Susan Crawford is doing everything she can to tie her opponent in next month's pivotal race for the Wisconsin Supreme Court to the Trump administration—and so is he.
Late on Friday night, Donald Trump gave his endorsement to Brad Schimel, a former Republican state attorney general, even as Crawford and her allies have hammered him over the lavish support he's gotten from the man who's become the public face of the administration, Elon Musk.
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Crawford, a Dane County judge who's backed by Democrats, recently began running TV ads linking Schimel to the unpopular Musk, whose network is responsible for, at last count, almost $15 million in spending. (A recent Marquette University poll found Musk with a negative 41-53 favorability rating among Wisconsinites.)
"Elon Musk is trying to buy Schimel a seat on the Supreme Court," says the narrator in Crawford's latest spot, "because he knows Schimel always helps his big campaign donors."
It's a message similar to one advanced by the state Democratic Party—a message that a Musk-backed PAC just helped reinforce by offering $100 to any registered voter who signs a petition "rejecting the actions of activist judges."
At the same time, Schimel's allies are keen to see him present as Trumpy an image as possible, something that seems to come naturally to the candidate. A new survey from the Tyson Group for a different Musk-linked group finds him trailing Crawford 48-43 but argues he's narrowed a much larger deficit that stood at 48-35 just two weeks ago. How to close the rest of the gap?
"Consolidate the base and present Schimel as a pro-Trump conservative," says a memo from Building America's Future describing the poll, warning of "Schimel's inability to solidify his support with Trump voters." Is the PAC right? Well, its memo also claims that "Crawford is experiencing a drastic erosion in her support" even though her share of the vote has held steady, but Schimel apparently thinks its advice is worth following.
Among other things, he recently posed for photos with Donald Trump—in giant inflatable balloon form—and campaigned with far-right activist Charlie Kirk and Donald Trump Jr. at a rally the other day.
Schimel's style is also decidedly Trump-esque: As cataloged by Daniel Bice at the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, he's called various sitting justices on the court he's hoping to join "dumb as a sack of hammers," "addled," "crazy," "nuts," "soft-headed," and, referring to the four liberal women who make up the court's majority, "driven by their emotions."
In addition, on a recent radio appearance, he baselessly claimed that officials in the Democratic stronghold of Milwaukee had engaged in election fraud and might do so again.
"That's what we need to do, get our votes banked, make this too big to rig so we don't have to worry that at 11:30 in Milwaukee they're going to find bags of ballots that they forgot to put into the machines, like they did in 2018 or in 2024 when Eric Hovde was ahead all night, and then all of a sudden, Milwaukee County changed that," Schimel said, referring to the Republican candidate in last year's close election for the Senate. Trump, of course, carried Wisconsin in 2024.
Despite all the cash burned by groups tied to Musk—still the world's richest man, albeit much poorer than he was just a few months ago—the two sides are not all that far apart in overall spending. According to WisPolitics, pro-Schimel groups have put in $41 million while Crawford's supporters have spent $36 million.
But Crawford continues to have an edge on the airwaves, since her campaign is responsible for most of the spending on the liberal side and is entitled to cheaper ad rates than outside groups. New data from AdImpact shows that Crawford's side has outspent Schimel's $30 million to $26 million on the airwaves, while both have about $7 million booked for the final stretch of the race.
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Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet, who confirmed reports earlier this month that he was interested in a surprise bid for Colorado's open governorship, now tells the Colorado Sun that he'll decide "soon." That extremely vague word means different things to different people, but more helpfully, the Sun adds that Bennet's "top aides and advisers are telegraphing" that the senator "has already made up his mind to run."
Meanwhile, Bennet's predecessor, former Democratic Sen. Ken Salazar, also did not rule out a campaign in a new interview with Colorado Public Radio. Salazar, who's reportedly been considering the race, refused to directly answer when host Ryan Warner asked if he might run for governor or even president, instead saying he was working on a book. The 70-year-old Salazar was last on the ballot in 2004, when he won his only term in the Senate.
A new poll out of Michigan shows Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson with a 46-13 lead over Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist in the Democratic primary for the state's open governorship, with Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson at 11. The survey, conducted by Mitchell Research for the tipsheet MIRS News, is similar to a poll from a different firm, Target Insyght, that was also sponsored by MIRS and put Benson up 55-12.
The Mitchell poll also tested several different general election matchups featuring Benson, all of which yielded similar results. The secretary of state leads conservative commentator Tudor Dixon 38-36; former state Attorney General Mike Cox 37-35; and Rep. John James 37-34. In all three cases, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, a Democrat-turned-independent, takes 16%.
The poll asked about a hypothetical Republican primary as well, but its sample size fell below the 300-respondent minimum we require for inclusion in the Morning Digest.
Republican Javier Lopez, the mayor of the small city of Ceres, is planning to announce a bid for California's 13th District in the first week of April, reports the Ceres Courier, and he'll do so with the blessing of the district's previous member of Congress.
Former Rep. John Duarte, who lost the closest House election in the country last year to Democrat Adam Gray, had suggested he might run again, but he tells the Courier's Jeff Benzinger that he's going to stand aside and support Lopez instead. Lopez, who was first elected mayor in 2020 and won a second term four years later, would not confirm the newspaper's report but a spokesperson said he was "seriously considering" the race.
GA-06
Democratic state Sen. Sonya Halpern tells the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that she's "seriously considering" a bid for Georgia's safely blue 6th District, which is likely to be open next year since Rep. Lucy McBath looks all but certain to run for governor. Many other Democratic names have been mentioned as possibilities, but Halpern appears to be the first to publicly acknowledge her interest.
PA-10
Former TV anchor Janelle Stelson told attendees at a town hall that she was "seriously" considering a rematch against Republican Rep. Scott Perry following her narrow 51-49 loss last year. The event was organized by a progressive group to call attention to the fact that Perry has refused to hold his own town halls and last did so in 2019.
Stelson hadn't previously discussed her interest in a second bid, but Democratic Rep. Madeline Dean, who represents the nearby 4th District, talked her up as an "excellent" choice shortly after her 5,100-vote loss last year. No other Democratic names have emerged as possible challengers to Perry in the Harrisburg-based 10th District.
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State House Speaker Cameron Sexton is "lining up to run" for Tennessee's 6th Congressional District, which just became open after Rep. John Rose, a fellow Republican, announced a bid for governor. That news comes from an unnamed "little birdie" who spoke to J. Holly McCall at the Tennessee Lookout.
TX-18
Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo, one of the most prominent Democratic politicians in the Houston area, has endorsed County Attorney Christian Menefee in the as-yet-unscheduled special election for Texas' vacant 18th District. Also running to replace the late Rep. Sylvester Turner in this safely blue district are former Houston City Councilwoman Amanda Edwards and aerospace consultant Isaiah Martin, while several other Democrats are still eyeing the contest.
Mayors & County Leaders
Lehigh County, PA Executive
Former state Rep. Justin Simmons said Thursday that he was exiting the May 20 Republican primary to replace retiring Democrat Phil Armstrong as executive of Lehigh County, a Democratic-leaning community located north of Philadelphia. Simmons' departure leaves former Allentown City Council President Roger MacLean and former Allentown School Board Director Mike Welsh as the remaining GOP contenders, while state Rep. Josh Siegel has the Democratic side to himself.
Illinois 9th Congressional District - Jan Schakowsky has a primary challenger in the form of Kat Abughazeleh. Schakowsky is the right Democrat for these types of primary challenges: 80 years old, been in office for as long as her challenger has been alive, and a district with a vote share over 65%. As a former resident of the Chicago suburbs I'll be watching this one closely.
Illinois 9th Congressional District - Jan Schakowsky has a primary challenger in the form of Kat Abughazeleh. Schakowsky is the right Democrat for these types of primary challenges: 80 years old, been in office for as long as her challenger has been alive, and a district with a vote share over 65%. As a former resident of the Chicago suburbs I'll be watching this one closely.
https://www.axios.com/2025/03/24/kat-abughazaleh-jan-schakowsky-primary-challenge
Former UT congresswoman Mia Love has now passed from her tragic brain cancer at only 49.