Tech billionaire Elon Musk is about to go to Wisconsin in the present day, because the state’s high-stakes Supreme Court race offers a chance to flex his rising political affect.
Megadonors from each events are directing hundreds of thousands to the competition, which is set to decide ideological management of the battleground state’s excessive court docket.
The race comes on the heels of Musk’s key supporting role in President Donald Trump’s 2024 marketing campaign, and is viewed as a potential bellwether for a way voters are receiving Trump’s return to the White Home.
Musk’s go to: Musk will attend an occasion naming the winners of million-dollar giveaways orchestrated by his tremendous PAC to reward petition signees, reprising a controversial tactic he utilized in final 12 months’s election. He and teams he’s funded prior to now have poured hundreds of thousands into the race.
Musk’s dedication to the Wisconsin contest quantities to an indication of the monetary firepower he can carry to the 2026 midterms.
Advertisements form the race: Advertisements for the liberal candidate, Decide Susan Crawford, have sought to tie the conservative candidate, Decide Brad Schimel, to probably unpopular insurance policies linked to the Trump administration, together with the overturning of Roe v. Wade and Musk’s position in Trump’s sweeping federal authorities overhaul.
Schimel and his supporters, in the meantime, have leaned into tough-on-crime messaging and sharp criticism of a few of Crawford’s rulings.
In the meantime, a authorized battle: Wisconsin’s Democratic Lawyer Common Josh Kaul is suing Elon Musk’s tremendous PAC over the legality of his million-dollar giveaways beneath state election legislation.
In an attention-grabbing twist, Crawford was assigned the case in Dane County Circuit Courtroom, however has recused herself given the continued contest.
CNN’s Arlette Saenz contributed reporting to this put up.
