Musk group offers $100 to Wisconsin voters ahead of pivotal state
Supreme Court election
[March 22, 2025]
By SCOTT BAUER
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A group funded by billionaire Elon Musk is offering
Wisconsin voters $100 to sign a petition in opposition to “activist
judges,” a move that comes two weeks before the state’s Supreme Court
election and after the political action committee made a similar
proposal last year in battleground states.
Musk’s political action committee America PAC announced the petition in
a post on X on Thursday night. It promises $100 for each Wisconsin voter
who signs the petition and another $100 for each signer they refer.
The campaign for Susan Crawford, the Democratic-backed candidate for
Wisconsin Supreme Court, said Musk was trying to buy votes ahead of the
April 1 election. The offer was made two days after early voting started
in the hotly contested race between Crawford and Brad Schimel, the
preferred candidate of Musk and Republicans.
The winner of the election will determine whether the court remains
under liberal control or flips to a conservative majority.
Musk’s PAC used a nearly identical tactic ahead of the November
presidential election, offering to pay $1 million a day to voters in
Wisconsin and six other battleground states who signed a petition
supporting the First and Second Amendments.
Philadelphia’s district attorney sued in an attempt to stop the payments
under Pennsylvania law. But a judge said that prosecutors failed to show
that the effort was an illegal lottery and it was allowed to continue
through Election Day.
America PAC and Building for America’s Future, two groups Musk funds,
have spent more than $13 million trying to help elect Schimel, according
to a tally by the Brennan Center for Justice. The winner will determine
whether conservative or liberal justices control the court, with key
battles looming over abortion, public sector unions, voting rules and
congressional district boundaries.
Crawford campaign spokesperson Derrick Honeyman accused Musk of “trying
to buy a seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court to secure a favorable
ruling in his company's lawsuit against the state.”
Just days before Musk's groups started spending on the Supreme Court
race, electric car manufacturer Tesla sued Wisconsin over its decision
to not allow it to open dealerships. Musk is the CEO of Tesla and also
the head of rocket ship manufacturer SpaceX. Tesla's case could
ultimately come before the Supreme Court.
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Former Wisconsin Attorney General and state Supreme Court candidate
Brad Schimel, middle, greets Donald Trump Jr., as Charlie Kirk looks
on during a town hall Monday, March 17, 2025, in Oconomowoc, Wis.
(AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps)
“Very important to vote Republican for the Wisconsin Supreme Court to
prevent voting fraud," Musk posted on X, just eight days before the
lawsuit was filed in January.
Andrew Romeo, a spokesperson for America PAC, referred to the post on X
announcing the petition when asked for comment on Friday. A spokesperson
for Schimel's campaign did not immediately respond to an email seeking
comment.
Crawford and her allies have made linking Schimel with Musk a key plank
of their campaign. The Wisconsin Democratic Party released a new ad this
week accusing Musk of trying to buy the seat for Schimel, a close ally
of Trump's/
Schimel earlier this week campaigned with Donald Trump Jr. at an event
where the president's son said electing Schimel was essential for
protecting Trump's agenda. America PAC has also been making that
argument in flyers it's handing out to Wisconsin voters.
Musk's other group, Building America's Future, said in a memo Thursday
that to defeat Crawford it must “present Schimel as a pro-Trump
conservative.”
The new petition says that “Judges should interpret laws as written, not
rewrite them to fit their personal or political agendas. By signing
below, I’m rejecting the actions of activist judges who impose their own
views and demanding a judiciary that respects its role — interpreting,
not legislating.”
The petition, while designed to collect data on Wisconsin voters and
energize them, is also in line with President Donald Trump's agenda
alleging that “activist” judges are illegally working against him.
Trump's administration is embroiled in several lawsuits related to
Musk's Department of Government Efficiency effort to downsize the
federal bureaucracy.
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