Co-President Elon Musk is handing out gobs of money to Wisconsinites as a part of his bare effort to purchase a seat on the state Supreme Court docket so as to get favorable rulings for his right-wing beliefs and his flailing automotive firm.
Musk’s tremendous PAC is providing $100 to each voter who indicators a BS petition that declares their “opposition to activist judges,” and enters them for an opportunity to win an even bigger $1 million prize. The gambit is much like the scheme he ran through the 2024 marketing campaign to assist his buddy Donald Trump, wherein he held $1 million sweepstakes to registered voters in swing states, which the Justice Division advised him was seemingly unlawful.
Musk on Wednesday introduced the primary $1 million prize winner in a misspelled publish on his disinformation web site X.
“Exciting to announce our first million dollar award for supporting our petition against activist judges in Wisconsin!” Musk wrote. “Next million dollar award will be announced in 2 days.”
Musk has now spent $17 million on the April 1 race between liberal nominee Susan Crawford and conservative candidate Brad Schimel in an effort to purchase a seat on the state Supreme Court docket and flip management from liberal to conservative.
Flipping the ideological stability of the court docket would permit Republicans in Wisconsin to do the whole lot from ban abortion to prohibit voting rights.
Musk additionally needs a positive court docket so as to assist his struggling Tesla automotive firm win a lawsuit difficult a Wisconsin regulation that prohibits Tesla from promoting vehicles on to customers. Present Wisconsin regulation requires that vehicles are offered by means of franchisees.
However Musk’s meddling within the race might truly harm Republicans greater than assist.
Musk is at present deeply unpopular with the Wisconsin voters. A Marquette College Regulation Faculty ballot from earlier in March discovered simply 41% of Wisconsinites had a positive opinion of Musk, with one other 53% saying that Musk is “disrupting programs required by law.”
Wisconsin Republicans have additionally confronted offended crowds of voters at city halls who’re demanding they stand as much as Musk. The billionaire, with the assistance of his Division of Authorities Effectivity, is firing 1000’s of federal staff and making adjustments to packages like Social Safety that imperil older and disabled People from receiving the advantages they’ve rightfully earned.
The Wisconsin Democratic Celebration is working advertisements tying Schimel to Musk.
“Brad Schimel is corrupt and will do anything to get on the Supreme Court,” a narrator says. “And who did he beg? Elon Musk: A man who needs a guaranteed vote on the Supreme Court because his company is suing the state of Wisconsin. Schimel begged, and Musk unloaded $10 million to rig the court. So how much does it cost to buy off a corrupt politician? Just ask knee-pad Brad.”
A latest state legislative particular election in Pennsylvania reveals simply how potent an advert like that may be. On Tuesday, a Democratic candidate that ran on a platform of stopping Musk’s harmful cuts to the social security internet flipped a state Senate seat in Pennsylvania that Trump gained by 15 factors in November—a large upset in a district that’s much more Republican than the purple state of Wisconsin.
And now a brand new ballot within the race reveals that the liberal candidate,Crawford, is forward of conservative nominee Schimel by 8 factors lower than week out from the April 1 contest.
“If you don’t want Musk mucking around in elections all over the country for the next decade, make sure he loses this one—and Susan Crawford wins,” Wisconsin Democratic Celebration Chair Ben Wikler wrote in a publish on X.