Billionaire Elon Musk has handed out $1 million checks to voters in Wisconsin after the state’s Supreme Court refused to intervene.
Musk announced the award early last week, ahead of a tight election for Wisconsin’s Supreme Court on Tuesday. In the US, these justice positions are elected by election
Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul, a Democrat, had sued to block the distribution, arguing that Musk was violating a state law that prohibits giving gifts in exchange for votes.
The contest, which could shift control of the state Supreme Court to Republicans, has become a flashpoint — and the most expensive judicial election in American history.
At a rally on Sunday night (30/3), Musk said that “we just want judges to be judges,” before handing out two $1 million checks to voters who had signed a petition to stop “activist” judges.
Kaul had tried to argue that the donation was an illegal attempt to buy votes. Musk’s lawyers, in response, claimed that Kaul was “suppressing Musk’s political speech, and curtailing his First Amendment rights.”
Musk’s lawyers added that the payments were “intended to generate a grassroots movement in opposition to activist judges, not to advocate specifically for or against any candidate.”
After two lower courts sided with Musk, Kaul made a last-minute appeal to the state Supreme Court to block the payments. But the court unanimously declined to hear the case.
Musk and US President Donald Trump are backing a conservative candidate, Waukesha County Judge Brad Schimel, in hopes of flipping control of the liberal-leaning court.
Judge Schimel is running against Dane County Judge Susan Crawford, who has the support of liberal state Supreme Court justices.
Lawyers for the tech billionaire also argued that judges who have publicly endorsed Judge Crawford in the Supreme Court race should be barred from ruling on the matter, claiming it is a matter of bias.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court race is being seen by political analysts as a sort of referendum on Trump’s second term, just months after his inauguration.
It also precedes important cases coming before the court on abortion rights, redistricting and voting rules that could affect the 2026 midterm elections.
Musk himself has cast the election as a chance to prevent redistricting that could favor Democrats in Congress.
He donated $14 million to Judge Schimel’s campaign, in what is turning out to be the most expensive judicial race in the nation’s history, with $81 million in total spending.
Despite the support, Judge Schimel has appeared to distance himself from Musk in recent days, telling the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Friday that he had no plans to attend the rally where Elon Musk handed out the checks.
“I have no idea what he’s doing. I have no idea what this rally is about,” Judge Schimel told the newspaper.
This isn’t the first time Musk has announced a prize for voters. Last year, he also offered to raffle off $1 million a day in cash to voters in Wisconsin and six other battleground states in November’s presidential election if they signed a petition supporting First and Second Amendment rights.
A Pennsylvania judge later ruled that the distribution was legal, arguing that prosecutors had failed to prove it was an illegal lottery.
Musk has become one of President Donald Trump’s closest allies, having bankrolled his 2024 presidential campaign with hundreds of millions of dollars. He now heads the controversial Office of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which is tasked with cutting federal spending and has already led to mass layoffs of government workers.
The world’s richest man, who is the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, has also intervened in politics abroad, making a video appearance at a rally for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party ahead of the country’s parliamentary election. He has launched online attacks on British politicians including Prime Minister Keir Starmer and has been accused of inciting violent anti-immigration protests that rocked Britain last year.
Following these controversies, and after Musk’s controversial gesture with his arm raised after Trump’s inauguration on January 20 — which many interpreted as a fascist salute — images of Tesla cars and dealerships vandalized with graffiti against the world’s richest man have been circulating on social media.
There have been protests outside dozens of Tesla dealerships, not just in the US but also in Canada, the UK, Germany and Portugal.
Additionally, several Tesla owners have decided to get rid of their vehicles due to Musk’s growing political profile, according to testimonies published in the European and American press..
