Why Elon Musk cares so much about a Wisconsin Supreme Court seat

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The Washington Post

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🗓️ 31 March 2025

⏱️ 23 minutes

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Summary

Conservative judicial candidate Brad Schimel and Democratic-backed judge Susan Crawford are the ones on the ballot in Tuesday’s election. But it’s Elon Musk who’s drawing outsized attention in the race for an open seat on Wisconsin’s Supreme Court.

That’s because the billionaire and his super PAC are pumping money into a race that Republicans claim could decide the fate of the country. Democrats, meanwhile, are also spending millions, hoping that painting Musk as the ultimate villain of the race will inspire their base to turnout.

Host Colby Itkowitz speaks to Wisconsin-based reporter Patrick Marley about how the cash is being spent and the strategy behind it all.

Today’s show was produced by Laura Benshoff. It was edited by Reena Flores and mixed by Sean Carter. Thanks to Dan Eggen.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	On Tuesday, Wisconsin voters will go to the polls for one of the first major electoral
0:07.6	contests since the 2024 presidential election.
0:11.0	The race is for an open seat on the state's Supreme Court.
0:15.1	But the most talked about person in that race isn't one of the candidates.
0:19.4	The race is being seen by many as a proxy battle over the Trump administration and Elon Musk.
0:24.7	Elon Musk.
0:25.7	Both Wisconsin Supreme Court candidates have sparred over Elon Musk's role in the campaign.
0:31.3	That's right. The Trump advisor and Tesla CEO has been campaigning for the conservative judicial
0:36.2	candidate, Brad Schimel.
0:38.7	Musk's SuperPack is spending big on the race, and he used his social media platform X to urge voters to support his pick for the court.
0:46.9	Reach out to your friends and his family in Wisconsin.
0:49.4	Educate the mess of the importance of this race, which might not seem important, but it's actually
0:55.2	really important. And it could decide the fate of the country.
1:01.0	On the other side, Democrats are hoping that voters will be turned off by Musk's involvement.
1:06.0	Here's the candidate endorsed by Democrats, Susan Crawford. She's talking to a liberal social media
1:10.8	influencer.
1:11.9	He started running these attack ads against me back in February.
1:15.9	The first ad that he ran had a picture of a different Susan Crawford in it.
1:21.2	Somebody named Susan.
1:22.6	Not me.
1:24.0	He doesn't know anything about this state, but he wants to sell more.
1:27.2	This dynamic has helped make the contest the most expensive judicial race in history,
	...

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