GREEN BAY, Wisconsin — Billionaire Elon Musk, standing in front of a massive American flag, told supporters on Sunday that voting in Wisconsin‘s April 1 Supreme Court election would not only help protect President Donald Trump‘s agenda but “affect the entire destiny of humanity.”
“What’s happening on Tuesday is a vote for which party controls the U.S. House of Representatives,” Musk, who initially took the stage in a foam cheesehead hat, said. “That is why it is so significant. Whichever party controls the House to a significant degree controls the country, which then steers the course of Western civilization. I feel like this is one of those things that may not seem that it’s going to affect the entire destiny of humanity, but I think it will.”
Musk also handed out two $1 million checks to voters who signed his America PAC petition that opposes “activist judges,” declaring the winners his spokespeople. Musk told the audience at the KI Convention Center in downtown Green Bay that the reason for the checks was two-fold: To bring attention to the election and cause the press to “lose their minds.”
Musk, who signed his oversized hat before flinging it into the audience, continued to stress that the election is “obviously important in the state of Wisconsin, but I think it could be important for the country as well and maybe for the world.”
“In D.C., any federal judge can stop any action by the president of the United States, and this is insane,” he said. “This has got to stop at the federal level and at the state level.”
Musk’s super PAC and other groups he funds have spent more than $20 million to help elect Brad Schimel, the conservative candidate, in the race. Schimel, the state’s former attorney general, is running against Dane County Judge Susan Crawford, a liberal.
A win for Schimel would flip the court’s current 4-3 majority.
The race is technically nonpartisan but has become a de facto partisan contest, with millions of dollars flooding in from billionaire donors and outside special interest groups. Both candidate camps have blasted the other for trying to “buy” the election, though both have benefited. The last Wisconsin Supreme Court election, in 2023, brought in more than $50 million. This year’s election is expected to shatter that figure.
The justices will soon decide on hot-button topics including abortion and union rights, and could eventually hear a lawsuit involving Tesla, Musk’s electric vehicle company.
The April 1 election is Trump’s first test with swing-state voters following a polarizing few months in office. His administration has slashed thousands of federal jobs, shuttered hundreds of programs, and is in the midst of a scandal involving top Cabinet officials discussing a military strike on a messaging app.
Musk, the face of the Department of Government Efficiency, has been behind unilateral efforts to gut federal agencies and become the target of Democrats.
Despite this, the president deployed him to help deliver a win in the Badger State. If Musk is successful, it will cement him as a conservative kingmaker, and his efforts in Wisconsin could become the blueprint for the midterm elections. If he fails, it would give Republicans license to distance themselves from him and some of his more controversial actions.
Musk painted Schimel as the underdog in the race and encouraged audience members in Green Bay to bring their friends, families, and neighbors out to vote.
“We’ve got to pull a rabbit out of the hat — next level,” he said. “We actually have to have a steady stream of rabbits out of the hat, like it’s an arc of rabbits flying through the air, and then landing in a voting booth.”
Schimel, who was not at Sunday’s event, has expressed support for Trump and Musk on the campaign trail. He spoke at Musk’s get-out-the-vote call earlier this month and joined Donald Trump Jr. at a rally where the president’s eldest son also told supporters that a Schimel win would protect his father’s agenda.
Schimel has been touring the state alongside former Wisconsin Republican Gov. Scott Walker as well as Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI). Johnson and Duffy spoke at the America PAC town hall.
Outside the rally, a group of protesters set up camp, holding up posters that read: “For Sale,” “Deport the Nazi,” “Deport Elon,” and “I can’t be bought.” They frequently broke out into chants of “This is what democracy looks like.”
Susan Miner, a homemaker from Waukesha, braved the freezing rain with her daughter Lily, 12, and best friend Lynn to protest.
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Miner told the Washington Examiner it was “an important lesson in civics” for her daughter. “We are out here to show that Wisconsin can’t be bought,” she said. “Our voices matter.”
Just hours before Musk took the stage, Wisconsin’s high court unanimously rejected an effort by Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul to block Musk from handing out the money. Kaul argued that Musk promoting a cash giveaway violated a state law that prohibits someone from providing something of value in exchange for voting.
