Crawford won by approximately 10% of the vote share, even as groups supporting Brad Schimel—including Musk’s America PAC—spent vastly more money.
Topline
Billionaire Elon Musk shared claims on X Wednesday arguing big-money donors are why Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate Susan Crawford beat Musk’s preferred candidate Brad Schimel in Tuesday’s election—but campaign finance filings suggest Musk and other GOP billionaires actually spent millions more backing Schimel than Crawford’s billionaire supporters.Key Facts
Crawford beat Schimel Tuesday in Wisconsin’s Supreme Court election with 55% of the vote, with the race garnering national attention as Musk and his America PAC poured millions into supporting Schimel—and Musk claimed the election would affect “the course of Western civilization.”
Musk has publicly brushed off Schimel’s loss, claiming on X early Wednesday he “expected to lose” the race and sharing a post proclaiming, “Meet the Billionaires that Elected Susan Crawford,” which claimed Crawford outspent Schimel by 230% and “much of” her direct campaign contributions came from billionaires—downplaying Schimel’s campaign contributions in comparison.
Campaign filings do show Crawford raised more in contributions to her campaign than Schimel, taking in $28 million through April 1, including in-kind donations, versus Schimel raising $15 million.
But Schimel garnered far more support from outside groups, with filings compiled by the Brennan Center for Justice showing outside groups spent $38 million on his campaign versus $17 million spent supporting Crawford—and Musk’s America PAC was the biggest spender in the race outside of the campaigns themselves, shelling out $12 million on Schimel’s behalf.
Both candidates had billionaire supporters who made big-money donations to Wisconsin’s Democratic and Republican Parties—which supported the Supreme Court candidates and could accept larger contributions than their campaigns—including the likes of Musk, ABC Supply founder Diane Hendricks, Illinois Gov.
