MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Billionaire Elon Musk has announced that a Wisconsin voter has been gifted $1 million just days before the hotly contested state Supreme Court election concludes. This race has garnered widespread attention, breaking spending records and serving as a referendum on Musk and the early months of President Donald Trump’s administration.
The payment, revealed by Musk on his social media platform X on Wednesday night, mirrors a lottery scheme that his political action committee conducted last year in Wisconsin and other key states before the November presidential election.
The imminent election on Tuesday will fill a seat left vacant by a retiring liberal justice and will determine whether Wisconsin’s highest court remains under liberal control at 4-3 or tilts towards a conservative majority. The election has become a battleground for national politics, with both Trump and Musk throwing their support behind Brad Schimel, the Republican-backed candidate in this officially nonpartisan contest.
The campaign for Susan Crawford, the Democratic-endorsed candidate, condemned Musk’s $1 million donation as an illicit attempt to purchase influence over the court, especially in light of Tesla’s pending lawsuit in the state. Derrick Honeyman, a spokesperson for Crawford, labeled the move as corrupt, extreme, and damaging to the state’s judicial integrity.
As of now, no legal challenges have been filed against Musk’s voter payments in Wisconsin, with the Supreme Court election just five days away. Jay Heck, the executive director of Common Cause in Wisconsin, views these last-minute contributions as an effort to sway the election. He emphasized that judicial races should be decided based on impartiality and judicial temperament, rather than massive sums of money for partisan objectives.
Musk’s political action committee, America First, recently offered $100 to voters signing a petition against “activist judges.” Although the $1 million prizes were not mentioned earlier, Musk’s latest announcement confirmed an additional $1 million award in two days. The criteria for selecting the $1 million recipient and the process remain unclear.
Before the previous White House election, Musk’s political action committee employed a similar tactic, promising $1 million each day to voters in Wisconsin and six other key states who endorsed the First and Second Amendments. Wisconsin law prohibits offering anything of value to influence voting decisions.
The Musk petition, restricted to registered Wisconsin voters, advocates for judges interpreting laws faithfully rather than imposing personal or political biases. While collecting data and energizing voters, the petition aligns with Trump’s stance against “activist” judges allegedly subverting the law.
Against Trump, his administration is entangled in multiple legal battles stemming from his rapid succession of executive orders, as well as Musk’s efforts under the Department of Government Efficiency to reduce the size of the federal bureaucracy. In the previous presidential campaign, Philadelphia’s district attorney filed a lawsuit in an endeavor to halt payments according to Pennsylvania law. However, a judge ruled that prosecutors did not demonstrate that the initiative constituted an illegal lottery, allowing it to continue until Election Day. Two organizations supported by Musk – America PAC and Building for America’s Future – have collectively spent over $17 million in the bid to assist Schimel in his election, as reported by the Brennan Center for Justice. Additionally, Musk has contributed $3 million to the Wisconsin Republican Party this year, which may be allocated to support Schimel or for campaign expenditures. The total spending on the race has surpassed $81 million, surpassing the previous U.S. record of $51 million spent on a judicial race in Wisconsin just two years ago, according to figures from the Brennan Center.
