Why Elon Musk, GOP Are Trying to Buy the Wisconsin Supreme Court Election

[RandySF]

When Wisconsin voters head to the polls Tuesday for a special election to fill a vacant seat on the state’s Supreme Court, they’ll be casting a vote in what’s become the most expensive judicial race in U.S. history.

In recent weeks, billionaire right-wing donors like Elon Musk and Richard and Elizabeth Uihlein have poured in tens of millions of dollars to support Brad Schimel, the conservative candidate who was previously the state’s attorney general, and is currently a judge on the Waukesha County Circuit.

The sky-high political stakes explain the influx of cash, Wisconsin doesn’t have partisan elections — meaning the candidates running for a judicial seat don’t have an “R” or a “D” next to their name — but candidates nonetheless make their ideological alignments known. Currently, liberals hold a 4-3 majority on the court, but Justice Ann Walsh Bradley is retiring and, should Schimel win, it would flip the court to majority conservative.

These billionaires aren’t just supporting Schimel by funneling millions through various PACs and dark money groups; Musk has been extremely vocal in recent weeks about his support for Schimel, traveling to the Badger State this weekend to campaign for him. A Musk-backed PAC even launched a campaign to pay voters who sign a petition opposing “activist judges,” and recently announced on X a $1 million prize to a voter who signed the petition — a move that appeared to violate state campaign finance laws, prompting Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul to file a lawsuit against Musk and his America PAC.



https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/why-elon-musk-gop-are-trying-to-buy-the-wisconsin-supreme-court-election/

[no_hypocrisy]

1. I figure it's a test balloon to see if ALL elections can be purchased.

If it works in Wisconsin, then any congressional district, any governorship, any state legislator can be determined by campaign money flooding in. Citizens United sucks.