When you’re richer than Croesus, certain avenues of action are open to you that aren’t open to most of us, especially in political campaigns. Case in point: Elon Musk will be campaigning for Judge Brad Schimel in the Badger State’s Supreme Court election. Schimel is the GOP-backed candidate. Elon is giving a talk on Schimel’s behalf on Sunday and has promised to hand $1,000,000 checks to two people at that event to be spokesmen for the campaign.

On Sunday night, I will give a talk in Wisconsin.

To clarify a previous post, entrance is limited to those who have signed the petition in opposition to activist judges.

I will also hand over checks for a million dollars to 2 people to be spokesmen for the petition.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 28, 2025

Wisconsin’s Attorney General promptly filed suit to stop Elon’s payments, claiming that it was an attempt to buy votes.

Attorney General Josh Kaul (D-WI) filed a lawsuit on Friday against Elon Musk and his political action committee America PAC, claiming the billionaire tried to buy votes in Wisconsin’s Supreme Court election.

The lawsuit states a million dollar cash prize Musk announced he would be giving to two voters who attend a Sunday rally he is holding violates Wisconsin law.

“Wisconsin law forbids anyone from offering or promising to give anything of value to an elector in order to induce the elector to go to the polls, vote or refrain from voting, or vote for a particular person,” the lawsuit says.

In the latest round of action in this brouhaha, a Wisconsin judge has refused to stop the payments.

A Wisconsin judge on Saturday declined to stop billionaire Elon Musk from handing over $1 million checks to two voters in the state at a planned rally days before the closely contested Supreme Court election. The state attorney general, who argues that the offer violates the law, immediately appealed after the judge refused to hear the request for an emergency injunction to block the payments.

The ruling is the latest twist in Musk’s deep involvement in the race, which has set a record for spending in a judicial election and has become a litmus test for the opening months of Donald Trump’s presidency. Trump and Musk are backing Waukesha County Judge Brad Schimel in the race, while Democrats are behind Dane County Judge Susan Crawford.

Musk plans a rally Sunday where he intends to give a pair of Wisconsin voters $1 million each for signing an online petition against “activist” judges. He is also offering $100 to anyone who signs it; he previously gave $1 million to a Green Bay man who signed.

That’s where it stands at the moment. This is a key race with national implications; last week, my colleague Teri Christoph provided an excellent breakdown of why this race matters:

Teri writes:

The election pits conservative Waukesha County Circuit Judge Brad Schimel against liberal Dane County Circuit Judge Susan Crawford, and the stakes are high. The race will decide who replaces retiring Justice Ann Walsh Bradley, who is left-leaning. A Schimel win would be a pickup for Republicans and give the court a conservative majority.

Not only does this race set the tone for a key swing state, it could, in time, have a lasting impact on everything in Wisconsin from election integrity cases to eventual redistricting.

Elon Musk has certainly made it a priority, and he is, as we are all keenly aware, a man with a lot of irons in the fire.

The midterms aren’t that far off. The GOP and the right in general chalked up some great wins last November, but the left isn’t going to just sit back and whine. They will be fighting for every race, and we must necessarily do the same. November of 2024 was a key battle, but it was just a battle, not the war, and we have a long, long way yet to go. 

The Wisconsin election will happen on April 1st – this coming Tuesday. We’ll be watching and will bring you updates as events warrant.