Not content with buying the presidency, billionaire Elon Musk has now set his sights on the Wisconsin state Supreme Court. A group tied to him is spending more than $1 million ahead of an April election to determine the fate of abortion rights, voting rights, and even what party controls the legislature in the state.
The group Building America’s Future, a PAC Musk has donated to, is spending $1.6 million on ads in the race to boost conservative nominee Brad Schimel, a former state attorney general who has groveled at Musk and President Donald Trump's feet.
"Very important to vote Republican for the Wisconsin Supreme Court to prevent voting fraud!" Musk wrote in a post on X, supporting Schimel’s candidacy.
Schimel faces off against Susan Crawford, a circuit court judge for Dane County, in the April 1 contest, which will determine whether liberals maintain the 4-3 majority they won in 2023. If Schimel wins, conservatives will retake the state’s highest court and help Republicans impart their right-wing agenda on the decidedly purple state.
Rich tool Elon Musk
Schimel’s victory would put the future of abortion rights in Wisconsin in doubt. He has supported a law passed in 1849 that says, “Any person, other than the mother, who intentionally destroys the life of an unborn child is guilty of a Class H felony.”
The law is currently blocked from enforcement after a lower state court ruled that it pertains only to feticide, not to consensual medical abortions. But if Schimel wins and the court flips back to conservative control, the state Supreme Court could hear an appeal of the case that allows the ban to go into effect.
The New York Times reported that as attorney general, Schimel sought to curtail abortion rights in the state. The Times added that Schimel said at an event last summer that he is fine with the 1849 ban, telling supporters, "[W]hat is flawed about that law?”
Crawford, meanwhile, supports abortion rights, telling The Bulwark that the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade was “deeply concerning to me when the government starts invading some of those fundamental decisions that men and women make every day about how to live their lives and what’s best for them and their families.”
If Schimel wins, Wisconsin's state legislative maps could also go back to their egregious GOP gerrymander.
In December 2023, the state Supreme Court overturned the maps, which gave Republicans large majorities in the state legislature despite that Wisconsin is a purple state. In fact, no Republican presidential candidate has won the state by even 1 full percentage point since 1984.
The current maps “could be reversed by a new conservative majority," Edith Jorge-Tuñón, president of the Republican State Leadership Committee, wrote in a memo obtained by The New York Times.
And voting rights could also be curtailed if Schimel wins since he would support banning absentee ballot drop boxes.
“I think that the majority got it wrong on that one,” Schimel told a PBS station in Wisconsin of a state Supreme Court decision from July that allowed for the use of absentee ballot drop boxes in the state.
Schimel’s issue positions aren’t the only odious thing about him.
He also supported the pro-Trump mob that violently broke into the U.S. Capitol on Jan, 6, 2021, saying that the hundreds of rioters who either were convicted or pleaded guilty to crimes related to their involvement in the insurrection were victims of “lawfare manipulation.” Schimel added that the only reason Jan. 6 defendants were convicted was because their trials were held in “overwhelmingly liberal” Washington, D.C.
Schimel, for his part, has welcomed Musk's support in the race.
Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate Susan Crawford takes questions at a news conference on Feb. 25, 2025, in Madison, Wisconsin.
“I’m welcoming anybody that can help me get the word out about this race, help me raise support," Schimel said of Musk's financial support in the race.
Crawford, meanwhile, has condemned Musk's meddling.
“Elon Musk is trying to buy a seat on our Supreme Court so Brad Schimel can rubber stamp his extreme agenda,” Crawford said recently, according to the Associated Press.
Protecting liberals’ hard-fought majority on the court is paramount to ensuring Wisconsin doesn’t backslide into a right-wing hellscape, one where a conservative court could reinstitute GOP minority rule in the legislature and roll back abortion rights.
“For a decade and a half, Wisconsin’s Supreme Court was a tool of GOP extremists. But years of relentless communication and organizing by Democrats and allies culminated in the victory of 2023—winning a pro-freedom majority and ending far-right control of the court,” Wisconsin Democratic Party Chair Ben Wikler wrote on Daily Kos in November, regarding the importance of this election.
“Wisconsin’s current Supreme Court majority ended the partisan gerrymander, restored voting rights, reined in abuses of power by Robin Vos’s state legislature, and is now considering a landmark case about access to abortion. All of that, and much more, is now on the line,” Wikler added.
The election is set for April 1.
Public polling has been scant in the race, though a survey conducted for a conservative group at the end of January found Schimel with 40% support among registered voters, while Crawford came in with 35%. Twenty-three percent were undecided.
The election in Wisconsin will have national implications. That’s why it is important we all pay attention and pitch in, and that’s why we need YOUR HELP. Sign up today to write postcards and turn out as many Democratic voters as possible for this very important election.
