'No way to sugarcoat': Wisconsin GOP 'struggles to find a path' if Trump not on ballot

Republicans were disappointed when liberal Judge Susan Crawford defeated conservative Brad Schimel by 10 percent in a Wisconsin Supreme Court election last week.

Although the race was technically nonpartisan, Schimel was supported by President Donald Trump and his close ally, billionaire Elon Musk — who poured over $20 million into Schimel's campaign. But all that money from Musk didn't prevent Crawford from enjoying a double-digit victory in a key swing state that Trump won in 2016 and 2024 yet lost in 2020.

Some right-wing media pundits are dismissing Crawford's victory as a fluke. Yet others on the right are admitting that the election's outcome was bad news for the GOP, as it became a referendum on Trump and Musk.

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In an article Tuesday, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Molly Beck discussed the implications for Republicans with Wisconsin residents.

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) told the Journal Sentinel, "You can't put lipstick on the pig. It was very disappointing that only about a million of the 1.7 million people who voted for Trump were motivated enough to come out and make sure that we did everything we could to make sure that he could effectively govern for four years. There's no way to sugarcoat that."

Beck quotes Republican Joe Handrick, who formerly served in the Wisconsin State Assembly, as saying, "In 2016, with the arrival of Trump, the GOP made a trade. Prior to 2016, we would win governor and the Supreme Court, but we couldn't win president. Now, it's hard to win any statewide race except for president."

University of Wisconsin-Madison political science professor Barry Burden, told the Journal Sentinel, "Democrats are now a party of higher income and more educated voters, rather than lower income and less educated voters, and that makes them more reliable voters…. In something less than a presidential race, Democrats start with the upper hand, and Republicans are now competitive in presidential races here in a way they weren't before Trump in 2016."

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According to Burden, Republicans in Wisconsin are at a disadvantage in Wisconsin when Trump himself isn't on the ballot.

Burden told the Journal Sentinel, "Trump has won them the White House, and for the moment, they have control of Washington by very narrow margins, but he's cost them everywhere else. Republicans, I think, are struggling to find a path to victory when Trump is not the leader on the ballot."

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