About Last Night: Voting Fun in Wisconsin and Florida

Spring has sprung…or at least a handful of spring off-year elections earning national coverage for political implications spring into the news cycle.

In Wisconsin, via NY Times:

A liberal candidate for a pivotal seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court overcame $25 million in spending from Elon Musk and defeated her conservative opponent on Tuesday, The Associated Press reported, in a contest that became a kind of referendum on Mr. Musk and his slashing of the federal government.

With turnout extraordinarily high for a spring election in an off year, Judge Susan Crawford handily beat Judge Brad Schimel, who ran on his loyalty to President Trump and was aided by Mr. Musk, the president’s billionaire policy aide.

Mr. Musk not only poured money into the race but also campaigned personally in the state, even donning a cheesehead. But his starring role seemed to inflame Democratic anger against him even more than it helped Judge Schimel.

The barrage of spending in the race may nearly double the previous record for a single judicial election. With about 95 percent of the vote counted on Tuesday evening, Judge Crawford held a lead of roughly 9 points.

“Today, Wisconsinites fended off an unprecedented attack on our democracy, our fair elections and our Supreme Court,” she said in her victory speech on Tuesday night. “Wisconsin stood up and said loudly that justice does not have a price. Our courts are not for sale.”

For Democrats, the result is a jolt of momentum. They have been engaged in a coast-to-coast rhetorical rending of garments since Mr. Trump returned to the White House in January and embarked with Mr. Musk on an effort to drastically shrink federal agencies, set aside international alliances and alter the government’s relationships with the nation’s universities, minority groups, immigrants and corporate world.

Coming on the heels of Democratic triumphs in special elections for state legislative seats in Iowa and Pennsylvania and the defeat of four Republican-backed state referendums in Louisiana, Judge Crawford’s victory puts the party on its front foot for the first time since last November. Her win showed that, at least in one instance, Mr. Musk’s seemingly endless reserves of political cash had energized more Democrats than Republicans.

In Florida via Washington Post:

Republicans won the special elections Tuesday to fill two House seats in Florida, withstanding a well-funded effort by Democrats to flip the solidly red districts and pull off a major upset that could have derailed President Donald Trump’s agenda in Congress.

In Florida’s 1st Congressional District, the state’s chief financial officer, Jimmy Patronis (R), defeated gun-control activist Gay Valimont (D), according to an Associated Press projection. And in the state’s 6th Congressional District, the AP projected that state Sen. Randy Fine (R) prevailed over teacher Josh Weil (D).

The GOP margins of victory were notably smaller than when Trump carried each district by more than 30 percentage points in November. With almost all the votes counted in each contest, Fine was leading by 14 percentage points and Patronis by 15 points.

The wins give House Republicans a little more breathing room as they ramp up efforts to pass Trump’s legislative priorities in one ambitious bill this spring.

While both districts heavily favored Republicans, the GOP candidates found themselves in unexpectedly competitive races. The Democratic candidates vastly outraised their GOP rivals and campaigned heavily on threats to entitlement programs as the Trump administration works to dramatically downsize the federal government.

Trump, who backed Patronis and Fine, quickly celebrated their wins, even though their margins of victory were far short of his in the districts five months ago.

“BOTH FLORIDA HOUSE SEATS HAVE BEEN WON, BIG, BY THE REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social network. “THE TRUMP ENDORSEMENT, AS ALWAYS, PROVED FAR GREATER THAN THE DEMOCRATS FORCES OF EVIL. CONGRATULATIONS TO AMERICA!!!”