their record. So, I believe it continues to be a really resonant concern.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: I wished to ask you about all this cash that Elon Musk is pouring into these political campaigns. I imply, discuss taking Residents United, the Supreme Court docket resolution, placing it on steroids. Your sense of the legality of all of this, of providing 1,000,000 {dollars} to explicit voters?
JOHN NICHOLS: Positive. Musk’s spending and the way in which he did his spending has been extremely controversial in Wisconsin. The lawyer normal did carry an motion in opposition to him. Different authorized teams have been elevating this concern. It didn’t get litigated earlier than the election, however I don’t suppose there’s any query that there’s going to be a seamless examination of how Musk spent his cash and of actual questions of whether or not there have been violations of Wisconsin election legislation.
However there’s one thing deeper as regards all this, Juan. Even when it was authorized, what we have to perceive is that we had a scenario in Wisconsin the place the wealthiest man on the earth tried to purchase an election. He poured his cash in, as roughly $25 million, along with all these different gimmicks, all these different stunts. And I believe that a whole lot of political analysts would have instructed you, “Effectively, that’s going to win, as a result of cash wins in politics.” However that didn’t occur in Wisconsin. So, once we speak in regards to the significance of this, past the legalities, there’s a political significance. The message out of Wisconsin is that Musk’s cash doesn’t win.
And that message issues for Democrats, clearly, going into the 2025 fall elections, in addition to the 2026 midterm elections. It additionally issues for Republicans in Congress, as a result of there’s no query Elon Musk has tried to intimidate them by threatening to make use of his cash to punish any Republican that stands as much as Donald Trump’s agenda. Effectively, now these Republicans have a counternarrative, one other piece of knowledge, which says that, yeah, perhaps Musk’s cash may shield you in a main, nevertheless it won’t be sufficient to guard you in a normal election. And so, we’ve received a really vital sign out of Wisconsin about cash in politics, basically, and about Elon Musk’s cash, particularly.
AMY GOODMAN: I imply, it’s outstanding that one among Elon Musk’s $1 million recipients went to the chairman of the Wisconsin Faculty Republicans, an individual who had labored for Ron Johnson, to get him elected, and within the fall of 2024 labored for Turning Level Motion, Charlie Kirk’s group.
However I need to flip to Texas for one minute, as we wrap up. In an interview with The New York Instances, Democratic Home Minority Chief Hakeem Jeffries accused Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott of slow-walking a particular election to interchange Congressmember Sylvester Turner in Houston, who died final month. That is actually vital. I imply, it seems like Abbott shouldn’t be going to name a particular election, not less than at this level, however will preserve it open, this seat, which might most probably go to Democrat, representing Houston, in fact, till the November 2026 election. We simply have 30 seconds.
JOHN NICHOLS: Positive. I’ve written about these points quite a bit previously, governors taking part in with particular election dates. It’s an absolute assault on democracy. We have to perceive that congressional seats, Home seats, are crammed in elections. They aren’t appointed. And so, when you might have a governor of 1 get together saying, “We’re not going to let individuals elect a successor to a member who has handed away,” that governor is saying that “I’m going to depart you, the individuals of a significant American metropolis, unrepresented for the higher a part of a 12 months and a half.” It’s completely unacceptable, and Texans ought to be elevating an outcry about what Governor Abbott seems to be doing.
AMY GOODMAN: John Nichols, we thanks for being with us, The Nation‘s nationwide affairs correspondent. We’ll hyperlink to your varied articles at democracynow.org.
Developing, Trump’s escalating battle on universities. Stick with us.
