Elon Musk hands out $1 million payments after Wisconsin Supreme Court
declines request to stop him
[March 31, 2025]
By THOMAS BEAUMONT and SCOTT BAUER
GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — Elon Musk gave out $1 million checks on Sunday to
two Wisconsin voters, declaring them spokespeople for his political
group, ahead of a Wisconsin Supreme Court election that the tech
billionaire cast as critical to President Donald Trump's agenda and “the
future of civilization.”
“It’s a super big deal,” he told a roughly 2,000-person crowd in Green
Bay on Sunday night, taking the stage in a yellow cheesehead hat. “I’m
not phoning it in. I’m here in person.”
Musk and groups he supports have spent more than $20 million to help
conservative favorite Brad Schimel in Tuesday's race, which will
determine the ideological makeup of a court likely to decide key issues
in a perennial battleground state. Musk has increasingly become the
center of the contest, with liberal favorite Susan Crawford and her
allies protesting Musk and what they say is the influence he wants to
have on the court.
“I think this will be important for the future of civilization,” he
said. “It’s that’s significant.”
He noted that the state high court may well take up redistricting of
congressional districts, which could ultimately affect which party
controls the U.S. House.
“And if the (Wisconsin) Supreme Court is able to redraw the districts,
they will gerrymander the district and deprive Wisconsin of two seats on
the Republican side,” Musk said. “Then they will try to stop all the
government reforms we are getting done for you, the American people.”
A unanimous state Supreme Court on Sunday refused to hear a last-minute
attempt by the state's Democratic attorney general to stop Musk from
handing over the checks to two voters, a ruling that came just minutes
before the planned start of the rally.
Two lower courts had already rejected the legal challenge by Democrat
Josh Kaul, who argues that Musk's offer violates a state law. “Wisconsin
law prohibits offering anything of value to induce anyone to vote,” Kaul
argued in his filing. “Yet, Elon Musk did just that.”
But the state Supreme Court, which is currently controlled 4-3 by
liberal justices, declined to take the case as an original action. The
court gave no rationale for its decision.
Kaul had no immediate comment on the court's order.
Musk’s attorneys argued in filings with the court that Musk was
exercising his free speech rights with the giveaways and any attempt to
restrict that would violate both the Wisconsin and U.S. constitutions.
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Elon Musk tosses a cheesehead during a town hall Sunday, March 30,
2025, in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps)
The payments are “intended to generate a grassroots movement in
opposition to activist judges, not to expressly advocate for or
against any candidate,” Musk’s attorneys argued in court filings.
Musk’s political action committee used a nearly identical tactic
before the presidential election last year, 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. A judge in Pennsylvania said prosecutors failed to show
the effort was an illegal lottery and allowed it to continue through
Election Day.
Liberals currently hold a 4-3 majority on the court. All four
liberal justices have endorsed Dane County Judge Susan Crawford, the
Democratic-backed candidate.
Musk’s attorneys, about four hours before the rally was to begin,
asked that two liberal justices who have campaigned for Crawford —
Jill Karofsky and Rebecca Dallet — recuse themselves from the case.
His attorneys argued their work for Crawford creates “the specter of
inappropriate bias.” If they did recuse, that would leave the court
with a 3-2 conservative majority.
Both justices rejected the request and said they would spell out
their reasons why at a later date.
One of the court's conservative justices has endorsed Schimel, who
wore a “Make America Great Again" hat while campaigning Sunday.
Schimel said in a national television interview that he does not
control “any of the spending from any outside group, whether it’s
Elon Musk or anyone else” and that all Trump asked was whether he
would “reject activist judges" and follow the law.
“That’s exactly what I’ve committed to anybody, whether it’s
President Trump, Elon Musk or any donors and donors or supporters or
voters in Wisconsin. That’s my commitment,” Schimel told “Fox News
Sunday.”
The contest has shattered national spending records for a judicial
election, with more than $81 million in spending.
It comes as Wisconsin’s highest court is expected to rule on
abortion rights, congressional redistricting, union power and voting
rules that could affect the 2026 midterms and the 2028 presidential
election in the state.
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Associated Press writer Gary Fields in Washington contributed to
this report.
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