Musk trying to buy Wisconsin judicial election to strangle its restoration of democratic elections

Some of the money Elon is saving by ignoring his children like a good post-Dobbs Republican is going to try to re-establish legislative oligarchy — not to mention ending reproductive freedom — in Wisconsin:

Not content with spending more than a quarter of a billion dollars to elect Donald Trump and Republican candidates in 2024 and then taking a wrecking ball to the federal government, Elon Musk is now trying to flip the balance of power on the top court in one of the country’s most important swing states.

Building America’s Future, a dark money group backed by Musk, is spending at least $1.6 million in support of Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate Brad Schimel, a conservative judge in suburban Milwaukee running for an open seat in an April election that will decide whether progressives or conservatives control the court. The group began running ads across the state Thursday.

“Elon Musk is buying off Brad Schimel,” his opponent, Dane County Judge Susan Crawford, responded. She is backed by Democrats and progressive groups.

To a remarkable degree for a state Supreme Court justice hopeful, Schimel is running as a MAGA-aligned candidate who wants to export Trump’s radical agenda to Wisconsin. He attended Trump’s inauguration, welcomed the president’s (hypothetical) endorsement, and pledged that “we’re going to nationalize” the race.

Clearly, the stakes are high. Conservatives controlled the court for 15 years, helping to entrench an extreme right-wing agenda, but progressives won a majority with Janet Protasiewicz’s victory in April 2023. The progressive majority subsequently struck down heavily gerrymandered electoral maps that had ensured lopsided GOP legislative majorities for more than a decade. That allowed Democrats to pick up 14 seats in the state legislature in 2024, giving them a chance to retake both chambers in 2026.

The fates of Wisconsin’s 1849 abortion ban—a measure that criminalized abortion as manslaughter unless it was to save the life of a mother—which Schimel supports, and a 2011 law championed by former Republican Gov. Scott Walker that eliminated collective bargaining rights for public-sector unions are pending before the court. The justices could also decide the constitutionality of Wisconsin’s congressional map. Republicans have a 6–2 advantage despite the closely divided nature of the state, and the decision could help determine the balance of power in the US House of Representatives.  

Apartheid Boy really, really hates democracy like so many tech executives, so you can see why he wants this one. Susan Crawford’s campaign page is here.