Democrats Win in Wisconsin, Lose Less Badly in Florida

Judge Susan Crawford easily beat out Musk and Trump favorite Judge Brad Schimel in Wisconsin, overcoming the tens of millions of dollars spent by Musk and others to swing the race. With most of the vote counted, Crawford was ahead by around nine points. “Wisconsin stood up and said loudly that justice does not have a price,” Crawford said during a victory speech. “Our courts are not for sale.”

And in Florida, Jimmy Patronis won an election for Matt Gaetz’s old seat, while Randy Fine won the seat previously occupied by national security adviser and unsecured communications aficionado Michael Waltz. In both cases, though, the margins favoring Republicans fell by a substantial margin — down from 30 points or higher last November to around 15, offering more signs that some of the wanton destruction of Trump’s few months in office is far from popular. Democrats have flipped a district here and there, are winning highly publicized elections in purple states, and are narrowing the gap in some of the deepest red parts of the country.

DNC chair Ken Martin said the Florida races showed a “massive overperformance,” and that the result “spells trouble for Republicans everywhere.”