Trump candidates win 2 by-polls but Dems clawing back
TOI Correspondent from Washington: Republican candidates won two Congressional by-elections in Florida but a Trump and Elon Musk-backed judge for the Wisconsin supreme court was defeated by a liberal rival in polls that appeared to show Democrats clawing their way back into reckoning after the 2024 drubbing.
In elections that offered a snapshot of voter sentiment just ten weeks into Trump’s second term, Republican candidates Randy Fine and Jimmy Patronis retained seats vacated by Mike Waltz and Matt Gaetz, who became Trump’s NSA and Attorney General respectively.
But their margin of victory, although comfortable, was much narrower than Trump’s 30 percent win in the same district in November 2024 presidential election, suggesting some erosion in support for the President even in ruby red strongholds. Still, the wins gave Republicans some breathing room in the House of Representatives where their majority now ticks up to 220-213.
The real setback though was in Wisconsin, where Trump surrogate Elon Musk put both his money and his mouth into what was considered the most expensive judicial election in history (almost $ 100 million spent) but found Liberal Judge Susan Crawford defeating conservative Judge Brad Schimel, preserving the court’s 4-3 liberal majority, after a left-leaning judge retired.
Wisconsin is one of 21 states that elects judges to the state supreme court in a country where judicial selection methods vary widely by state. Roughly half the states elect at least some of their judges, while they are appointed by the other half, usually by the governor. While some states allow judicial contestants to have party affiliation, Wisconsin falls into the nonpartisan election category, but voters discern candidates’ ideological bent based on their record and campaign pledges. Elections to the judiciary is built around the idea that judges should be accountable to people and not to politicians who appoint them, and that voters should have a say in shaping the courts, just like they do with other branches of government.
Musk jumped into the Wisconsin fray, literally, devoting personal time, energy, and money( $ 20 million) to flip the existing 4-3 liberal majority in the state because the court’s rulings will impact voting regulations, redistricting (delimitation) and other issues that are key to Republican power. But Wisconsin, which gave Trump a narrow 1 per cent win in 2024, shifted left by 10 percent to defeat conservative Schimel in a rebuff to what many critics saw as Musk’s effort to buy the election.
“Today, Wisconsinites fended off an unprecedented attack on our democracy, our fair elections and our Supreme Court. Wisconsin stood up and said loudly that justice does not have a price. Our courts are not for sale,” Crawford said in her acceptance speech.
“The long con of the left is corruption of the judiciary,” Musk complained on his platform X after the setback, while the left accused him of trying to bribe voters. “I expected to lose, but there is value to losing a piece for a positional gain,” he added.
Trump meanwhile saw the bright side of the Florida win despite Dems gaining ground, posting, “Both Florida seats have been won, big, by the Republican candidate. The Trump endorsement, as always, proved far greater than the Democrats forces of evil.”
