Susan Crawford, winner of Tuesday’s race to fill a key seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Courtroom, was backed by nationwide Democrats and made opposition to Elon Musk a centerpiece of her marketing campaign.
Right here’s what to learn about her:
A longtime decide in Wisconsin’s capital metropolis
Crawford, 60, has served as a Dane County Circuit Courtroom decide since 2018.
She received election to the seat that 12 months and once more in 2022 within the county, which is dwelling to the liberal state capital, Madison.
Crawford beforehand labored as an assistant legal professional normal for each the Iowa and Wisconsin departments of justice and as an legal professional within the Wisconsin Division of Pure Assets.
In 2009, she joined Democratic Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle’s employees as his authorized counsel. After Doyle left workplace in 2011, Crawford joined a liberal Madison legislation agency that filed quite a few lawsuits difficult Republican-enacted legal guidelines.
In that function she represented Deliberate Parenthood in a pair of circumstances difficult limitations to abortion. She additionally spoke in opposition to the U.S. Supreme Courtroom ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade. Two circumstances difficult an 1849 Wisconsin abortion ban legislation are pending earlier than the state Supreme Courtroom.
Wisconsin Supreme Courtroom candidate Susan Crawford speaks throughout her election evening occasion after successful the election, in Madison, Wis. (AP Photograph/Kayla Wolf)
She represented unions in a landmark case
Crawford represented public instructor unions in a case difficult a GOP legislation that successfully ended collective bargaining for lecturers and most different public staff.
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That legislation, referred to as Act 10, was the centerpiece of Republican former Gov. Scott Walker’s tenure and made Wisconsin the middle of the nationwide debate over union rights.
Final 12 months a Dane County decide struck down many of the statute as unconstitutional, and an enchantment is anticipated to succeed in the Wisconsin Supreme Courtroom.
Crawford additionally fought a Republican-written legislation requiring voters to indicate picture ID on the polls.
She grew up in Chippewa Falls and graduated from Lawrence College in Appleton in 1987 and the College of Iowa Faculty of Legislation in 1994.
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Crawford lives in Madison and is married with two kids.
She referred to her opponent as ‘Elon Schimel’
Crawford was on the poll in opposition to Brad Schimel, however she in methods noticed his backer, Musk, as her opponent within the contest, which grew to become the most costly courtroom race on file within the U.S.
Throughout a latest debate, Crawford repeatedly invoked Musk, going so far as to consult with her precise foe as “Elon Schimel.” The state Democratic Get together branded the race “The Individuals v. Musk” and hosted a sequence of anti-Musk city halls, together with one that includes former vice presidential candidate Tim Walz.
At her victory occasion, joined on stage by different girls serving as judges within the state — together with retiring Justice Ann Walsh Bradley, whom she is changing on the excessive courtroom — Crawford accepted her win by saying: “I by no means thought I’d be taking over the richest man on this planet for justice. And we received.”
