Liberal Judge Susan Crawford has entered the race to be on the Wisconsin Supreme Court and replace the longest-serving current justice on the state’s highest court.
Crawford, who is serving as a judge at the Dane County Circuit Court, will run to replace liberal-leaning Justice Ann Walsh Bradley, who has served on Wisconsin’s high court for nearly 30 years. The campaign will mark another race in which the ideological balance of the court could shift.
“I am running for Supreme Court justice to protect the basic rights and freedoms of Wisconsinites under our constitution. Those rights are threatened by an all-out effort to politicize the court to drive a right-wing agenda — I believe Wisconsin deserves better,” Crawford said in a statement.
As a lawyer, Crawford previously worked on cases related to voting rights. She also represented Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin in a case that looked to expand abortion access in the state.
Crawford will face conservative Waukesha County Circuit Judge Brad Schimel, a former Republican state attorney general who opposes abortion, according to the Associated Press. The pair are the only two in the running so far, but candidates have until Jan. 1, 2025, to enter the race.
If more than two candidates enter the race, a Feb. 18 primary will be held. The election will be held on April 1, 2025, and the winner will serve a 10-year term.
Earlier this year, Walsh announced her retirement, leaving a seat vacant in the newly liberal-leaning court. In 2023, Justice Janet Protasiewicz won against former state Supreme Court Justice Dan Kelly, effectively giving liberals control of the Wisconsin Supreme Court for the first time in 15 years.
The 2023 state Supreme Court race was the most expensive for the position in state history, with all parties involved spending $51.06 million.
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Democrats are expected to focus Crawford’s campaign on abortion access as they did with Protasiewicz in 2023. In September, Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin resumed abortion services in the Madison area after a Dane County judge ruled the 1849 abortion ban governed feticide, not consensual abortion. Milwaukee and Sheboygan counties resumed service later that year, but cases regarding elective abortion are still under legal dispute in the state.
Since Protasiewicz shifted the court, the Wisconsin Supreme Court has overturned its Republican-drawn legislative maps and is revisiting a case that would reinstate ballot drop boxes.
