Judge Susan Crawford
By Karen Stokes
This spring, Wisconsin voters will decide whether the state Supreme Court remains under liberal control or switches to a conservative majority. Since only two candidates are running, the race will not be on the Feb. 18 primary ballot.
Liberal Judge Susan Crawford, who has served Wisconsin as an attorney, prosecutor, and Circuit Court judge, is now running for the Wisconsin Supreme Court seat that will soon be vacated by Justice Ann Walsh Bradley.
“This came up somewhat suddenly because I had believed that Justice Ann Walsh Bradley was going to run to retain her seat and she’s been a wonderful Justice on our Supreme Court for nearly 30 years now. She announced she was going to retire and that meant there was an open seat,” Crawford said. “I feel that I have the right experience, the right traditional demeanor, sense of right and wrong, and the right sense of fairness to be a good Justice on the Supreme Court.”
Crawford says she is committed to ensuring that the Wisconsin Supreme Court protects the rights of Wisconsinites under state laws and the constitution, making fair and impartial decisions, and avoiding pursuing an extreme partisan agenda.
“I have worked hard throughout my career to protect people from the start of my career when I was working as a prosecutor at our state Department of Justice making sure that people who had committed violent crimes were held accountable and taken out of our communities when necessary. That also applies to big corporations that take advantage of people and harm the community,” Crawford said.
The judge shared her perspective on the redistricting and gerrymandering situation in Wisconsin.
“As there was a decision from the Wisconsin Supreme Court last year, the issue presented to them was whether the former legislative maps violated a provision in our Wisconsin State Constitution that requires the districts to be continuous. They interpreted that term and made a very common-sense determination that continuous in that context means you have to be able to draw a line around the district. As a result, they sent it back to the legislature and the Governor to rewrite maps that conform with the Constitution. The maps that we now have were not redrawn by the Supreme Court, they were a result of a political compromise between the Governor and the legislature,” Crawford explained.
Crawford highlighted key differences between herself and her opponent Republican Former Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel.
“Brad Schimel has always been about partisanship and self-promotion. He is running this race as if it was a partisan race. He is pre-judging cases, saying how he would decide cases that are pending that he thinks will end up in the Wisconsin Supreme Court in violation of the judicial code of ethics that we are all bound to follow as judges.
He is doing that to appeal to a base of voters on the far right that he is counting on to support him,” she said. ”I don’t think that’s what Wisconsinites want or need on the Wisconsin Supreme Court and we do not need a Wisconsin Supreme Court that is driving any kind of an extreme political agenda the way that Brad Schimel seems to want it to. I think that’s the contrast in this race.”
Election Day is April 1, 2025. An accepted photo ID is necessary to vote.