Musk vows to give two million dollars to voters in Wisconsin Supreme Court race

Billionaire Elon Musk said he plans to hold a rally in Wisconsin to “personally hand over” two million dollars (£1.5 million) to two voters who have already cast their ballots in the state’s hotly contested Supreme Court race, despite a state law that prohibits giving anything of value in exchange for voting.

Mr Musk posted late on Thursday night on his social media platform X that he plans to give one million dollars each to two voters at the event on Sunday, just two days before the election that will determine ideological control of the court.

Attendance at Mr Musk’s talk will be limited only to those who have voted in the Supreme Court election, he said, without explaining how he would verify that.

He did not say how the two people were chosen.

“I will also personally hand over two cheques for a million dollars each in appreciation for you taking the time to vote,” Mr Musk posted. “This is super important.”

The Supreme Court race has shattered previous spending records for a US judicial election and has become a referendum on Mr Musk and the first months of President Donald Trump’s administration.

Mr Trump, a Republican, endorsed Brad Schimel and hosted a telephone town hall with him on Thursday night.

“It’s a very important race,” Mr Trump said in brief remarks by phone, in a call organised by Schimel’s campaign. “I know you feel it’s local, but it’s not. It’s really much more than local. The whole country is watching.”

Mr Schimel, a Waukesha County judge, faces Dane County judge Susan Crawford in Tuesday’s election. Ms Crawford is backed by a wide range of Democrats, including the liberal justices who hold a 4-3 majority on the Wisconsin Supreme Court and former president Barack Obama.

The retirement this year of a liberal justice puts majority control of the court in play.

Mr Musk earlier this week said he had awarded a voter in Green Bay one million dollars for signing a petition his political action committee created targeting activist judges.

Mr Musk promised 100 dollars to any registered Wisconsin voter who signed the petition or forwarded it to someone who did.

That raised questions about whether the petition violated Wisconsin law that makes it a felony to offer, give, lend or promise to lend or give anything of value to induce a voter to cast a ballot or not vote.

Mr Schimel’s campaign spokesperson did not immediately return a message early Friday about whether Mr Schimel would attend the event with Mr Musk.

Mr Schimel, a former attorney general, also did not respond to a question about whether he thought the giveaway was legal.

Wisconsin attorney general Josh Kaul, a Democrat, did not respond to messages Thursday or early Friday about Mr Musk’s giveaways.

Crawford’s campaign spokesperson Derrick Honeyman, though, called Mr Musk’s visit to Wisconsin a “last-minute desperate distraction”.

“Wisconsinites don’t want a billionaire like Musk telling them who to vote for, and, on Tuesday, voters should reject Musk’s lackey Brad Schimel,” he said.

Mr Musk’s political action committee used a nearly identical tactic before the White House election last year, offering to pay a million dollars a day to voters in Wisconsin and six other battleground states who signed a petition supporting the First and Second Amendments.

During last year’s presidential race, Philadelphia’s district attorney sued in an attempt to stop the payments under Pennsylvania law. But a judge said prosecutors failed to show the effort was an illegal lottery and allowed it to continue through to election day.

Mr Musk and groups he funds have already spent more than 20 million dollars (£15.4 million) in an effort to elect Mr Schimel, while billionaire George Soros has given two million dollars to bolster Ms Crawford, and Democratic Illinois governor JB Pritzker has donated 1.5 million dollars.

Mr Musk got involved in the race just days after his electric car company, Tesla, filed a lawsuit against Wisconsin in an effort to open dealerships in the state.

Ms Crawford and her allies have accused Mr Musk of trying to buy influence on the court given that Tesla’s lawsuit could end up before the justices.

The race comes as the Wisconsin Supreme Court is also expected to rule on abortion rights, congressional redistricting, union power and voting rules that could affect the 2026 midterms and the 2028 presidential election.

Wisconsin is one of a handful of true battleground states, which only intensifies the focus on court races where rules for voting will be decided.

Mr Trump won Wisconsin in 2016 and 2024 by less than a percentage point, but he lost it in 2020 by a similar margin. Five of the past seven presidential elections in the state have been decided by less than a percentage point.

More than 81 million dollars (£62 million) has been spent on the Supreme Court race so far, obliterating the record for a judicial race in the US of 51 million dollars (£39 million) set in Wisconsin just two years ago, according to Brennan Centre tallies.