Elon Musk speaks during a town hall on Sunday, March 30, 2025 in Green Bay, Wisconsin. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps)
Musk, the world's richest person and chief executive of Tesla and SpaceX, who has taken a buzz saw to the federal government workforce as he steers Trump's recently created Department of Government Efficiency, dished out roughly $20 million in the Wisconsin race through aligned groups in support of Schimel.
And Musk, in a controversial move, handed out $1 million checks at a rally in Green Bay on Sunday evening to two Wisconsin voters who had already cast ballots in the contest and had signed a petition to stop "activist judges."
Wisconsin's Democrat state attorney general sued to block the payments, but the state Supreme Court refused to weigh in.
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Calling the election a "super big deal," Musk said it was critical to the Trump agenda.
"I think this will be important for the future of civilization," he said. "It’s that significant."
Musk wasn't the only mega-donor on the right playing in the Wisconsin showdown.
Shipping magnates Richard and Elizabeth Uihlein, who are among the biggest conservative contributors in the nation, also provided millions in support of Schimel and the Wisconsin GOP.
"If you told me six months ago this was what was going to happen, I would not have believed it. But yeah … some parts of this are way beyond my control anymore," Schimel said in a Fox News Digital interview during a bus tour stop Monday just outside Green Bay.
Schimel, who launched his bid 16 months ago, added that "other people can treat this how they want. If they think they want to make it a referendum on the president or Elon Musk, so be it."
"This is a referendum on Wisconsin," he said. "Can we restore objectivity to the Wisconsin Supreme Court?"
Schimel also leaned in to the endorsement from Trump. A TV ad running in the closing stretch of the race spotlighted that voting for Schimel would protect Trump's agenda. The candidate also wore a "Make America Great Again" hat at some campaign stops during the final weekend ahead of the election.
President Donald Trump speaks to reporters before signing an executive order in the Oval Office on March 31, 2025. (Pool via AP)
Trump, who narrowly carried Wisconsin in both of his White House victories, said the state is important because its Supreme Court can settle disputes over election outcomes.
"Wisconsin’s a big state politically, and the Supreme Court has a lot to do with elections in Wisconsin," the president said Monday at the White House. "Winning Wisconsin’s a big deal, so, therefore, the Supreme Court choice … it’s a big race."
Schimel's camp and other conservatives repeatedly argued that a continuation of the liberal majority on Wisconsin's high court could lead to unfavorable congressional redistricting in the state, which could spell doom for two Republican lawmakers: Reps. Derrick Van Orden and Bryan Steil, chair of the House Administration Committee.
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Asked about the conservatives shining a spotlight on potential congressional redistricting, Crawford told reporters on Monday that "it's just not appropriate for me as a judge to express a view on that, especially on an issue that someday could come before the Wisconsin Supreme Court again. That's why I don't speak to the issue."
Wisconsin Supreme Court candidates Brad Schimel and Susan Crawford participate in a debate in Milwaukee on March 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
"I have gotten some generous contributions, and we’ve raised a lot of money in this race," she told Fox News. "But just to put that in perspective, in the last two months, Elon Musk has spent more than we have raised over the 10 months of this entire campaign, so his spending dwarfs that of any individual in any state supreme court ever and certainly one in Wisconsin."
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Crawford and Schimel were battling to succeed liberal-leaning justice Ann Walsh Bradley, who has served on Wisconsin's highest court for nearly three decades. Liberal-aligned justices held a 4-3 majority on the state Supreme Court heading into Tuesday's election.
The showdown drew some top surrogates to Wisconsin, including progressive champion Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and MAGA star Donald Trump Jr., the president's eldest son.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/liberal-wins-first-major-2025-statewide-battleground-election-race-turned-trump-musk-referendum