April 1st Election Results: Crawford claims Wisconsin Supreme Court vacancy, GOP holds Florida seats

On this episode: Breaking down the high-stakes April 1st elections, featuring two of the most closely watched contests since last November. First, Wisconsin Public Radio’s Anya van Wagtendonk joins us to unpack Judge Susan Crawford’s double-digit victory in the nation’s most expensive judicial race in history, what drove the record-breaking turnout, and how the results could shape abortion access, union rights, and redistricting in the Badger State. Then we head south with POLITICO Florida’s Gary Fineout to explore two Republican-held special elections, the retention of those seats, and why closer-than-expected margins—even in deep-red districts in Florida—are worth analyzing . From Elon Musk’s influence to shifting county-level dynamics, this episode connects the dots on how local races could ripple nationally.

Learn more about each race:

• Wisconsin Supreme Court: https://ballotpedia.org/Wisconsin_Supreme_Court_elections,_2025 

• Florida Congressional: https://ballotpedia.org/Florida%27s_1st_Congressional_District_special_election,_2025 

Check out our guest’s reporting:

• Wisconsin Public Radio’s Anya van Wagtendonk: https://www.wpr.org/person/anya-van-wagtendonk 

• Politico’s Gary Fineout: https://www.politico.com/staff/gary-fineout 

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*On The Ballot is a conversational podcast featuring interviews with guests across the political spectrum. The views and opinions expressed by them are solely their own and are not representative of the views of the host or Ballotpedia as a whole.