Elon Musk’s preferred candidate has been trounced in a pivotal Supreme Court race in Wisconsin that was widely seen as a referendum on the controversial billionaire and the Trump administration’s agenda.
Conservative Brad Schimel, whom Musk, the world’s richest man, backed with an unprecedented $25mn, lost on Tuesday to liberal judge Susan Crawford, according to the Associated Press.
The race became the most expensive judicial contest in US history and was seen as a test case for Musk’s political might outside Washington.
Musk, who campaigned in the state in person over the weekend, handing out two $1mn cheques to Schimel supporters, had cast the election as crucial to maintaining or enlarging the Republican’s razor-thin majority in Congress.
“Losing this judge race has a good chance of causing Republicans to lose control of the House. If you lose control of the House, there will be nonstop impeachment hearings. There will be nonstop hearings and subpoenas,” Musk, who is running Trump’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency, told Fox News on Tuesday.
In Florida, Republicans managed to fend off two Democratic challenges in special elections to the US House of Representatives, although the races proved tighter than expected.
Randy Fine, a Republican Florida state senator, won the House seat previously held by Trump’s national security adviser Mike Waltz, Jimmy Patronis, Florida’s Republican chief financial officer, won the seat formerly occupied by Trump’s initial nominee for attorney-general Matt Gaetz.
Gaetz withdrew from consideration for the cabinet role following allegations of sexual misconduct and drug use, which he denies
The Republican wins will raise the party’s majority in the House to 220 against the Democrats’ 213, easing the task of Speaker Mike Johnson as he seeks to push Trump’s legislative agenda through Congress.
Trump hailed the wins, writing on his Truth Social platform: “BOTH FLORIDA HOUSE SEATS HAVE BEEN WON, BIG, BY THE REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE. THE TRUMP ENDORSEMENT, AS ALWAYS, PROVED FAR GREATER THAN THE DEMOCRATS FORCES OF EVIL.”
But Democrats performed much better than expected in both races, with the party emboldend by voter discontent with Trump’s agenda 10 weeks into his presidency. Republicans’ margins of victory were narrower November’s presidential election despite the contests being held in deep-red strongholds.
The result in Wisconsin will also solidify a liberal majority on the swing state’s high court, which is expected to hear cases in the coming months on abortion rights. The court could also be asked to weigh in on attempts to redraw Wisconsin’s electoral map ahead of the midterm elections in 2026.
The Wisconsin Democrats had cast the contest — which is technically non-partisan — as a referendum on Musk and Doge’s influence on the federal government.
The party ran a campaign called “People v Musk”, which featured the billionaire wielding a chainsaw and celebrating cuts to the administrative state.
The party and Crawford attracted large donations from other billionaires, including George Soros and Michael Bloomberg.
Underscoring Republicans’ jitters, Trump last week withdrew the nomination of New York congresswoman Elise Stefanik as UN ambassador over fears that the race to replace her could also prove competitive.
