Musk-Backed Candidate Loses Crucial Wisconsin Supreme Court Race as Liberals Maintain Control 

AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana

Elon Musk’s millions have gone for naught in a pivotal race in Wisconsin.

Multiple news outlets projected Judge Susan Crawford will defeat Judge Brad Schimel in a hotly contested race for a seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court on Tuesday night. The result means that liberals will maintain control of the court by a 4-3 margin. Crawford will replace liberal Justice Ann Walsh Bradley, who decided not to run for reelection.

As of this writing, Crawford led Schimel by 12 percentage points with an estimated 58% of the vote in.

Musk, the world’s richest man and adviser to President Donald Trump, spent at least $19.3 million to get Schimel elected. At a rally on Sunday, he even gave away $1 million checks in a legally questionable get-out-the-vote effort, which the Wisconsin Supreme Court declined to stop.

“What’s happening on Tuesday is a vote for which party controls the U.S. House of Representatives — that is why it is so significant,” Musk said at the rally, alluding to congressional redistricting. “And 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.”

Wisconsin was arguably the most gerrymandered state in the country until recently. In the early 2010s, the Republican-controlled legislature drew extremely favorable maps for themselves. In 2023, the state Supreme Court voided Wisconsin’s legislative maps because they violated the state constitution.

In Florida on Tuesday, Republicans won two special elections for congressional seats previously held by Republicans, who resigned them after being nominated by Trump to his administration.