MADISON, Wis. (Legal Newsline) – President Donald Trump has endorsed Brad Schimel for the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
Late Friday, Trump posted his endorsement on Truth Social.
“There is a very important Election for State Supreme Court on April 1st, and Early Voting is now underway,” Trump’s post said. “Brad Schimel is running against Radical Left Liberal Susan Crawford, who has repeatedly given child molesters, rapists, women beaters, and domestic abusers ‘light’ sentences.
“She is the handpicked voice of the Leftists who are out to destroy your State, and our Country — And if she wins, the Movement to restore our Nation will bypass Wisconsin. All Voters who believe in Common Sense should GET OUT TO VOTE EARLY for Brad Schimel.”
Trump said a vote for Schimel would help make America great again.
“By turning out and VOTING EARLY, you will be helping to Uphold the Rule of Law, Protect our Incredible Police, Secure our Beloved Constitution, Safeguard our Inalienable Rights, and PRESERVE LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL.”
His post also included a link to a website encouraging voters to “swamp the vote” and providing a timeline to request absentee and mail-in ballots.
Crawford and Schimel are running to fill the seat of outgoing Justice Ann Walsh Bradley. According to a March 9-10 poll, they are locked in a dead heat for the April 1 election. The winner will decide which side gets a 4-3 majority in Wisconsin, which does not assign political parties to judicial candidates.
The two candidates, both currently circuit judges (Schimel is a former state attorney general, too), tried to get their messages out during a March 12 debate. The race has drawn millions from groups outside of the state, including Elon Musk's America PAC.
Crawford has attempted to defend her questioned history of sentencings.
At a debate earlier this month, she was asked if she regretted a decision to hand down a sentence lower than one recommended by prosecutors to a defendant convicted of sexual assault of a child.
“I don’t regret that sentence because I followed the law in that case,” she said.
Soon after Trump’s online endorsement of Schimel, Crawford’s campaign responded.
“Brad Schimel is a corrupt politician who let 6,000 rape kits sit untested and gave a plea deal to a child predator whose attorney gave him $5,000,” her campaign said in a statement. “Schimel has spent his entire career on bent knee to right-wing special interests, we assumed he had this endorsement locked up months ago.
“Schimel has said he wants to be a 'support network' for Trump and that the Wisconsin Supreme Court 'screwed over' Trump in 2020. Wisconsinites will reject Brad Schimel once again on April 1st.”