Musk claimed at a rally Sunday the race would “affect the entire destiny of humanity.”
Topline
Wisconsin voters will go to the polls Tuesday for the state’s Supreme Court election, which is drawing national attention as billionaire Elon Musk spends millions on the high-stakes race, which could have national implications for House races and the 2028 presidential election—and help Musk-owned Tesla.Key Facts
Musk and President Donald Trump are backing Judge Brad Schimel, a Republican, in Wisconsin’s Supreme Court race as he faces off against Democratic-backed candidate Susan Crawford.
The race will determine which party has control of the Supreme Court in Wisconsin—a major battleground state—which is controlled by Democrat-backed justices, and is viewed as a bellwether for how elections in Trump’s second term could go, given it’s the first major election since his inauguration.
Groups affiliated with Musk have spent at least $18.2 million backing Schimel in the election, according to filings cited by the Brennan Center for Justice, with more than $12.2 million of that from Musk’s America PAC, which he used during the presidential election to back Trump.
America PAC is leading a canvassing operation in which more than 500 staffers are knocking on voters’ doors in Wisconsin, according to The New York Times, and the PAC is also repeating its playbook from the presidential election by offering cash to Wisconsin voters, including $100 to Wisconsin voters who sign a “Petition in Opposition to Activist Judges” and $20 to recruit a Wisconsin voter to take a photo giving a thumbs up for Schimel.
Musk also awarded $1 million each to two voters onstage during a rally in Wisconsin Sunday, and the billionaire has personally campaigned in the state, interviewed Schimel in a public conversation on X and donated at least $3 million to the Republican Party of Wisconsin, which is helping to fund Schimel’s campaign.
Trump endorsed Schimel on Truth Social on March 21—claiming if Crawford wins, “the Movement to restore our Nation will bypass Wisconsin”—and has doubled down in subsequent posts, writing on Truth Social that the election is “a really big and important race” that “could have much to do with the future of our Country” and a win from Crawford would cause “TOTAL CHAOS.” When Is The Wisconsin Supreme Court Election?
The election will take place Tuesday, though early voting has already begun.Who Is Brad Schimel?
Schimel is a circuit court judge in Wisconsin and the state’s former attorney general. He is a Republican, though the Supreme Court race is nonpartisan. He has expressed a number of conservative views, including opposition to abortion rights, backing more stringent restrictions on voting—like voter ID laws—and, as attorney general, led a lawsuit against the Affordable Care Act. Schimel has also echoed Trump’s rhetoric about voter fraud—which there is no evidence to support—calling for voters to turn out and make his margin in the Supreme Court election “too big to rig.”Who Is Susan Crawford?
Crawford is also a state circuit judge, who before that was an attorney in private practice. She has been endorsed by Wisconsin’s Democratic Party and other left-leaning groups. Crawford has expressed left-leaning views such as supporting abortion rights and saying the Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade was “wrongly decided,” and she also previously represented a voting rights organization in court arguing against Wisconsin’s voter ID law.
