The highly anticipated Wisconsin spring election has begun. This election will decide who the new justice of the state Supreme Court will be. The candidates are liberal-aligned candidate Justice Susan Crawford and conservative-aligned candidate Justice Brad Schimel.
The election has been put in the national spotlight because of controversial donations from billionaires like Elon Musk and George Soros.
The new Supreme Court justice will decide the majority of the Wisconsin Supreme Court, now split with three liberal justices and three conservative justices.
Along with the Supreme Court election, the spring ballot includes a referendum to add a voter identification requirement to the constitution and multiple other local races. Read below to follow along with the live updates.
10:10 p.m.
At 9:01 p.m., the local race for Madison’s District 8 Alder was called in favor of MGR Govindarajan, who won re-election in an unopposed race, according to a press release from MGR.
“I’m feeling pretty honored,” MGR said in an interview with The Badger Herald. “Truly this is one of the best experiences and roles that I have had — it is one that I have found very meaningful because it’s a real opportunity to make a change for students.”
Over the past few years of his term as District 8 Alder, progress has been made in addressing affordable student housing, improving transportation through the Bus Rapid Transit system and better bike lanes and sustainability in the city as a whole, MGR said.
For his next term, the main goal is to continue the work that has already started, expanding the affordable student housing program and encouraging more developers to use it and getting students engaged in the process, MGR said.
“I said this very early on,” MGR said. “If I fail in all of my policy goals, but I get more students involved in the process, that’s a win for me — and we did that over the past two years.”
— Reported by Digital News Editor Brianna Davis
9:32 p.m.
After being introduced by Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Ann Walsh Bradley, the room erupted into a wave of applause and cheering as Susan Crawford walked through the doors of her watch party.
“I’ve got to tell you, as a little girl growing up in Chippewa Falls, I never could have imagined that I’d be taking on the richest man in the world for Supreme Court Justice in Wisconsin,” Crawford said. “And we won … We must do better because America has no choice but to do better … As the Wisconsin motto says, we must go forward.”
— Reported by News Associate Editor Opal Nicholson
9:10 p.m.
Dane County Clerk Scott McDonnell answered questions from the press about the administration of the 2025 spring election in Dane County.
“Things have gone well,” McDonnell said. “We’ve got about half the results up on our website now, maybe a little bit more, and that’s been going smoothly.”
– Reported by News Associate Editor Patricia Clark
9:05 p.m.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court race has been called in favor of Judge Susan Crawford, according to Decision Desk HQ.
Crawford leads with 664,514 votes (55.4%), while Brad Schimel falls behind with 534,268 votes (44.6%).
– Reported by Digital News Editor Zindzi Frederick
8:36 p.m.
The polls have been closed for 36 minutes and Justice Susan Crawford is leading Dane County with 122,425 votes to Justice Brad Schimel’s 33,417 votes. Crawford is also leading statewide by a little over 100,000 votes, according to the Washington Post. Approximately 30.4% of votes have been counted.
– Reported by News Associate Editor Patricia Clark
8:10 p.m.
With polls now closed, supporters of Crawford gather for a watch party at the Madison Park Hotel to witness the vote count.
— Reported by News Associate Editor Opal Nicholson
6:15 p.m.
With just under two hours until the polls close, students continue to enter the Laines Lounge in the Smith Residence Hall to cast their ballots. UW students like Cheyton gave their reason for voting today.
“I got a bunch of ads and text messages, so it’s pretty important, I guess,” Cheyton said. “And then my friends are saying it’s important.”
UW student Samantha Diedrich, who voted earlier in the day, was motivated to vote because of certain issues on the ballot.
“I feel like there’s a lot of issues going on, especially relating to abortion, and I felt like it was important to make my voice heard,” Diedrich said.
— Reported by News Associate Editor Patricia Clark
5:00 p.m
At the Chazen Museum of Art, the polling station for residents living in Madison’s 50th ward, Chief Inspector Karen Jankowsky said a total of 242 ballots have been cast so far.
Voter turnout has been strong, with poll workers expecting more voters to cast their ballots later in the afternoon and evening, Jankowsky said.
— Reported by News Associate Editor Patricia Clark
2:20 p.m.
At the Memorial Union polling station, UW student Keith explained his reason for voting today.
“My ancestors fought for me to have the right to vote, and so I’d like to use that,” Keith said.
— Reported by News Associate Editor Patricia Clark
1:45 p.m.
Susan Crawford steps aside from students at Library Mall to take questions from the press.
“I’m feeling pretty relaxed and looking forward to seeing the results of today’s election out here right now, talked to a few students, and have been out talking to some voters today, just trying to encourage the get out the vote effort here on the final hours as we get through Election Day,” Crawford told The Badger Herald.
— Reported by News Associate Editor Patricia Clark
1:33 p.m.
Susan Crawford arrived at Library Mall to greet and thank student volunteers for their work for her campaign.
— Reported by News Associate Editor Patricia Clark
1:20 p.m.
Several Democratic student political groups have gathered at Library Mall to encourage students to vote.
College Democrats of UW-Madison Chair Joey Wendtland explained his organization’s goal to spread awareness around the election.
“Yeah, we’re all here to make sure we get out the vote for Susan Crawford and Jill Underly and other liberal candidates for the spring elections, and make sure that students understand the importance of the election … talking about the issues they care about, and making sure they know all the things about voting, their polling location, proper ID requirements and making sure they have that plan to vote,” Wendtland said.
— Reported by News Associate Editor Patricia Clark
7:00 a.m.
Polls opened for day-of, in-person voting for the Wisconsin Supreme Court spring 2025 election.
— Reported by News Associate Editor Patricia Clark
