The debate was the only one before the April 1 election between Dane County Judge Crawford and former Wisconsin Attorney General and current Waukesha County Circuit Court Judge Schimel, and was moderated by ABC affiliate WISN 12 at Marquette University Law School.
The race follows a blowout Wisconsin Supreme Court election in 2023, in which liberal-leaning Janet Protasiewicz beat conservative candidate Dan Kelly and flipped the balance of the court to 4-3 majority liberal. While conservatives have the chance to take back the majority once more with the retirement of liberal Justice Ann Walsh Bradley, Democrats view the battle as a chance to push policy and redraw legislative maps that could ultimately lose Republicans two U.S. House seats and help Democrats close in on the Republicans’ slim majority.
During the debate, candidates were asked about the attack ads they have aired against each other swiping at each other’s judicial records. The moderator asked Crawford about a 2020 sexual assault case in which she sentenced the perpetrator to less prison time than prosecutors requested.
“In 2020, you did sentence a child sex offender to four years in prison after prosecutors requested 10. Do you regret that sentence?” the moderator asked Crawford.
“I don’t regret that sentence, because I followed the law in that case, as I always do,” Crawford replied. “I applied the law, which says that judges have to consider every relevant factor in sentencing, you have to consider both the aggravating and mitigating factors, and the Supreme Court has said you have to order the minimum amount of prison time you believe is necessary to protect the public. That’s what I did in that case and every other case.”
“And my goal is always to keep the community safe. And those have been sentences that have been successful, they have kept the community safe,” she said. “Unlike the short jail sentences that Brad Schimel has entered over and over, where people have gone on to commit new crimes, that’s when you know the sentence has failed.”
The moderator turned to Schimel to ask about his record in handling testing thousands of sexual assault evidence kits, one of the main attack lines of Crawford’s campaign. Democrats claim he delayed testing the kits for two years after he was elected in 2015, although he ultimately secured a $4 million federal grant and facilitated the testing of 4,150 kits by 2018.
“Some of the ads people have seen about you, Judge Schimel, nine rape kits tested in your first two years as the Attorney General. Do you regret that?” the moderator asked.
Schimel used his reply time to slam Crawford for how she handled the child sexual assault case.
“My opponent just revealed the problem in her judgment, that, in weighing all the factors, giving the minimum amount of time to a dangerous offender weighs higher than protecting the community,” Schimel said. “That’s what she just revealed.”
“That is not what I said,” Crawford said. “The court requires you to order the sentence necessary to protect the community, and that’s what I’ve done, and that’s what those sentences did.”
Breitbart News was first to report on Schimel’s attack ad against Crawford regarding the case of convicted pedophile Curtis O’Brien, 30, who faced up to 60 years behind bars for repeatedly raping and abusing a little girl when she was five and six years old between 2012 and 2014, according to court documents.
Court records show Crawford ultimately sentenced the 6-foot-1, 270-pound O’Brien to four years in prison with six years of extended supervision. O’Brien only served nearly two years after sentencing because of time served, a Wisconsin Right Now report detailed.
“This street is like any other in Wisconsin. But the new neighbor is a pedophile who repeatedly raped a little girl, released after just two years in prison thanks to Judge Susan Crawford’s sweetheart sentence — a fraction of the 60 years he faced,” the ad states. “Now the pedophile lives blocks from a school. And with Susan Crawford on the bench, your street could be next.”
According to the report from Wisconsin Right Now, Crawford repeatedly allowed O’Brien to move around the state on a $500 signature bond and later approved his moves from Black Earth to Oshkosh and then to Madison. O’Brien had a previous criminal record prior to the child sex abuse case, court records show.
The listed address for O’Brien on Wisconsin’s Sex Offender Registry appears to confirm that he now lives near several elementary schools in Madison, Wisconsin. A search on Google Maps reveals that he lives 1.3 miles from Kennedy Elementary School, 0.8 miles from Elvehjem Elementary School, and 3.8 miles from Winnequah Elementary School. State law only limits sex offenders from living within 1,500 feet of any school premises, child care facility, public park, place of worship, or youth center.
“Susan Crawford has spent her career prioritizing the feelings of dangerous criminals over the safety of our communities,” Schimel’s campaign spokesperson Jacob Fischer previously told Breitbart News. “There is a clear reason law enforcement has endorsed in this race: the only candidate with a proven record of prosecuting violent criminals, defending the most vulnerable, and delivering justice is Judge Brad Schimel.”
Crawford’s campaign is backed by left-wing megadonors, including Silicon Valley billionaire and purported Epstein island visitor Reid Hoffman, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D), and left-wing billionaire George Soros, who has bankrolled dozens of failed soft-on-crime prosecutors, and is linked to defund the police groups. Crawford is also endorsed by various far-left groups, like the pro-abortion EMILY’s List and Planned Parenthood, as well as sheriffs who have defied ICE.
When moderators asked Crawford if she embraces an endorsement from Soros, as well as his spending on her campaign, she did not give a straight answer.
“You know, I have had generous contributions that have gone to the Democratic Party of Wisconsin. The Democratic Party of Wisconsin has endorsed me and supported my candidacy,” she said, before deflecting to a talking point about an Elon Musk-linked group that paid for a television ad blitz against her.
In Wisconsin, state Supreme Court justices serve ten-year terms. While the judicial race is nonpartisan, both sides of the political aisle are heavily invested in the results of the election. The 2025 Wisconsin Supreme Court race is expected to be even more expensive than the 2023 election, which shattered national spending records for a judicial contest at $56 million and brought in massive out-of-state spending.
Katherine Hamilton is a political reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on X @thekat_hamilton.
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