# Susan M. Crawford

Susan Margaret Crawford (born March 1, 1965) is an American lawyer and jurist from Madison, Wisconsin. She is a Wisconsin circuit court judge for Dane County since 2018. Earlier in her career, she was chief legal counsel to Wisconsin governor Jim Doyle. She was an assistant attorney general in the Iowa Department of Justice and Wisconsin Department of Justice, and an administrator of the Office of Enforcement and Science in the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.
Crawford is a candidate for Wisconsin Supreme Court in the 2025 election.

## Early life and education

Crawford was raised in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. One of four children, her parents were originally from Monroe, Wisconsin.
She graduated from Chippewa Falls High School in 1983. She went on to attend Lawrence University, in Appleton, Wisconsin, where she earned her bachelor's degree in 1987. She immediately continued her education at Indiana University, earning her master's in 1989. A short time later, she entered the University of Iowa College of Law and obtained her J.D. in 1994. During her third year of law school, she was editor-in-chief of the Iowa Law Review.

## Early career

She was admitted to the bar in Iowa in early 1995, and took a job as an assistant attorney general in the Iowa Department of Justice. She worked in their criminal appeals division, based in Des Moines, Iowa, and often litigated before the Iowa Supreme Court. After a few years, she was hired to a similar position in the Wisconsin Department of Justice, working as an assistant attorney general and director of the appellate unit under then-attorney general Jim Doyle. Crawford was admitted to the Wisconsin Bar in 1997.
After Doyle was elected governor in 2002, Crawford was appointed deputy secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Employment Relations, but that department soon after ceased to exist. The secretary of the department, Karen E. Timberlake, was transitioned to become director of the new Office of State Employment Relations in the Wisconsin Department of Administration, and Crawford went along as her executive assistant before transferring to become executive assistant to the secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Corrections.
In late 2007, she was named administrator of the Division of Enforcement and Science in the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, where she oversaw some of the state's implementation of stimulus funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Later in 2009, she was selected by Governor Doyle to serve as his chief legal counsel in the governor's office after a scandal took down his previous counsel. As chief legal counsel, she also became ex officio chair of the governor's Pardon Advisory Board.
After Doyle left office in 2011, Crawford returned to practicing law with the Madison firm Cullen Weston Pines & Bach, which later became Pines Bach LLP. Two years later, Crawford was named a partner in the law firm, with a practice focused on civil litigation and regulatory proceedings. While working at Pines Bach, Crawford remained active as a lawyer for liberal causes, representing at various times the League of Women Voters, the state Superintendent Tony Evers, and the Madison teachers' union.

## Judicial career

In 2018, Crawford made her first bid for elected office, running for an open Wisconsin circuit court judgeship in Dane County. In the election, she faced Marilyn Townsend, a municipal judge for the village of Shorewood Hills who had run unsuccessfully for another circuit judgeship the prior year. Crawford was quickly endorsed by several of the other Dane County judges. In campaigning for the office, Crawford focused on her extensive experience with litigation and her past work in defense of unions, public education, and women's rights. Crawford ultimately won the election by just 3,814 votes out of 114,875 cast. She was unopposed for re-election in 2024. Throughout Crawford's tenure as a Dane County Circuit Court Judge, Crawford has issued several controversial judicial decisions, one of the most notable being her 2020 sentencing of convicted child sex offender Kevin Welton to four years in prison, short of the ten years recommended by prosecutors.

### 2025 Wisconsin Supreme Court election

In 2024, Wisconsin Supreme Court justice Ann Walsh Bradley announced she would not run for re-election in 2025. Wide speculation followed her announcement about which other state judges would jump into the race. Crawford announced her candidacy in June 2024 and was quickly endorsed by all four liberal justices on the Wisconsin Supreme Court, including the retiring Bradley. Only one other candidate filed to run, eliminating the need for a primary. In January 2025, Crawford faced criticism for attending a briefing linked to Democratic donors, with opponents arguing it signaled a partisan approach to the judiciary. Republicans have also criticized her for receiving over one million dollars in campaign donations from billionaire George Soros. In response to the criticism, she repeatedly asserted that her Republican-aligned opponent is influenced by Elon Musk, whose affiliated groups have spent over $10 million supporting his campaign. She will face former Republican state attorney general Brad Schimel in the general election to be held on April 1, 2025.

## Personal life

Crawford married Shawn F. Peters at Wingra Park in Madison on May 27, 2000. They reside in Madison and have two adult children. Crawford herself has also made personal donations to Democratic judges and politicians.

## Electoral history
### Dane County circuit court (2018, 2024)

| Year | Election | Date | Elected | Elected | Elected | Elected | Defeated | Defeated | Defeated | Defeated | Total | Plurality |
| 2018 | General | Apr. 3 | Susan M. Crawford | Nonpartisan | 59,048 | 51.40% | Marilyn Townsend | Non. | 55,234 | 48.08% | 114,875 | 3,814 |
| 2024 | General | Apr. 2 | Susan M. Crawford (inc) | Nonpartisan | 89,390 | 99.06% | --unopposed-- | --unopposed-- | --unopposed-- | --unopposed-- | 90,240 | 88,540 |