With Elon Musk backing her conservative opponent, a Wisconsin judge seeking a seat on the state’s top court has amassed what is believed to be a record war chest for a judicial campaign.
Judge Susan Crawford, the liberal candidate for the Wisconsin Supreme Court, has raised $24 million for the April 1 election, a record for an American judicial candidate, her campaign said on Monday.
Her war chest — including $17 million raised in the period from Feb. 4 to March 17 alone — approaches that ordinarily expected of a candidate for governor and surpasses those of other recent candidates for statewide office in Wisconsin.
But it is likely to be just a fraction of the total spent on Judge Crawford’s behalf in the contest, which will be the nation’s first major test of both parties’ enthusiasm since President Trump took office and will determine which party holds a majority on the state’s top court.
Most of the money in the race will be spent by super PACs or funneled through Wisconsin’s political parties. State law permits the parties to raise unlimited sums, which they can then transfer to endorsed candidates in unlimited amounts.
Candidates for the court, however, face limits of $20,000 per individual donor. Judge Crawford’s campaign said it had received contributions from 113,000 donors since she entered the race over the summer.
Judge Crawford faces Brad Schimel, a conservative judge who received Mr. Trump’s endorsement on Friday night and who is being aided by millions of dollars of spending from super PACs affiliated with Elon Musk, the billionaire who is leading the president’s effort to cut costs across the federal government.