April 1, 2025: Wisconsin and Florida special elections and Trump presidency news

Our live coverage of today’s elections in Wisconsin and Florida and Donald Trump’s presidency has ended. Get the latest updates here.

Judge Susan Crawford speaks at her election night headquarters in Madison, Wisconsin, on Tuesday.

At a victory rally in Madison, Judge Susan Crawford thanked supporters for helping her win the Wisconsin Supreme Court race, saying their votes helped send a message to the country.

Crawford did not mention Elon Musk, who poured millions of his personal fortune into the campaign to boost the conservative candidate, by name. But she referenced defeating his big spending push in the contest.

“As a little girl in Chippewa Falls, I never thought I’d be taking on the richest man in the world for justice in Wisconsin, and we won!” she said to loud cheers.

Crawford said conservative candidate Brad Schimel called her to concede. “I want to thank him, he was very gracious and I wish him and his family well.”

Crawford closed out her event by sharing a quote from the late Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, saying it was fitting for “the unprecedented moment we are living in.”

Ed Martin speaks at an event at the Capitol in 2023.

Senate Democrats are ratcheting up their efforts to block Ed Martin, President Donald Trump’s controversial nominee to be US attorney, with Sen. Adam Schiff placing a hold on his nomination.

Martin has not had his confirmation hearing yet, and there are plenty of steps before it would come to the floor, but Schiff’s statement shows just how opposed Democrats are to his nomination.

“In every way he can, Ed Martin has demolished the firewalls between the White House and his own office within the Department of Justice,” Schiff said Tuesday.

Martin is currently serving as the interim US attorney for the District of Columbia as he waits to be confirmed to the role. He was an organizer in the “Stop the Steal” movement, after Trump lost the 2020 election, and later defended Capitol rioters.

As interim US Attorney, Martin has already drawn criticism for firing prosecutors involved in January 6, 2021, cases, and for threatening to not hire law students from Georgetown University Law Center unless the university halted diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate Brad Schimel makes his concession speech at his election night party in Pewaukee, Wisconsin, on Tuesday.

In the moments after CNN projected that Judge Susan Crawford would defeat Judge Brad Schimel in the Wisconsin Supreme Court race, the state’s GOP chair said he did not view the race as a referendum on the November 2024 election.

He said he still wanted to see further returns come in tonight.

In the lead up to election day, Elon Musk visited Wisconsin to help campaign for Schimel and drive up voter enthusiasm.

Schimming said: “It was a positive overall, in some ways we’ll never know,” as he pointed to the Democratic base in the state “ginned up because of the loss that was just a few months ago.”

His focus remained on the November election that put President Donald Trump in the White House and a GOP-backed referendum to enshrine Wisconsin’s voter ID requirement in the state Constitution that passed overwhelmingly on Tuesday.

Democrat-backed Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate Judge Susan Crawford greets supporters on the campus of University of Wisconsin Madison on Tuesday.

Democratic-backed candidate Susan Crawford will win Wisconsin’s Supreme Court race, CNN projects, maintaining the liberal majority on the court in a key battleground state less than three months into President Donald Trump’s second term.

Crawford, a liberal circuit court judge in Dane County, will beat the conservative candidate Brad Schimel, a Waukesha County judge who received Trump’s backing in the final stretch of the campaign.

The race was officially nonpartisan, but Crawford’s victory will be seen as a bright spot for Democrats in Wisconsin and nationwide as voters handed the president’s preferred candidate a defeat in the first major political test of the second Trump era.

Crawford and her Democratic allies also worked to turn the election into a referendum on Trump ally Elon Musk, who poured millions of his personal fortune into the race. It quickly became the most expensive judicial contest in US history.

Democratic Sen. Cory Booker told CNN that he went into his marathon speech “very aware of Strom Thurmond’s record,” which was set when the late senator filibustered the 1957 Civil Rights Act, and that he fasted and dehydrated himself so that he wouldn’t have to use the restroom for the entire speech.

Pressed on how he was able to avoid taking a bathroom break and remain standing, Booker said that he had stopped eating days ago and dehydrated himself, which led to muscle cramps and spasms as the hours wore on.

Booker won praise and criticism from some of his Republican colleagues after his marathon speech, with some calling it political while one praised his fortitude and passion.

GOP Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina said the speech was “made for TV” and “felt a little bit more like an audition for 2028.”

Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska said she hugged Booker when he was done.

“The amazing thing about Sen. Booker was it’s one thing to stand there for 24 hours, not eating, standing, but thinking and being coherent in your conversation. I was very proud of him,” she said, acknowledging that she may not agree with everything he said.

Watch portions of Booker’s speech

Wisconsin Supreme Court candidates Judge Brad Schimel, left, and Judge Susan Crawford.

It is 9 p.m. ET and polls are closing in Wisconsin, where voters are weighing in on a high-profile race to fill retiring liberal state Supreme Court judge Ann Walsh Bradley’s seat.

The election again puts Wisconsin’s highest court in the national spotlight just two years after the consequential contest in 2023 that put liberals in the majority.

It’s a race that has drawn millions of dollars in spending, attracting megadonors like Elon Musk, George Soros and Illinois Gov JB Pritzker.

Why it matters: The winner will again determine the court’s ideological lean just two years after liberals won a 4-3 majority. Whoever wins the seat will be elected to a 10-year term that could potentially include rulings on the 19th century abortion ban and a redrawing of the state’s congressional maps.

In the closing weeks, both sides have also sought to connect the state race to key national debates, looking to turn the contest into a referendum on the opening sprint of the second Trump administration.

The candidates:

Musk-aligned PAC Building America’s Future has released ads that are critical of Crawford’s past decisions as too soft on criminals, while ads by Schimel’s campaign have said special interests are “trying to buy a Supreme Court seat” for her because Crawford “supports their radical agenda.” Meantime, pro-Crawford ads focus heavily on the 1849 abortion ban still on the books in Wisconsin and attack Schimel as “too extreme” on the issue.

President Donald Trump holds a 2-to-1 record when it comes to Wisconsin elections. While he’s not on the ballot tonight, the outcome of the Supreme Court race will help determine whether he keeps his narrow winning streak alive.

The last three presidential elections in Wisconsin have been decided by less than one point – Trump won in 2016, lost in 2020 and won again in 2024.

While the president is reluctant to say so, top Republican officials in the state believe early voting – and Trump shedding his resistance to the practice – was critical to his victory.

If conservative Brad Schimel pulls out a win tonight, strategists in both parties tell me this will be a key reason why: Trump voters were less reluctant to cast their ballots early, driven by a multi-million dollar advertising campaign funded in large part by Elon Musk.

But Musk – and all he represents – is the biggest wildcard of all. Never has an entire campaign revolved around him and his influence as much as the Wisconsin race, the outcome of which will be a harbinger of things to come for the midterm elections.

Voters mark their ballots while voting at Waters Edge event venue on Tuesday, in Milwaukee.

Several voting sites in the city of Milwaukee were running low or out of ballots with less than 30 minutes left to vote in an election night that Milwaukee Elections Commission Executive Director Paulina Gutierrez called a “historic turnout”.

Around seven voting sites were completely out of ballots, Gutierrez said in a news conference, stressing that more ballots were en route. The elections commission said in a previous statement that due to “unprecedented high turnout” the ballots were running low.

There are no plans at this point to extend voting hours, according to Guitterez, but people in line to vote by the close of polls at 8 p.m. CT will still be allowed to cast a ballot.

In this 2023 photo, Jimmy Patronis speaks during the Florida Freedom Summit in Kissimmee, Florida.

Jimmy Patronis, the former chief financial officer of Florida, will win the special election for the state’s 1st Congressional District, according to a projection from the CNN Decision Desk, ensuring the Panhandle seat once occupied by Matt Gaetz will remain in Republican control.

Patronis defeated Democrat Gay Valimont and now heads to Washington, DC, where he will provide some breathing room for House Republicans and their narrow majority.

The seat has been vacant since mid-November, when Trump announced Gaetz as his choice for attorney general. Despite having won a fifth term earlier that month — defeating Valimont by a two-to-one margin — Gaetz resigned amid the House Ethics Committee’s release of a report into his alleged drug activity and sexual exploits, allegations he denies.

Democrat Josh Weil acknowledged to his supporters he fell short in the special election for Florida’s 6th Congressional District race to Republican Randy Fine.

“My only regret,” he added, “is the people in District 6 will get what they voted for.”

Weil said his supporters could relish that they made Republicans sweat in a deeply red district. He added that his campaign “laid the blueprint” for how Democrats can compete in GOP strongholds going forward.

“The president of the United States had to break into his schedule to … drag (Fine) across the finish line,” Weil said, referring to a tele-rally President Donald Trump held for Fine in the closing days.

“This is a district that has not had an investment (from Democrats) for a very long time,” he said, adding it was “not a red district” but a “neglected district.”

Before Weil took the stage, a spokeswoman for the campaign told CNN he had not spoken yet with Fine.

Weil, who raised nearly $10 million as of March 12, told his supporters the watch party inside Full Moon Saloon was already paid for and to “enjoy the night.”

It is now 8 p.m. ET and polls are closing in Florida’s 1st Congressional District.

Republican Jimmy Patronis, Florida’s outgoing chief financial officer, is facing Democrat Gay Valimont, an athletic trainer and gun control activist.

Patronis won the January 28 Republican primary by 56 points after Trump endorsed him in November, before he officially entered the race. Valimont, the only Democrat who qualified for the ballot, did not face a primary.

The seat became vacant after former GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz was tapped as Trump’s attorney general pick in November and resigned from Congress but later withdrew his name from consideration amid controversy over a House Ethics report.

In the 6th District: CNN has projected former Florida state Sen. Randy Fine will win the special election for an open House seat in the state’s 6th Congressional District. Fine will replace national security adviser Mike Waltz and deliver much-needed reinforcements for House Speaker Mike Johnson’s narrow majority.

The court right now is weighing whether an 1849 abortion ban can still be enforced. Abortion rights was a major motivating issue for many Susan Crawford voters CNN spoke to this week.

The court could also take a look at a law known as Act 10 – which stripped thousands of public sector employees of collective bargaining rights in the state. That law sparked massive protests against state lawmakers and the governor at the time, Scott Walker.

Voting and election laws could also come before the court, as well as the potential redrawing of Wisconsin’s congressional maps – which currently favor Republicans.

And there’s a case tied to Musk that could make its way to the state’s Supreme Court. His company Tesla has filed a lawsuit in the state challenging a state law that prevents his electric vehicle company from opening company-owned stores in Wisconsin. The liberal candidate, judge Crawford, has tried to use that to argue Musk became engaged in the race due to his own business interests.

Florida Sen. Randy Fine stands for the pledge of allegiance during opening day of the Florida legislative session Tuesday, March 4, in Tallahassee, Florida.

Former Florida state Sen. Randy Fine will win the special election for an open House seat in Florida’s 6th Congressional District, according to a projection from the CNN Decision Desk. The result means a sigh of relief for Republicans after late concerns emerged over their candidate’s efforts in the overwhelmingly conservative district.

Fine will replace National Security Adviser Mike Waltz and deliver much-needed reinforcements for House Speaker Mike Johnson’s narrow majority.

More on the race: Few anticipated a competitive race for Waltz’s seat when he resigned in January. President Donald Trump had won Florida’s 6th Congressional District by 30 points in November, and Fine had Trump’s backing to succeed Waltz, an endorsement that carried him through the primary with few difficulties.

But Fine’s Democratic opponent, math teacher Josh Weil, sent shockwaves from Florida to Washington last month when he reported raising $10 million. Fine, meanwhile, managed to bring in about $1 million through mid-March and entered the final weeks of the race with about $93,000 on hand before he loaned his campaign $400,000.

Sen. Cory Booker places his hand over his hart as applause breaks out in the senate after Booker broke the record for the longest floor speech on Tuesday.

Democratic Sen. Cory Booker has broken the record for the longest floor speech in modern Senate history, speaking for 25 hours and four minutes.

Booker’s marathon speech against the Trump administration began at 7 p.m. ET yesterday and ended at 8:05 p.m. ET today. The New Jersey Democrat’s speech surpassed the late Sen. Strom Thurmond’s speech in in 1957 that spanned 24 hours and 18 minutes.

Booker declared he was holding the floor in the spirit of the late John Lewis, a civil rights icon and longtime US congressman, when he began his remarks last night. In contrast, Thurmond set his record speaking against the 1957 Civil Rights Act.

Booker, 55, briefly mentioned Thurmond on Tuesday.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer asked Booker to yield for a question at 7:19 p.m. ET, asking if he knew he had broken the record. “Do you know how proud this caucus is of you?” he then asked, as House Democrats standing along the back of the chamber and Senate Democrats rose in a standing ovation.

Applause and other outbursts are not allowed by Senate rules, but the presiding officer, GOP Sen. John Curtis, said he wouldn’t stop them. Sen. Cynthia Lummis was the only other Republican in the chamber.

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries and House Democratic Whip Katherine Clark were among the House members who had filed into the back of the floor and joined in the cheers.

This post has been updated with the specifics on Booker’s speaking time and more reporting on reactions in the chamber when Booker broke the Senate record.

Two of the harshest Democratic critics of the cutbacks planned at the Department of Veterans Affairs have ramped up their efforts to fight the planned reductions at the agency.

Sen. Ruben Gallego, a member of the Veterans Affairs Committee, and ranking member Sen. Richard Blumenthal announced they will place holds on all nominations for top positions at the VA to protest the Trump administration’s plans to cut roughly 80,000 jobs at the agency.

Both senators made their announcements today, the same day the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee held a hearing to consider nominations for the positions of under secretary of veterans affairs for memorial affairs, chief financial officer and general counsel.

Responding to Gallego’s and Blumenthal’s moves, VA press secretary Peter Kasperowicz told CNN in a statement:

Collins has repeatedly pledged that veterans’ benefits will not be affected by the staffing cuts.

A resident participates in in-person early voting in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on March 26.

Tuesday marks the first major election night of Donald Trump’s second term. The highest profile race will be in the critical swing state of Wisconsin, where voters will determine ideological control of the state Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, there will be two special congressional elections in solidly Republican Florida districts where both sides will be watching the margins for clues about party enthusiasm.

Key times: Florida is a split time zone state, so polls in the 6th district will begin closing at 7 p.m. ET and in the 1st district at 8 p.m. ET. Polls in Wisconsin close statewide at 9 p.m. ET.

More on the races: The Wisconsin Supreme Court race features Republican-backed judge Brad Schimel and Democratic-backed judge Susan Crawford to determine if the highest court in the Badger State will retain its 4-3 liberal majority.

In Florida, there are special elections in the 1st and 6th Congressional Districts to fill seats vacated by former Republican Reps. Matt Gaetz and Michael Waltz.

Trump-endorsed Republican candidates Jimmy Patronis, the state’s outgoing chief financial officer, in the 1st district and outgoing state Sen. Randy Fine in the 6th district are both favored to hold the seats and give the narrow GOP majority in the House a bit more breathing room, although some Republicans have expressed concern about Fine’s candidacy and fundraising in the closing days of the race.

Also on the ballot in Wisconsin, Democratic-backed state Superintendent of Public Instruction Jill Underly faces a conservative-backed challenge from education consultant Brittany Kinser. There’s also a measure to add a voter ID requirement to the state constitution. Photo identification is already required to vote in Wisconsin by state law

Republicans have spent the last two weeks sweating the underwhelming vote-by-mail and early voting totals for their party in the special election in Florida’s 6th Congressional District. But the mood picked up considerably Tuesday as Election Day voters skewed heavily in their favor through the late afternoon.

Republicans are optimistic that their voters responded to the GOP panic over the last week and the public push from figures like President Donald Trump and Elon Musk. A national Democratic operative closely watching the race conceded to CNN that appeared to be the case.

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson,center, checks a phone handed to him by political aide Hogan Gidley, as he arrives to talk with reporters at the Capitol on Tuesday.

House Speaker Mike Johnson said his party would not change its approach in governing if the race for former GOP Rep. Mike Waltz’s seat in Florida ends up much tighter than the Donald Trump’s 30-point victory in that district.

Still, Johnson projected confidence, saying, “we’re not going to lose” and that Republicans would walk away with “two victories, and that’s what’s important.”

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said Democrats should have no business being in this race — but said that Republicans should take note.

“There’s no way that a Democratic candidate should be competitive in either of those two districts,” Jeffries said, also referring to tonight’s election to fill the seat vacated by former GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz. “But the Republican extreme agenda has them on the ropes and on the run.”

Rep. Richard Hudson, who chairs the House GOP campaign arm, said if both races were narrow, then it would send a message to how Republicans should govern. He suggested the reason why the Waltz race is tighter is because Fine was slow to advertise on television.

“Well, if both races on the same night in the same state were narrow, yeah, that would send a message,” Hudson said. “There’s obviously a different message being sent here about the two candidates, two campaigns.”

The current House margin is 218 Republicans to 213 Democrats, with four vacancies. After tonight, there will be two vacancies in seats that Democrats held before their recent deaths.

Elon Musk gives a check to an audience member during a rally in support of a conservative state Supreme Court candidate in Green Bay, Wisconsin, on Sunday.

President Donald Trump not only blessed Elon Musk’s super-sized role in the Wisconsin Supreme Court election today, but his advisers told him Republicans may not be able to win without it.

Here’s why: The president’s voters are among the most reliable slices of the electorate — but only when Trump’s name is on the ballot. When it’s not, they are more likely to stay home.

The president carried Wisconsin by more than 29,000 votes in November — his narrowest margin of any battleground — largely because so many Republicans shed their resistance to early voting. If conservative Judge Brad Schimel pulls out a win tonight, strategists in both parties said Trump voters who turned out early and recreated his 2024 path will be a key reason why.

And if liberal candidate Susan Crawford prevails, Trump can always assign at least part of the blame to Musk, rather than accept it himself.