Elon Musk is throwing big bucks behind the Republican candidate in Wisconsin’s Supreme Court race, in an effort to ensure that the state, which swung narrowly for Donald Trump, remains steered by conservatives.
Musk’s America PAC dropped $1 million to increase voter turnout for Waukesha County Circuit Judge Brad Schimel, the conservative contender in Wisconsin’s Supreme Court election. That single seat on the seven-member panel will determine whether the court is controlled by Democrats or Republicans, at a time when the judicial system has emerged as the only check on Trump’s agenda.
While there are several reasons why Musk would back a candidate in this particular race, the only one he’s outright said is that he hopes to influence how the state holds its elections.
Wisconsin’s Supreme Court ruled in July that voters could return their absentee ballots via drop boxes around the state. Musk didn’t like that one bit.
In a post on X in January, Musk urged Wisconsin residents to “vote Republican for the Wisconsin Supreme Court to prevent voting fraud!”
A Republican majority on Wisconsin’s Supreme Court would undoubtedly shape its answer to some of the hefty questions likely to come before it. Justices are set to weigh an 1849 law banning abortion from conception, with no exceptions for rape or incest. Wisconsin’s Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul filed a lawsuit arguing the law operates only as a feticide law and does not apply to consensual abortions.
The court could also rule on congressional maps, a hot-button topic in the state where Republicans have amassed six out of eight of the U.S. House seats, despite holding thin margins in state-wide races. Putting a Republican majority on the court could not only keep additional seats out of the hands of Democrats, but also ensure that any legislative redistricting pitched by Republicans is readily approved.
A Republican victory in Wisconsin’s Supreme Court race has wider implications. It could also serve to support Trump’s claim to have a mandate from Americans, further empowering his efforts to undermine the checks and balances that prevent him from following his every whim.
Barry Burden, a political scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, told CNN that the race was going to be a “blockbuster,” and that the state Supreme Court was “the center of the action.”
America PAC’s recent activity comes in addition to an estimated $1.5 million in TV ads purchased by another Musk-backed group, Building America’s Future. $400,000 worth of ads will reportedly run in Madison, Eau Claire, Wausau, and Green Bay areas, and $255,000 more will be running around Milwaukee.
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