Tesla CEO gave two voters in Wisconsin million-dollar checks on Sunday night as he seeks to swing the US state’s top court to the right.
Voters in Wisconsin will choose on April 1 between a conservative and a liberal judge in a vote that is being seen as an early referendum on US President and which Musk said could determine “the future of civilization.”
Musk, a top advisor to Trump, also said he would pay supporters of the conservative candidate $20 (€18.50) for every voter they won for their cause in the next two days.
The swing state election is already the most expensive judicial race in US history, costing some $81 million so far.
What is at stake in Wisconsin?
Wisconsin is one of 24 states in the US where Supreme Court judges are elected rather than appointed, as is the case in the other 26 states.
On April 1, voters will choose between liberal Susan Crawford, a Dane County judge who is currently the favorite, and conservative Brad Schimel, who has been serving as a judge in Waukesha County.
The outgoing judge, Ann Walsh Bradley, was backed by Democrats, meaning that a win for Schimel would tilt the court in a conservative direction, while a Crawford victory would maintain its liberal tendency.
The court is responsible for considering abortion rights, labor rights and possibly election rules, including a potential redrawing of its electoral districts before the next mid-term Congressional elections in November next year.
It is this latter aspect that appears to mainly worry Musk.
“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,” he said at a rally in Green Bay on Sunday. “Then they will try to stop all the government reforms we are getting done for you, the American people.”
“I think this will be important for the future of civilization,” he said. “It’s that significant.”
Wisconsin was won by Trump in the 2024 presidential election.
Musk’s unelected power
Musk has in the past already put his enormous wealth
He spent more than $250 million to help elect Trump last year, by far the largest sum donated by an individual.
He also gave which respectively concern the right to free speech and the right to bear weapons — both causes co-opted by the Republicans in their campaign.
Wisconsin’s attorney general, Democrat Josh Kaul, made a bid to block Musk’s giveaways on Sunday, but the state Supreme Court rejected his lawsuit minutes before Musk’s rally kicked off. Two lower courts had already rejected the legal challenge.
As of last week, groups affiliated with Musk had spent at least $17.5 million to support Schimel, according to New York University’s Brennan Center for Justice.
Musk has gained unprecedented unelected power in the US, among other things named after an internet meme. Despite its name, DOGE is not a cabinet-level department.
In just a few weeks since Trump took power, DOGE has already sacked or suspended tens of thousands of federal workers, and begun the job of dismantling several agencies in the name of reducing what Musk and Trump consider a bloated federal government.
Edited by: Zac Crellin
The post Musk hands out millions in bid to sway Wisconsin court vote appeared first on Deutsche Welle.
