Spending in this year’s state Supreme Court race has now topped $76 million, with liberal candidate Susan Crawford’s TV spending accounting for nearly a third of that, according to a new WisPolitics tally.
The new total comes as some have predicted spending in this race will hit $100 million.
Crawford was up to $22.8 million in reservations for the full campaign as of this afternoon, according to AdImpact. That includes $8.3 million over the final two weeks of the campaign.
To put that in perspective, AdImpact tracked $48.5 million in reservations by U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Madison, in all of 2024, while GOP challenger Eric Hovde spent $25.7 million during the eight months he was in the race.
Crawford announced her first TV buy Jan. 23, putting her on the air for less than three months in a campaign that will decide ideological control of the state Supreme Court.
Conservative rival Brad Schimel, meanwhile, was up to $9.5 million in reservations as of this afternoon, including $1.5 million over the final two weeks of the campaign.
WisPolitics’ running tally has already shattered the old spending record of $56 million, based on data collected by AdImpact, independent expenditure filings with the state Ethics Commission and interviews with sources that have knowledge of the buys.
WisPolitics has now added in spending Crawford and Schimel reported to the state in 2024 on expenses for things outside of ads. They have new campaign finance reports due next week.
So far, WisPolitics has tracked $40.9 million in spending to boost Schimel, compared to $35.8 million to support Crawford.
Two groups linked to billionaire Elon Musk have spent a combined $14.6 million to support Schimel. America PAC has reported $7.3 million in spending to the state, largely on turnout. Meanwhile, WisPolitics has tracked nearly $7.3 million by Building America’s Future between spending reported to the state and future reservations tracked by AdImpact.
On the Dem side, a Better Wisconsin Together Political Fund is now the largest spender outside of Crawford. It has now reported $4.6 million to boost the Dane County judge. That is separate from the efforts of A Better Wisconsin Together Inc., an issue advocacy group that doesn’t report its spending to the state.
