Richard Uihlein, Eric Hovde and Tim Michels have each given the maximum. The Waukesha County judge and former state AG has raised more than $3 million so far in his campaign for the state’s highest court.

By Peter Cameron, THE BADGER PROJECT

With about a month before the election, Waukesha County Circuit Court Judge and former Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel has reported raising more than $3 million for his campaign, according to mandatory campaign finance filings with the state.

By comparison, the political left’s candidate, Dane County Circuit Court Judge Susan Crawford, has reported raising more than $5 million.

Per state law, the most a person can give a candidate for Wisconsin Supreme Court is $20,000. But a loophole in state campaign finance law allows political parties to raise unlimited amounts and donate unlimited amounts to candidates. And both candidates are taking advantage. The state Republican Party has given Schimel nearly $1.7 million, and the state Democratic Party has given Crawford $2 million.

Campaigns for Wisconsin Supreme Court are technically nonpartisan, though both major parties throw their support behind their preferred candidate.

The race projects to be one of the court’s most expensive ever. Whichever side’s candidate wins will control the majority of the highest state court in Wisconsin.

The candidates, their parties and independent political groups spent a record-smashing $51 million in the last race for state Supreme Court in 2023, according to the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, an organization that tracks campaign finance in the state. That election flipped the majority of the court from the right to the left for the first time in years.

Schimel served one term as Wisconsin Attorney General before he was defeated by current AG Josh Kaul in 2018. Then-Gov. Scott Walker, who also lost that year, appointed Schimel to be a Waukesha County Circuit Court judge before the end of his term.

Schimel is positioning himself as a tough-on-crime adjudicator, one who has “dedicated his career to defending victims, supporting law enforcement, and ensuring that criminals are held accountable.”

“Brad Schimel will take back the Wisconsin Supreme Court and end the madness,” his website reads.

He received a drunken-driving citation in 1990 when he was 24 years old. Schimel’s blood alcohol content was 0.14, above the limit at the time of 0.1, according to a report from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

The seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court is opening because left-leaning Justice Ann Walsh Bradley is retiring.

The general election is April 1. The winner will earn a 10-year term on the state’s high court.

Donors who have given Schimel $10,000 or more

Sreejita Patra contributed to this report.

The Badger Project is a nonpartisan, citizen-supported journalism nonprofit in Wisconsin.