What you need to know about Wisconsin's spring 2025 election

'Here & Now' has covered the contests for Wisconsin Supreme Court and Superintendent of Public Instruction leading up to the April 1 vote — explore reporting about the candidates and races.

By Kristian Knutsen

March 31, 2025

A vinyl sign with the words Vote Here and an arrow with the times 7am to 8pm inside its outline is mounted to a metal stand outside the entrance of a multi-story brick building with a short series of steps leading to multiple doors beneath a sign reading Gymnasium and topped by a pillar-supported pediment with a sign reading The Community Center, with a tree one one side in the background.

A sign points voters toward a polling place in Cedarburg on Nov. 5, 2024. (Credit: PBS Wisconsin)

Wisconsin’s spring 2025 election places the state once again at the center of national politics – a familiar position yet at a level that continues to intensify as a contest for an open state Supreme Court seat has become the most expensive race of its type in American history. Here & Now 2025 coverage of this race, another for state schools superintendent and more has focused on the candidates and issues within the state. To learn more, explore Here & Now reporting about the 2025 spring election.

Only months after a 2024 election cycle in which Wisconsin was among a handful of states in the national spotlight, residents of the state seeing another round of ads on their TVs, computers and phones, not to mention getting a daily deluge of mailers delivered to their home addresses, might be wondering the reason behind the seasonal reason for a vote in spring. Here & Now explained the historical basis for this timing.

Why does Wisconsin have spring elections?

The Wisconsin Supreme Court election between Susan Crawford and Brad Schimel was likely to be a hard-fought contest given the race is for an open seat that will determine the balance of power among justices. Their political ideologies, partisan affiliations and geographic bases — Crawford is a liberal, an assistant attorney general under a Democratic governor, and a circuit court judge in Dane County while Schimel is a conservative, a Republican former state attorney general, and a circuit court judge in Waukesha County — make for a quintessential Wisconsin political showdown. However, over the final weeks of the campaign, massive campaign donations and national-level involvement culminating in million-dollar giveaways by billionaire oligarch Elon Musk has dominated the contest, which was expected to and has become the most expensive court race in the history of the United States, surpassing the previous record set in Wisconsin’s 2023 spring election.

Here & Now previewed the election as the year started and then interviewed both candidates well before these developments, talking with Schimel in late January and Crawford in early February.

These interviews focused on a variety of matters related to the office and the politics of the state’s high court, and Here & Now shared the candidates’ perspectives on three high-profile issues.

Here & Now conducted in-depth reporting on several more issues related to the Wisconsin Supreme Court and its politics, speaking with experts, party activists and two of the state’s most prominent lawyers.

Wisconsin also has an election for state schools superintendent in 2025. It has attracted less attention than the court race, but has taken on similar partisan characteristics. The race started with a three-candidate primary on Feb. 18, which Here & Now previewed in a pair of reports.

The primary vote resulted in a campaign between incumbent Superintendent Dr. Jill Underly and challenger Brittany Kinser, who Here & Now interviewed in mid-March for an in-depth report and several specific comments on educational issues.

As part of its coverage of the state’s 2025 spring election, Here & Now has also reported on a big-dollar school district referendum in Racine, including conversations about public and private schools, spoke with an organizer seeking to increase voter turnout in the state’s Indigenous communities, and summarized a statewide constitutional amendment referendum on the ballot.

More reporting about the 2025 candidates, campaigns and races in Wisconsin can be found in the elections section, including articles from the Associated Press and other syndicated sources.

The 2025 election is on Tuesday, April 1, with polls in Wisconsin opening at 7 a.m. and closing at 8 p.m. More information about candidates and election results as they are updated by the AP can be found at Wisconsin Vote.