Musk Distributes 1M USD Checks Ahead of Wisconsin Supreme Court Election

Billionaire Elon Musk has distributed $1 million checks to voters in Wisconsin after the state Supreme Court declined to intervene. Musk revealed the giveaway earlier this week, just ahead of Wisconsin’s highly contested Supreme Court election, scheduled for Tuesday.

Wisconsin Attorney General and Democrat Josh Kaul had filed a lawsuit to halt the giveaway, claiming that Musk was violating a state law prohibiting gifts in exchange for votes.

The election, which could shift control of the state’s Supreme Court to the Republicans, has become a flashpoint and the costliest judicial race in U.S. history.

At a rally on Sunday night, Musk stated, "We just want judges to be judges," before giving away two $1 million checks to voters who had signed a petition calling to stop "activist" judges.

Kaul had argued that the giveaway was an illegal attempt to buy votes. In response, Musk’s legal team contended that Kaul was "restraining Mr. Musk's political speech and infringing on his First Amendment rights."

Musk’s lawyers further clarified that the payments were "meant to foster a grassroots movement against activist judges, rather than to explicitly support or oppose any particular candidate."

After two lower courts ruled in Musk's favor, Kaul appealed to the state's Supreme Court for a last-minute intervention. However, the top court unanimously decided not to take up the case.

Musk and former President Donald Trump have backed conservative candidate Brad Schimel, a Waukesha County Judge, in an effort to shift the court's balance toward conservatives.

Schimel is running against Dane County Judge Susan Crawford, who has received endorsements from the state Supreme Court's liberal justices.

Musk's legal team also argued that judges who have publicly supported Judge Crawford in the Supreme Court race should be disqualified from ruling on the issue due to potential bias.

Wisconsin's Supreme Court race is being viewed by political observers as a referendum on Trump’s second term, just months after his inauguration.

The election also comes ahead of pivotal cases on abortion rights, congressional redistricting, and voting laws that could have a significant impact on the 2026 midterm elections.
Musk has framed the election as an opportunity to block redistricting that could favor Democrats in Congress.

He has contributed $14 million to Judge Schimel's campaign, making the race the most expensive judicial election in U.S. history, with a total spending of $81 million.

Despite Musk’s backing, Judge Schimel has distanced himself from the tech mogul in recent days, telling the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Friday that he had no plans to attend the rally.

"I have no idea what he's doing. I have no idea what this rally is," Judge Schimel told the newspaper.

This isn't the first time Musk has launched a giveaway for voters. Last year, he offered a $1 million daily cash prize to voters in Wisconsin and six other swing states who signed a petition supporting First and Second Amendment rights.

A judge in Pennsylvania later ruled that the giveaway was legal, determining that prosecutors had failed to prove it constituted an unlawful lottery.