There were three major elections yesterday, two for congressional seats in Florida and one for a state supreme court justice in Wisconsin. The Florida seats were vacated by the resignations of Matt Gaetz and Michael Waltz. Gaetz, a controversial figure accused of having sex with underage girls as well as using drugs, did not resign because of that but because, incredibly, Trump had nominated him for the position of attorney general. But when even some Republicans viewed his nomination unfavorably, he withdrew it.
Waltz resigned because Trump appointed him as national security advisor, where he has recently been criticized for allegedly including the editor of The Atlantic magazine in a high-security chat group over the unsecured commercial channel Signal. It turned out that this was not the only unsecured group chat Waltz had created to discuss sensitive information, having created 20 more on Signal. He seems sloppy and incompetent to say the least.
Democrats had hopes for creating major upsets in both seats, even though they were solidly Republican districts that Trump carried by over 30 points in November. Both their candidates had raised huge sums of money and were running close in the polls. But in the end, Republicans won both seats, though by smaller margins. Waltz’s seat was won by 14%, down from the 33% in November, while Gaetz’s seat was also won by 14%, down from 30% in November. As a result, Republicans still have 220 seats in the House of Representatives while Democrats hold just 213. Another two seats that had been held. by Democrats are still vacant pending elections.
But Democrats got a huge boost in Wisconsin where Susan Crawford, backed by Democrats, defeated Brad Schimel, backed by Republicans, by 10 points. A huge amount of money was raised by the two candidates, with Elon Musk spending a lot in backing Schimel. This result is significant because it means that liberals will retain a 4-3 majority on the state supreme court where some important issues are scheduled to come before them.
That majority is hugely significant because the court will hear major cases on abortion and collective bargaining rights. The court could also potentially consider cases that could cause the state to redraw its eight congressional districts, which are currently drawn to advantage Republicans.
…Combined, more than $80m was spent on the race, topping the previous record of about $51m that was spent in the 2023 Wisconsin state supreme court race. Elon Musk and affiliated groups spent more than $20m alone. Musk reprised some of the tactics that he used last fall to help Trump win, including offering $100 to people who signed a petition opposing “activist judges” and offering $1 million checks to voters.
Pointing to the potential to redraw House districts, Musk had said the race “might decide the future of America and western civilization”.
For all his high-minded talk about saving western civilization, Musk had a very personal stake in making the court lean towards him, because he doesn’t do anything that does not benefit him financially or satisfy his ego.
Musk’s critics say he has practical reasons to care about the Wisconsin race.
They point to an ongoing case involving Tesla, Musk’s electric vehicle company, that could head to the state’s supreme court in the future.
The billionaire is suing because Wisconsin bans car manufacturers from owning dealerships, but Tesla’s business model involves running its own showrooms.
Democrats are taking the chance to gleefully rub Musk’s nose in his defeat, taking to his own X/Twitter to call him a ‘Loser’.
Democrats were tasting unfamiliar triumphalism on Wednesday after the election for a vacant Wisconsin supreme court seat turned into an emphatic repudiation of Elon Musk, Donald Trump’s richest supporter and key ally.
Musk endured a wave of gloating on Twitter/X, his own social media platform, after Brad Schimel, a Trump-endorsed judge that he spent $25m supporting lost by 10 percentage points to Susan Crawford, whose victory sustained a 4-3 liberal majority on the court.
…In a display of schadenfreude, the Democrats’ official account posted a picture of Musk donning a cheese head and accompanied with the single word “Loser”.
…Chuck Schumer, the party’s leader in the Senate, said the result “sent a decisive message to Elon Musk, Donald Trump and Doge… our democracy is not for sale.”
Other party figures were blunter. Tim Walz, the governor of Minnesota and Kamala Harris’s running mate for the Democrats in the 2024 presidential election, was succinct on Musk’s social media platform X, formerly Twitter.
“Wisconsin beat the billionaire,” he posted.
Jasmine Crockett, a Democrat House member from Texas, posted: “Well well well, I guess Wisconsin agreed on the message for old Elon: “F’ off!,” she wrote.
Crawford: I never could have imagined that I'd be taking on the richest man in the world for justice in Wisconsin. And we won. pic.twitter.com/CxhgnUdSaF
— Acyn (@Acyn) April 2, 2025
The insane amount of of money that was spent on a state judicial race (in addition to the two congressional races) is a sign of how the oligarchy has far too much disposable wealth in this country that they can afford to spend it like drunken sailors on such races.
Although I am glad that Musk’s candidate lost, this level of spending does not speak well for democracy.
now comes the assassination in wisconsin that the federal government will only pretend to investigate
this level of spending this does not speak well for democracy
It has been up in the billions for a while, now. The only argument is about how it’s spent. Musk is just being exceptionally crass and efficient about it. The tradition has been to spend it on television ads and tchothkes, which is great if you’re a TV company, but completely irrelevant otherwise. Elections seem to be a favorite feeding-ground for marketing nihilists.
Rebecca Bradley, a WI Supreme Court justice was interviewed whining and complaining about Crawford’s win. Bradley complained that the Dems bought the seat for Crawford. Is Bradley not aware of the fact that the right wing (obviously, including Musk) outspent the other side? Would her not knowing this even be possible?
Bradley seemed to be sincerely upset. To me that means a sitting state Supreme Court justice does not have the critical thinking skills needed to successfully navigate -- not sure? -- say, 4th grade?
I’d bet that she knows perfectly well who tried to buy the election and is deliverately trying to blame the Democrats for the worst of Republican behavior. It’s a fairly standard Republican trick that seems to be working because the rubes never pay any attention to anything except Republican lies.
What it shows, I think, is that, like Republicans generally, she’s utterly shameless and that nothing she says on or off the bench can be trusted.
Or she knows pretty well who tried to buy the elections, but it is only a bad thing when Democrats do it. She simply believes she deserves that seat, so nothing done to promote that goal can be bad.