Who is Susan Crawford? Wisconsin Supreme Court winner has fought for union and abortion rights

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This article was published 01/04/2025 (282 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Susan Crawford, winner of Tuesday’s race to fill a key seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court, was backed by national Democrats and made opposition to Elon Musk a centerpiece of her campaign.

Here’s what to know about her:

A longtime judge in Wisconsin’s capital city

Crawford, 60, has served as a Dane County Circuit Court judge since 2018.

She won election to the seat that year and again in 2022 in the county, which is home to the liberal state capital, Madison.

Crawford previously worked as an assistant attorney general for both the Iowa and Wisconsin departments of justice and as an attorney in the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.

In 2009, she joined Democratic Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle’s staff as his legal counsel. After Doyle left office in 2011, Crawford joined a liberal Madison law firm that filed numerous lawsuits challenging Republican-enacted laws.

In that role she represented Planned Parenthood in a pair of cases challenging limitations to abortion. She also spoke against the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade. Two cases challenging an 1849 Wisconsin abortion ban law are pending before the state Supreme Court.

She represented unions in a landmark case

Crawford represented public teacher unions in a case challenging a GOP law that effectively ended collective bargaining for teachers and most other public workers.

That law, known as Act 10, was the centerpiece of Republican former Gov. Scott Walker’s tenure and made Wisconsin the center of the national debate over union rights.

Last year a Dane County judge struck down most of the statute as unconstitutional, and an appeal is expected to reach the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

Crawford also fought a Republican-written law requiring voters to show photo ID at the polls.

She grew up in Chippewa Falls and graduated from Lawrence University in Appleton in 1987 and the University of Iowa College of Law in 1994.

Crawford lives in Madison and is married with two children.

She referred to her opponent as ‘Elon Schimel’

Crawford was on the ballot against Brad Schimel, but she in ways saw his backer, Musk, as her opponent in the contest, which became the most expensive court race on record in the U.S.

During a recent debate, Crawford repeatedly invoked Musk, going as far as to refer to her actual foe as “Elon Schimel.” The state Democratic Party branded the race “The People v. Musk” and hosted a series of anti-Musk town halls, including one featuring former vice presidential candidate Tim Walz.

At her victory party, joined on stage by other women serving as judges in the state — including retiring Justice Ann Walsh Bradley, whom she is replacing on the high court — Crawford accepted her win by saying: “I never thought I would be taking on the richest man in the world for justice. And we won.”