Liberal judge Susan Crawford enters Wisconsin Supreme Court race with party control on the line

On Monday, liberal Judge Susan Crawford joined the race for Wisconsin Supreme Court in hopes to maintain the liberal majority, taken from conservatives just last August.

Justice Ann Walsh Bradley, a liberal, is not seeking reelection at the April 1 election next year, leaving an open seat in the state Supreme Court. Bradley had been serving since 1995.

Crawford is currently a judge in the Dane County Circuit Court, but she has also worked as a prosecutor and as the chief legal counsel to the governor.

As a private practice attorney, Crawford represented Planned Parenthood in a 2014 lawsuit over Wisconsin abortion restrictions, a topic that will likely be highlighted and still relevant in next year’s election.

“For the first time in years, we have a majority on the court focused on getting the facts right, following the law, and protecting our constitutional rights,” Crawford said in a statement. “We can’t risk having that progress reversed.”

Last August, liberal Justice Janet Protasiewicz’s win shifted the Wisconsin Supreme Court to a liberal majority for the first time in 15 years. If a liberal replaces Bradley in the upcoming election, the party will keep majority control until 2028.

Former Wisconsin GOP Attorney General and Waukesha County Circuit Judge Brad Schimel is Crawford’s only opponent as of now. He announced his campaign last November, before Bradley stated she wouldn’t be running again. 

Schimel has long been opposed to abortion, endorsing a Wisconsin Right to Life proposal in 2012 to ban abortions in nearly all cases except to save a mother’s life 

“I’ve spent my career defending and upholding Wisconsin law, and she’s spent much of hers suing the State of Wisconsin,” Schimel said in regards to his possible opponent. “While I was a frontline prosecutor in the courtroom defending crime victims and putting criminals behind bars, she was working for radical left-wing special interests groups that don’t share our values.”