A professor is being accused of flipping over a table set up by the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire College Republicans.

Susan Crawford defeated GOP-backed Brad Schimel in a closely contested race for a Wisconsin Supreme Court seat.

Democratic candidates for governor in Virginia and New Jersey are preparing to make Musk's name—and his money—a central issue on the campaign trail.

• Elon Musk's super PAC poured more than $12 million into the Wisconsin Supreme Court race.
• In the end, the liberal candidate, Judge Susan Crawford, defeated conservative Judge Brad Schimel.
• The loss is a blow for Musk, who held a town hall in Wisconsin and urged voters to back Schimel.

For Wisconsin Republicans, regaining a conservative majority on the state's Supreme Court was a top priority.

Elon Musk, the world's richest man, funneled more than $12 million via his America PAC to sway the pivotal judicial race in one of the country's premier swing states.

It wasn't enough.

On Tuesday, Musk's big bet on the Wisconsin Supreme Court race fell apart, with outlets including NBC News and CNN projecting that liberal Dane County Judge Susan Crawford has defeated conservative Waukesha County Judge Brad Schimel in the most expensive judicial race in US history.

Musk, the face of President Donald Trump's White House DOGE office, has been met with increasingly vocal opposition by voters over the task force's cost-cutting efforts. And the fallout from DOGE is also impacting Tesla, the company that catapulted Musk to international prominence.

Crawford's victory is a significant blow for Musk as DOGE's work continues to face increased scrutiny from the public and could lead to electoral gains for Democrats in the 2026 midterm elections.

Here's how Crawford's win is set to upend Musk's political playbook:

Musk is caught in the DOGE-house

For weeks, scenes of frustrated voters sharply questioning and booing GOP members of Congress have become a defining narrative of DOGE, as many lawmakers have had to defend waves of staffing cuts.

As a guiding force behind efforts to cut costs at critical federal departments — along with efforts to eliminate the US Agency for International Development, or USAID — Musk has faced mounting pushback over the task force's aggressive tactics to reign in spending.

Musk went all in for Schimel, arguing that the Wisconsin race was "important for the future of civilization."

"If the [Wisconsin] Supreme Court is able to redraw the districts, they will gerrymander the district and deprive Wisconsin of two seats on the Republican side," Musk said, referencing the potential for Democrats to make gains through a new congressional map.

"Then they will try to stop all the government reforms we are getting done for you, the American people," he added.

In a state that narrowly backed Trump over former Vice President Kamala Harris last November, voters this week made a new choice.

Crawford's win keeps the liberal bloc in the majority. The court could potentially revisit the state's congressional maps, with a redraw likely to offer Democrats an opportunity to pick up additional seats.

With Republicans currently clinging to a razor-thin 218-213 majority in the US House ahead of what could be a tough midterm cycle, holding the lower chamber will be key for Musk and Trump — especially as it relates to future oversight over DOGE's work.

Musk may approach other races differently

Musk campaigned heavily for Trump in swing-state Pennsylvania last November, with America PAC pouring millions of dollars into the state, much of it for canvassing and other digital-related efforts.

The tech mogul's decision to hand out $1 million checks to select voters who signed petitions at town hall events — similar to what he employed in Wisconsin this time around — drew many people out as he criticized Harris and the media. Trump would go on to win Pennsylvania in the 2024 general election.

Schimel's loss, on the other hand, is a setback for Musk.

Wisconsin Supreme Court races in recent years have become increasingly polarized, with issues like abortion rights, union collective bargaining rights, and voting regulations being used to drive up turnout among base voters. This week, conservatives fell short in their efforts to take the court in a different direction.

Musk is poised to wade into other contests ahead of the midterms, especially with Trump's agenda on the line. However, the latest results in Wisconsin show that there's a limit to such an influence.

Despite sinking millions into the Wisconsin race and making it the most expensive state supreme court election ever, Musk failed to get his candidate the win.

Nine House Republicans voted against his plan to quash proxy voting for new parents.

Cory Booker's speech passed the record set by South Carolina Senator Strom Thurmond, who filibustered the Civil Rights Act of 1957.

Will the two Denver standouts be available in a critical clash of Western Conference playoff hopefuls?

• The Trump administration has cut off billions of dollars in federal funding for universities.
• The move has already caused some institutions to scale back hiring or implement layoffs.
• The White House also directly targeted a few schools, withholding funds until demands are met.

The Trump administration has set its crosshairs on dozens of universities across the US as part of an effort to crack down on DEI-related initiatives and what the administration has said to be a rampant presence of anti-semitism on campuses.

Already, the administration's moves to reduce federal spending has had sweeping consequences for America's higher education institutions.

Universities have implemented hiring freezes or pursued layoffs as billions of dollars worth of funding toward research remains at threat or has been taken away as a result of the White House's move to downsize or dismantle government agencies, including the National Institutes of Health and the United States Agency for International Development.

But the administration also has directly threatened several universities to strip them of federal funds, accusing them of failing to properly respond to anti-semitism on campus or participating in "race-exclusionary practices."

The Department of Education issued a letter in March to 60 higher education institutions, including a few Ivy League schools, warning them of potential probes if they do not do more to protect Jewish students.

Columbia University was stripped of $400 million worth of federal contracts and grants after the Trump administration accused the university of mishandling its response to harassment against Jewish students.

In two weeks, the Ivy League school conceded, by banning masks on campus and hiring more security, in hopes of restoring the contracts.

Here's a list of notable cases in which the Trump administration targeted higher education institutions and how universities have responded:

Catch all the action between the Atlanta Braves and the Los Angeles Dodgers in this MLB matchup live on Tuesday at Dodger Stadium.

President Donald Trump took a victory lap on Truth Social after Republicans Randy Fine and Jimmy Patronis won two critical Florida special elections.

Ketel Marte has been an impact player for the Arizona Diamondbacks since he made his debut in 2015. Now, he is reportedly nearing a $100-plus million extension.

The Associated Press called the race for Jimmy Patronis less than a half hour after polls closed in the GOP stronghold.

• Chana Widawski handed in her notice after feeling burned out at work.
• She celebrated her 50th birthday with a yearlong sabbatical.
• Now 51 and back in New York, she says the sabbatical taught her to prioritize living over making a living.

Burnout is real, and so is turning 50.

As I neared both, I knew it was time for a sabbatical. I needed a break from my job as a social worker and from my hectic life in the concrete jungle of New York City. I craved travel and needed to recharge. I decided that it was time.

Sabbaticals are an almost foreign concept in my field and for most Americans in general. Losing both of my parents at a young age and working for years with families who had lost loved ones made it clear to me that life is short.

As with most things, dreaming it up was easy; actualizing was not.

I cherished many aspects of my job and life. I loved the neighborhood free store and composting initiative I started. I relished opportunities to dance and partake in happenings around the city.

But those all-too-familiar feelings of stagnation, burnout, and wanderlust prevailed. While I didn't quite know how I would spend my break or exactly when I'd start it, I handed in my notice.

It was transformative, even though my actual last day on the job came 6 months later.

In January 2023 my journey began. Single and without children or aging parents to care for, I was free of responsibilities and faced no objections to traveling into the next half-century of my life with positive energy and openness.

Traveling solo, at my own pace

I used the airline points I had accrued to book a one-way flight to India, unsure of how long I would stay or where I'd head next.

Eliminating my primary expense, housing, came easy, as a friend was more than happy to use my affordable, centrally located apartment in my absence.

Once abroad, I opted for the adventure of low-cost public transportation. This included a 24-hour bus journey from Kathmandu to Delhi and sitting on sacks of rice with someone's child on my lap for segments of a packed bus ride toward Muktinath in Nepal.

Similar to my life back in New York, I avoided lavish spending and saved money by living a socially conscious lifestyle — bicycling, camping, gardening, volunteering, foraging, eating home-cooked meals, and wearing secondhand clothes.

My background in social work gave me a sense of openness while I moved about the world.

I lived with the Lohani family in Nepal, volunteering on their farm and eating the best home-cooked dal baht, a rice dish with lentils. We hiked through the mountainside to join the entire village for its rice planting festival and for a baby's rice feeding ceremony.

Self-discovery through solo travel

I traveled slowly and covered a lot of ground, from Nepal and India to Eastern and Western Europe, the Middle East, both coasts of the US, and lots in between.

A friend from home joined me to trek the mountain villages of Svaneti, Georgia. I spent time with new friends at gatherings in Germany, a festival in the Czech Republic, a conference I presented at in Croatia, and on a canoe trip back in the US, on Utah's Green River.

But nothing compared to the powerful serendipities and exchanges I experienced while traveling alone.

On the day of my 50th, I didn't get any hugs, phone calls, or even text messages. My phone was in a drawer at the picturesque Kopan Monastery in Nepal while I spent 10 days in silence, with people from across the globe, learning, meditating, reflecting and just being. It was idyllic.

My sabbatical turned out to be more than just a break; it transformed my way of being.

Two years later, I'm back in New York.

I'm still in love with the city and still disillusioned by the rat race and concrete jungle. The trip taught me to continue to prioritize living over making a living.

The NIT semifinals have arrived, and it's Chattanooga taking on Loyola Chicago at Hinkle Fieldhouse on Tuesday night.

In a closed-door meeting on Monday night, President Trump's top economic advisers promised GOP senators they would show their work on how they plan to deliver 3% GDP growth to help lower the cost of the "one big, beautiful bill."

Why it matters: The promise of a booming economy, even if it includes some shock therapy, is central to Trump's overall theory on how businesses and individuals can receive tax cuts while deficits simultaneously can be reduced.

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• Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and National Economic Council director Kevin Hassett told Senate Finance Republicans last night they would share their plans later this week.
• "They were just very optimistic about how much growth we're going to have moving forward, and how popular this plan is and how important it is for our economic health," a senator familiar with the discussions told us.
• Some senators are willing to be persuaded that Trump can cut taxes and juice the economy like he did in his first term, but he has some work to do.

Zoom in: Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) is dealing with three GOP factions that are colliding over the Trump budget bill.

1. Debt hawks: Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) and Bill Cassidy (R-La.) expressed their concerns about the overall amount of deficit spending. Johnson wants to return to pre-pandemic spending, and Cassidy has been publicly saying that if a current policy baseline is used, Congress must pay for it. (Thune embraced a current policy approach today.)
2. Free traders want to know if the administration's rosy economic assumptions would include the expected impact of Trump's tariffs, which he's expected to announce tomorrow.
3. Medicaid defenders: Moderate Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) and others like Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) continue to question how deeply Trump and congressional Republicans want to cut Medicaid.

Between the lines: Trump officials are confident the real economy is faring much better than the equities market and they are optimistic that Friday's jobs report will show solid growth.

• Economic forecasters don't seem convinced. They continue to warn about the dangers of the reciprocal tariffs that Trump will announce.
• And the specter of stagflation — or the "S-word" as Axios' Neil Irwin calls it — is lurking.
• Senate leadership is barreling forward without the parliamentarian and hoping to vote on the new budget resolution this week. But Thune reminded senators they still need to make sure they have 51 votes.

The other side: Democrats are howling at the GOP's full embrace of using a current policy score to lower the cost of extending Trump's 2017 tax cuts.

• "The people who said they believed in fiscal discipline want to use funny money to give tax cuts to their billionaire buddies," Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) told Axios.
• "It is alarming to see — through press reports — that Republicans believe they don't need to defend their effort to hide the true cost of their multitrillion-dollar tax giveaways that will add trillions to the national debt while gutting programs hard-working families rely on," a spokesperson for Democrats on the committee said.

Russian president Vladimir Putin's close adviser Kirill Dmitriev is expected to visit Washington this week for talks on Ukraine with President Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff, two U.S. official tell Axios. He'll be the most senior Russian visitor to Washington since the 2022 invasion.

Why it matters: Trump said Saturday that he was "pissed off" at Putin for his recent comments on Ukraine and warned of economic penalties if Russia blocks his ceasefire push. The visit from Dmitriev is a chance to break the stalemate in negotiations.

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• Dmitriev is the head of Russia's sovereign wealth fund and a senior member of Putin's negotiating team in the indirect ceasefire talks with Ukraine, which the Trump administration is mediating.

What they're saying: "His visit is part of ongoing efforts to get a ceasefire with Ukraine," a U.S. official said.

• CNN first reported on Dmitriev's visit.

Behind The scenes: Dmitriev is under U.S. sanctions, which the Treasury Department had to suspend for 7 days to allow the State Department to issue him a visa, according to a source with knowledge of the issue.

State of play: The indirect talks between Russia and Ukraine are stuck, U.S. officials say.

• While Ukraine agreed to all U.S. proposals for an unconditional ceasefire, and subsequently agreed to plans for a smaller-scale maritime ceasefire, the Russians laid out last week a series of new demands, including the lifting of some U.S. sanctions.
• The Russians made the new demands after three days of talks in Saudi Arabia — and after the White House had issued a statement saying Russia agreed to a ceasefire in the Black Sea.
• Russia's deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov, said on Tuesday that while Russia takes the U.S. ceasefire proposals seriously, they do not address the "root causes" of the conflict.
• National Security Council spokesperson Brian Hughes said Tuesday that Trump is frustrated with the Russian position but that talks continue.

A House Democrat is introducing long-shot legislation that would force billionaire Trump lieutenant Elon Musk and his staffers at DOGE to undergo routine drug testing, Axios has learned.

Why it matters: Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-N.J.) cited a Wall Street Journal report from 2024 that alleged Musk has used illegal drugs including LSD, cocaine, ecstasy, mushrooms and ketamine as the impetus for her bill.

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• DOGE spokespeople did not respond to requests for comment.
• An attorney for Musk told the Journal that Musk is "regularly and randomly drug tested at SpaceX and has never failed a test."

Driving the news: Sherrill's bill, a copy of which was first obtained by Axios, would require special government employees to undergo a drug test before they begin work and enter into a random drug testing program.

• Anyone who tests positive for certain illegal drugs would be barred from federal service for at least a year.
• Citing Signalgate, Sherrill said it is "more important than ever to protect the American people from the Trump Administration's reckless incompetence and blatant disregard for national security."

Between the lines: Musk and many DOGE staffers have been designated as special government employees.

• The Justice Department defines a special government employee as "anyone who works, or is expected to work, for the government for 130 days or less in a 365-day period."
• The title is usually used for subject-matter experts who are brought on to assist with specific projects.

What they're saying: "Those with access to sensitive information must be thoroughly vetted, clear-eyed, and exercise good judgment," said Sherrill, a former Naval aviator running for New Jersey governor.

• She argued the special government employees at DOGE should "be held to the same standard as other executive branch employees."
• That includes "conflicts of interest or passing a drug test to maintain employment or a security clearance," she said.

Reality check: Sherrill's bill is highly unlikely to become law any time soon as Republicans control both chambers of Congress and the White House.

Go deeper: Musk's DOGE days will eventually end, Trump suggests

Wisconsin voters on Tuesday will elect a single state Supreme Court member in a special election that will determine if the bench keeps its liberal majority.

Why it matters: The swing state race is the first major election in the U.S. since November and has become the most expensive judicial race in American history.

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• The winning candidate will serve a 10-year term.

About the candidates

State of play: The election has become a proxy battle for greater partisan political fights in the U.S., although both candidates are technically nonpartisan.

• Off-year elections typically see lower turnout than midterm and presidential elections, but the race will show the power of President Trump's coalition.

Brad Schimel, a Waukesha County Circuit Court judge and former state attorney general has been backed by Trump and Elon Musk.

• If he wins, the court will have a conservative majority until at least 2026.

Susan Crawford, a Dane County Circuit Court judge, has received support from former President Barack Obama and billionaire megadonor George Soros.

• If she wins, the court will have a liberal majority until at least 2028.

Context: The primary, initially scheduled for February, was canceled because only two candidates filed to run.

• Liberals have held a majority since 2023.

Elon Musk's involvement

By the numbers: Musk has spent millions on the race.

• It's the most expensive state Supreme Court race on record, at $68.1 million total spent on advertising as of March 26, per AdImpact.

Between the lines: Musk on Sunday gave $1 million checks to two people at an event in an effort to turn out the vote.

• Wisconsin's Supreme Court justices unanimously declined to hear a lawsuit alleging that Musk's actions violated state law.

Abortion, redistricting, voting rules on the table

The big picture: The state's Supreme Court, as of March 14, had pending cases concerning abortion rights, voting rules and legislative redistricting.

• In 2023, a liberal justice won a Wisconsin Supreme Court seat by 11 percentage points, which reflected an adverse reaction to the Supreme Court's overturning of Roe v. Wade, Michael Waldman, president and CEO of the Brennan Center for Justice, wrote in March.
• "This year, Republicans want the debate to be driven by support for Donald Trump in a state he won just a few months ago," Waldman wrote.

Go deeper: Exclusive: Elon Musk group's playbook in Wisconsin's court race

Editor's note: This story has been updated with additional details.

• President Donald Trump said Willkie Farr & Gallagher pledged $100 million in pro bono work for "conservative ideals."
• Legal activists are calling for Doug Emhoff to resign and "stand on the side of the rule of law."
• Federal judges have blocked most of Trump's orders that target Big Law and their security clearance.

Willkie Farr & Gallagher, the law firm where Doug Emhoff, former Vice President Kamala Harris' husband, is a partner, is pledging at least $100 million in pro bono legal work for causes aligned with "conservative ideals," President Donald Trump said on Tuesday via social media.

Willkie would be the third top law firm to formalize such a deal with Trump, following similar pledges from Paul Weiss and Skadden.

"Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP proactively reached out to President Trump and his Administration, offering their decisive commitment to ending the Weaponization of the Justice System and the Legal Profession," said the White House, according to Trump's post on Truth Social.

Doug Emhoff and Willkie did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Trump's social media post also said that Thomas M. Cerabino, Chairman of Willkie Farr & Gallagher, stated that "the substance of that agreement is consistent" with the firm's views on access to legal representation by clients and that the firm has a "history of working with clients across a wide spectrum of political viewpoints."

The announcement comes amid a wave of executive orders from Trump targeting Big Law over their affiliations — both with political adversaries and with causes he has publicly criticized. These executive orders have included reviewing the security clearances of law firms and terminating their contracts with the government.

Most of these executive orders, including ones targeting Perkins Coie, WilmerHale, and Jenner & Block, have been blocked by federal judges — some indefinitely until an official ruling has been reached.

"Willkie Farr's capitulation to Trump is absolutely shameful," said Molly Coleman, executive director of the People's Parity Project, an organization of law students and attorneys. "Emhoff and other partners need to show they stand on the side of the rule of law by resigning — there's absolutely no other option."

"If anyone should have the courage to refuse to practice the law under Trump's thumb, it should be Doug Emhoff," she added.

Paul Weiss has also faced criticism for bowing to Trump's demands, and at least two lawyers have publicly resigned from Skadden before and after its agreement with Trump, with one calling the act "a craven attempt to sacrifice the rule of law for self-preservation."

Just a week after Trump was sworn in for his second term, Wilkie announced it had hired Emhoff as a partner. In 2023, Wilkie brought on Tim Heaphy, the former chief investigative counsel for the House select committee that probed the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.

The firm represented Trump during a 1990s bankruptcy case and successfully defended his close ally, Thomas Barrack, in a 2022 federal case. The firm also represents X, the social media company now owned by Trump ally and Tesla CEO Elon Musk.