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Musk promises to go to Wisconsin to personally deliver $2 million to voters in Supreme Court race

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MADISON, Wis. — MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Billionaire Elon Musk said he plans to hold a rally in Wisconsin to “personally hand over” $2 million to a pair of voters who have already cast their ballots in the state’s hotly contested Supreme Court race, despite a state law that prohibits giving anything of value in exchange for voting.

Trump
Elon Musk flashes his t-shirt that reads "DOGE" to the media as he walks on South Lawn of the White House, in Washington, Sunday, March 9, 2025.

Musk posted late Thursday night on his social media platform, X, that he plans to give $1 million each to two voters at the event on Sunday, just two days before the election that will determine ideological control of the court.

Attendance at Musk's talk will be limited only to those who have voted in the Supreme Court election, he said, without explaining how he would verify that.

“I will also personally hand over two checks for a million dollars each in appreciation for you taking the time to vote,” Musk posted. “This is super important.”

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Elon Musk, left, shakes hands with President Donald Trump at the finals for the NCAA wrestling championship, Saturday, March 22, 2025, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

He didn't say how the two people were chosen.

The Supreme Court race has shattered previous spending records for a U.S. judicial election and has become a referendum on Musk and the first months of President Donald Trump’s administration.

Trump, a Republican, endorsed Brad Schimel and hosted a telephone town hall with him on Thursday night.

Brad Schimel
In this Jan. 5, 2015 file photo, Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel addresses the audience during his inauguration ceremony at the Capitol in Madison, Wis. Schimel says he would support closing the state's troubled youth prison if corrections officials could find another way to handle serious juvenile offenders. Schimel's DOJ began investigating allegations of widespread abuse at the prison outside Irma in 2015. (AP Photo/Andy Manis, File)

“It’s a very important race,” Trump said in brief remarks by phone, in a call organized by Schimel’s campaign. “I know you feel it’s local, but it’s not. It’s really much more than local. The whole country is watching.”

Schimel, a Waukesha County judge, faces Dane County Judge Susan Crawford in Tuesday’s election. Crawford is backed by a wide range of Democrats, including the liberal justices who hold a 4-3 majority on the Wisconsin Supreme Court and former President Barack Obama. The retirement this year of a liberal justice puts majority control of the court in play.

Susan Crawford
This undated photo released by the Susan Crawford campaign shows Dane County Circuit Judge Susan Crawford, the Democratic-backed candidate for Wisconsin Supreme Court in the Dane County Courthouse in Madison, Wis. (Susan Crawford for Wisconsin via AP)

Musk earlier this week said he had awarded a voter in Green Bay $1 million for signing a petition his political action committee created targeting activist judges. Musk promised $100 to any registered Wisconsin voter who signed the petition or forwarded it to someone who did.

That raised questions about whether the petition violated Wisconsin law that makes it a felony to offer, give, lend or promise to lend or give anything of value to induce a voter to cast a ballot or not vote.

Schimel’s campaign spokesperson did not immediately return a message early Friday about whether Schimel would attend the event with Musk. Schimel, a former attorney general, also did not respond to a question about whether he thought the giveaway was legal.

Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul, a Democrat, didn't respond to messages Thursday or early Friday about Musk’s giveaways.

Crawford’s campaign spokesperson Derrick Honeyman, though, called Musk's visit to Wisconsin a “last-minute desperate distraction.”

“Wisconsinites don’t want a billionaire like Musk telling them who to vote for, and, on Tuesday, voters should reject Musk’s lackey Brad Schimel,” he said.

Musk’s political action committee used a nearly identical tactic before the White House election last year, offering to pay $1 million a day to voters in Wisconsin and six other battleground states who signed a petition supporting the First and Second Amendments.

Watch: Wisconsin Supreme Court Race sees record-breaking spending

Wisconsin Supreme Court Race sees record-breaking spending

During last year’s presidential race, Philadelphia’s district attorney sued in an attempt to stop the payments under Pennsylvania law. But a judge said prosecutors failed to show the effort was an illegal lottery and allowed it to continue through Election Day.

Musk and groups he funds have already spent more than $20 million in an effort to elect Schimel, while billionaire George Soros has given $2 million to bolster Crawford, and Democratic Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker has donated $1.5 million.

Musk got involved in the race just days after his electric car company, Tesla, filed a lawsuit against Wisconsin in an effort to open dealerships in the state.

US Musk Tesla
A Cybertruck at a Tesla dealership in Dublin, Calif., Wednesday, March 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

Crawford and her allies have accused Musk of trying to buy influence on the court given that Tesla's lawsuit could end up before the justices.

The race comes as the Wisconsin Supreme Court is also expected to rule on abortion rights, congressional redistricting, union power and voting rules that could affect the 2026 midterms and the 2028 presidential election.

Wisconsin is one of a handful of true battleground states, which only intensifies the focus on court races where rules for voting will be decided. Trump won Wisconsin in 2016 and 2024 by less than a percentage point, but he lost it in 2020 by a similar margin. Five of the past seven presidential elections in the state have been decided by less than a percentage point.

Trump
Former President Donald Trump speaks to reporters as he arrives at Manhattan criminal court in New York.

More than $81 million has been spent on the Supreme Court race so far, obliterating the record for a judicial race in the U.S. of $51 million set in Wisconsin just two years ago, according to Brennan Center tallies.

In response to Musk coming to Wisconsin to campaign for Schimel, Crawford campaign spokesman Derrick Honeyman released the following statement:

“Elon Musk has spent more than $20 million so far buying off corrupt Brad Schimel to try and secure a favorable ruling in his company’s lawsuit. This visit is just a last-minute desperate distraction as voters are turned off by Schimel wanting to ban abortion and his failure to test rape kits. Wisconsinites don’t want a billionaire like Musk telling them who to vote for, and on Tuesday, voters should reject Musk’s lackey Brad Schimel.”


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