Joan is joined by Ari Berman, Mother Jones’ national voting rights correspondent and the author of Minority Rule: The Right-Wing Attack on the Will of the People—and the Fight to Resist It and Give Us the Ballot: The Modern Struggle for Voting Rights in America.

The conversation centered on the April 1st Wisconsin Supreme Court election, where Judge Susan Crawford faces Elon Musk-backed conservative Brad Schimel. Musk has invested over $20 million in the Schimel campaign, a record for a judicial race. The election is seen as a referendum on Musk's influence. A win for Schimel, Berman said, could embolden Musk to intervene in more elections, while a win for Crawford has the potential to motivate Democrats to use anti-Musk messaging in future campaigns and induce Republicans to distance themselves from Musk. 

"I certainly think that Republicans will take the message that being so close to Musk could be a political liability to them," Berman told WCPT. 

Catch "Joan Esposito: Live, Local and Progressive" weekdays from 2:00 to 5:00 p.m. Central on WCPT (heartlandsignal.com/programs/live-local-progressive).

And find the Joan Esposito (Full Episodes) podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, TuneIn, iHeartRadio, YouTube, and Amazon.