MADISONS, Wisconsin (AP) — Turnout in the first week of early voting ahead of Wisconsin’s pivotal state Supreme Court race is well above the level that came from another high-stakes election just two years ago.
As of Tuesday, almost 48% of early votes had been voted in just one week to the last day of voting, compared to the same points two years ago, according to data from the Wisconsin Election Commission. Over 345,000 voters returned the vote either by mail or in person, compared to about 233,000 at this point two years ago during another race of Supreme Court seats.
The election will determine whether the court will remain under 4-3 liberal rule or reverse to a conservative majority. One of the current liberal justices has retired.
This year’s race has turned into a proxy fight over the country’s politics as Trump and Musk head back behind Brad Simel, the Republican-backed candidate in the race where Trump and Musk are officially non-partisan.
“All voters who believe in common sense should vote for Brad Simel early,” Trump wrote in the Truth Social Post later last week.
Total spending on the race reached more than $73 million, according to a tally by the Brennan Center for Justice. This is the most record in the US judicial race, breaking the $56 million spent in the 2023 Wisconsin Supreme Court Contest.
Musk himself handed the Wisconsin Republicans $3 million this year. This can be transferred to Shimel’s campaign or spent on the race itself.
Read more: What you need to know about Wisconsin Supreme Court competition
All that spending and attention, Kevin Kennedy, a former top election official in Wisconsin who currently works as a consultant, said that spending and attention helped to promote early voting. He spoke while working and taking breaks at Madison’s polling site where people can vote early.
“There’s a lot of money being invested,” Kennedy said. “It all seems to be focused, ‘Let’s start voting.’ ”
After being criticised by early voting earlier, Trump and the Republicans are urging supporters to vote before the final vote on April 1st. Early voting will end on Sunday. The strategy they deployed with great success in last year’s presidential election appears to contribute to a massive increase in turnout in Wisconsin’s more conservative counties.
Democrat-backed Dane County Circuit Judge Susan Crawford, a Simel opponent, has raised more than $25 million in previous races, including $5.5 million from the State Democrats since early February. Her supporters include billionaire democratic megadonor George Soros and Illinois Gov. J.B. Pretzker.
Waukesha County judge Schimel has raised more than $12 million from the Wisconsin Republicans since early February, including more than $6 million.
However, external groups have more than making up for the differences that candidates have raised.
According to calculations from the Brennan Center, the candidates spent about $28 million as of Monday, well over the roughly $45 million that external groups have spent so far. Simel and his allies, including a mask-backed group, spent about $41 million, while Crawford and her supporters spent about $32 million.
Since Wisconsin voters do not register by party, it is impossible to know that the number of votes already submitted is from Republicans or Democrats. However, the data shows that the biggest increase comes from both democratic and Republican-heavy counties.
Milwaukee County, the state’s largest county and the most Democratic home, led all counties by vote at 54,750. This is more than 46% ahead of this point two years ago. Liberal Dane County, the state’s second largest county and home to the capitals of Madison and the University of Wisconsin, is also up 46%.
But the Republican part of the state has also seen a big jump.
The vote was commonly referred to as WOW County in Milwaukee County, three suburban Milwaukee counties: Waukesha, Ozokey and Washington. Voting returns rose over 62% for Waukesha and 51% for Ozaukhi. In Washington, the heaviest Republican of the three counties, early voting more than doubled two years ago.
In Brown County, the state’s fourth-largest population, early turnout increased by more than 34%, as Republicans are certainly Republicans.
Early votes are high in the spring elections, but it’s far from what Wisconsin saw at this point before the presidential election. A week before the November 5th election, nearly a million voters voted. This is almost four times the amount of this race.
The race comes as the Wisconsin Supreme Court is expected to govern abortion rights, legislative districts, union powers and voting rules.
On Monday night, Hakeem Jeffries, a leader in the democratic US minority, told supporters that electing Crawford is important so that she and other liberal justice could order a redrawn of Congressional boundaries. Wisconsin is in a swing state, but the Republican-drawn line allowed the party to hold six of its eight Capitols.
“We need to be able to revisit it as soon as possible and have a fair line,” Jeffries said in a live discussion on social media platform X.
Schimel accused Crawford of committing to Democrats. Crawford denied that.
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