Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul said Friday he would seek a court order to block tech billionaire and White House adviser Elon Musk from awarding million-dollar prizes to people at a weekend event ahead of next week’s pivotal state Supreme Court race.
“The Wisconsin Department of Justice is committed to ensuring that elections in Wisconsin are safe, secure, free, and fair. We are aware of the offer recently posted by Elon Musk to award a million dollars to two people at an event in Wisconsin this weekend,” Kaul, a Democrat, said in a statement.
“Based on our understanding of applicable Wisconsin law, we intend to take legal action today to seek a court order to stop this from happening,” Kaul continued.
Musk, who has become a central figure in the race to decide partisan control of the state Supreme Court, has sunk millions of dollars on behalf of the conservative candidate in the race, Brad Schimel (who is also backed by President Donald Trump).
Musk announced on Friday morning that he would travel to Wisconsin for an event limited to those who had already voted in the election and that he would “personally hand over two checks for a million dollars each in appreciation for you taking the time to vote.”
But he deleted that post midday, replacing it with a similar message that removed any linkage between his actions and voting. He declared the $1 million winners would instead be “spokesmen” for his petition to oppose “activist judges,” and added the event would only be limited to those who signed his petition.
The decision by Musk to travel to the state on the weekend before the election — and further inject his millions into the race — is the latest redoubling of the billionaire’s efforts in Wisconsin.
State campaign finance filings show $3 million in donations from Musk to the Wisconsin Republican Party so far this year, and Musk’s super PAC, America PAC, is the top outside spender in the Supreme Court race. The group has spent more than $12 million so far, according to the latest data available through the state’s campaign finance portal Friday morning.
America PAC has also offered Wisconsin voters $100 to sign a conservative-leaning petition ahead of the election and has awarded one petition–signer $1 million, the latest large award as part of Musk’s efforts to encourage engagement with his political operations. And according to Musk’s latest message, he plans to give away more $1 million prizes.
But the deleted and replaced social media post is also a reminder of how the relative political newcomer’s past and present efforts have sparked controversy.
America PAC’s prizes drew legal scrutiny both from the Justice Department and the Philadelphia district attorney last year, and his new efforts have also drawn new questions. But the Justice Department never took public action against Musk, and the Philadelphia district attorney’s attempts to block Musk’s giveaway were unsuccessful.
And Friday’s rewritten message was notable given Musk’s initial wording linking the million-dollar prizes to voting. Paying someone to vote is against federal law, and could raise questions under Wisconsin law, too, election law expert Rick Hasan wrote on his blog.
Ben Wikler, the Wisconsin Democratic Party chair, blasted Musk in a statement to the press that included a screenshot of Wisconsin’s law against “election bribery,” which bars anyone from giving “anything of value” to “induce any elector to…vote or refrain from voting.”
“Musk’s illegal election bribery scheme to put Brad Schimel on the Supreme Court is a chainsaw attack on democracy and the rule of law in Wisconsin and our nation,” Wikler said.
Musk’s heavy public involvement in Wisconsin has made him a main character in the battle for partisan control of the state Supreme Court, and it aligns with Republican efforts to motivate the base before Tuesday’s off-year election.
Trump joined Schimel in a telephone town hall Thursday, Schimel’s campaign has launched ads emphasizing Trump’s endorsement and attacking the Democratic candidate on transgender issues, and an outside group backing Schimel is airing a new ad that criticizes an unrelated judicial decision blocking the Trump administration’s deportation flights to argue that the state needs conservative judges like Schimel in power.
Democrats have responded to Musk’s efforts by trying to make him a boogeyman. A majority of registered voters in Wisconsin view him unfavorably, according to a recent Marquette University Law School poll, similar to national findings from the latest NBC News poll.
Liberal candidate Susan Crawford launched an ad this month that accuses Musk of “trying to buy Schimel a seat on the Supreme Court because he knows Schimel always helps his big campaign donors.” Crawford and the state Democratic Party repeatedly mention Musk as a foil on the campaign trail.
