I’ve been watching this race for the Wisconsin supreme court. It was a contest between a liberal (that is, sane) judge, Susan Crawford, and a conservative (that is, insane) judge backed by a Koch brother, Donald Trump, and Elon Musk, and it was pretty much a demonstration of the power of rich people to buy elections. Elon Musk was actively campaigning for Brad Schimel, the right-wing wackaloon, throwing tens of millions of dollars at him and appearing at rallies, where he was awkwardly jumping to make a schlubby “X” shape, doing his usual inarticulate, stammering speechifying, and handing out million dollar checks.
It’s not just how much Musk and his groups have spent—more than any donor to a judicial election in US history—but how he has spent this money that makes Musk’s intervention in Wisconsin so alarming.
In addition to funding two dark money political groups that ran TV ads against liberal Judge Susan Crawford and sought to get out the vote for conservative candidate Brad Schimel, Musk resurrected a controversial scheme from 2024, paying voters $100 for signing a petition from his America PAC opposing “activist judges.” He then awarded Scott Ainsworth, a mechanical engineer from Green Bay, $1 million for signing the petition.
On the Friday before the election, he dramatically escalated this sketchy tactic, saying he would travel to Wisconsin to “personally hand over two checks for a million dollars each in appreciation for you taking the time to vote.” Unlike paying a Wisconsin resident to sign a petition, these million-dollar checks were contingent on someone actually voting. Legal experts quickly pointed out that Musk’s pledge violated the state constitution, which prohibits offering “anything of value…in order to induce any elector to…vote or refrain from voting.”
Musk backtracked, saying the money would only go to people who signed his PAC’s petition, holding a rally in Green Bay on Sunday where he hand-delivered two $1 million checks. The Wisconsin attorney general sued to stop him, but the Wisconsin Supreme Court declined to intervene before the event.
This was criminal activity, but he’s a billionaire, so no one stopped him. He was openly and brazenly trying to buy an election, and nothing was done. This was particularly ironic, given that…
Republicans have been alleging for years that Democrats have been buying elections, usually with the help of liberal billionaires like George Soros. Indeed, election deniers, including Musk, widely promoted a conspiracy theory that the 2020 election was “bought by Mark Zuckerberg” because an organization he funded directed election grants to blue areas to juice Democratic turnout. (In reality, it gave grants to both red and blue areas for routine election administration activities to help offset the Covid-19 pandemic.)
If this happened in any other country, the US would be quick to declare that the elections were corrupt…that is, if a pro-USA candidate didn’t win. Schimel also ran a dirty campaign, altering images of Crawford. It was an all-around disgrace to democracy.
But, good news: Crawford won!
Democratic-backed candidate Susan Crawford will win Wisconsin’s Supreme Court race, CNN projects, maintaining the liberal majority on the court in a key battleground state less than three months into President Donald Trump’s second term.
Crawford, a liberal circuit court judge in Dane County, will beat the conservative candidate Brad Schimel, a Waukesha County judge who received Trump’s backing in the final stretch of the campaign. The race was officially nonpartisan, but Crawford’s victory will be seen as a bright spot for Democrats in Wisconsin and nationwide as voters handed the president’s preferred candidate a defeat in the first major political test of the second Trump era.
I’m wondering if one contributing factor to her victory was that the few remaining principled conservatives, if such a thing exists, must have been appalled at the spectacle. Patriotic Wisconsinites must have been embarrassed at the sight of this South African carpetbagger putting on a show. He looks so small and stupid.
Although, I must admit, I was hoping that my daughter or son-in-law, both Wisconsin citizens, might have been handed a million dollar check. Unfortunately, that big money give-away was rigged (of course it was!) and only MAGAs could win.
Can someone explain to me why the man has what appears to be a cheese hat on his head?
Principled conservative! Ha! Good one, PZ!
Cartomancer, I believe Wisconsin is a major producer of Cheese.
Didn’t they post an image of the wrong Susan Crawford?
cartomancer @1
It’s a Wisconsin thing dontcha know? Something about dairy and the blessed cheese makers. They own it…that and a deep reverence for Lombardi (pbuh).
Wisconsin is a dairy state that makes lots of cheese — when I cross the border, there are all these billboards for buying Wisconsin cheese at little shops all over the place. They’re very proud of their cheese, and you can buy all these styrofoam cheese hats everywhere.
I had one once, but I gave it away to an Italian foreign exchange student who was staying with us, and who was astounded/fascinated by the American sense of fashion.
Once again, every accusation is a confession.
“I thought maybe Elon coming could turn these people to go out and vote,” Bishop said. Instead, he added, “I think [Musk] helped get out voters in that he may have turned out more voters against [Schimel].”
I see. How very American.
I mean, I live just down the road from Cheddar, which is also famed for its cheese. And, yes, there is a cheese museum and you can buy all kinds of Cheddar cheese in shops and go and see the caves they originally cured the things in… but a large styrofoam hat in the shape of cheese? Is that what passes for culture in those parts?
@Dunc #7:
Quoted for truth!
Musk’s judgement about anything and everything is always just bad and wrong.
He is already being sued by his fourth breeder woman who just had his 14th child.
The issues seem to be around child support payments and legal custody.
Neither one of these two people seem to be worth any sympathy. The woman knew what Musk was by now. “You did what with who!” At least one other of his breeders has also ended up suing him in court.
I’ve never heard of anyone who has dealt with Musk who hasn’t ended up quickly and seriously regretting it.
A lot of people lost a lot of money on the Twitter buyout.
@9: “Is that what passes for culture in those parts?”
American culture is not known for it’s subtly. Nor is Canadian culture, for that matter.
If I can’t get a cheese hat in Cheddar, England, what even is the point of visiting Cheddar?
Resident Wisconsinite here! Not only did Crawford win, but we also got a superintendent of public schools who isn’t an anti-education creep who’ll hand everything over to profiteers or, worse, the churches.
A referendum requiring ID to vote did pass, and Elon and Trump are claiming that is all they really wanted. (Even though Elon tweeted that a Crawford victory would somehow spell the end of Western Civilization.) The thing is, that was already the law here. The only thing this does is make the law harder to get rid of.
@8. Nobody likes Musk, it’s concerning that only now do some Republicans seem to acknowledge this. Also “everyone likes Trump” still sounds like they have their blinders on. Winning an election with lower turnout, disillusionment from some leftists that didn’t even bother to vote (third party if they did) and winning by basically a plurality rather than an outright majority isn’t great. Also having a middling approval rating in what’s supposed to be the honeymoon phase of a president should be noted. The GOP truly do live in a reality far removed from the world at this point.
@14. Must be hard to be a Wisconsinite. Voters in that state clearly have the occasional decency to vote for progressive policies and candidates yet seem to just as often vote for vile far-right lunacy. It must maddening to know voters in your state with a flip of the coin can choose sanity or chaos so nonchalantly. Perhaps Wisconsin is kinda like a microcosm of what’s wrong with America.
cartomancer @9
It’s largely centered around Wisconsin sports, especially the Packers football team:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheesehead
I mean nobody ever thought British soccer fans get carried away in their fandom, right?
Crossposted with the Infinite Thread / The view from Britain
A Different Bias:
“Musk’s Corruption Backfires Spectacularly”
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=bZdNhEh3Z6I
PZ, there’s https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheddar_Gorge
(One could also gorge on cheddar)
Charlamagne at The Daily Show
“Cory Booker’s Marathon Filibuster Is the Energy Charlamagne Wants to See From Democrats”
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=M7hzTkZxN7Y
Not to mention, I imagine, by the American concept of what counts as “cheese”…
@#19:
Fun fact: the Glittering Caves of Aglarond in The Lord of the Rings were inspired by Tolkien’s visit to Cheddar Gorge.
Hemidactylus @17:
Don’t even have to watch the video to know what it’s about. Those who got “carried away” were the tabloid media (selling papers) and the minority of fans who make the most noise (the idiots). Most of us just thought “Silly boy. He’ll grow up”. Hard to feel sorry for a multimillionaire, but I came close with all the bullshit he had to endure.
Not too different from England’s defeat in the 2020 Euro final penalty shoot-out. That was even worse, because the players who missed their penalties were black. The abuse they got was unforgivable, but it was from a small minority, a lot of it coming from outside England.
I helped Crawford and Underly win. A little bit. I put in a total of about 12 hours, working various phonebanks day after day calling Wisconsonites. I hope you-all check out Indivisible, Working Families Party, and MoveOn for future opportunities. There won’t be a shortage.