Democrats and Republicans are framing Tuesday’s high-stakes special elections in Wisconsin and Florida as referendums on their agendas and on President Donald Trump’s administration.
In Wisconsin — the closest win margin Trump had in 2024 after he carried every swing state — a state Supreme Court seat is up for grabs, which will tilt the ideological majority of the bench liberal or conservative. And in Florida, two heavily Republican congressional districts are seeing unprecedented Democratic spending in the hopes that the current administration is unpopular enough that typically safer seats can flip.
In both states, Democrats are aggressively linking Trump and his ally Elon Musk to the Republican candidates. In Wisconsin, the state Democratic party has put out press release after release after release tieing conservative candidate Brad Schimel to Musk and Trump. It also launched a “People v. Musk” campaign and paid advertisements on the subject. Liberal candidate Susan Crawford has made Musk a theme of her campaign.