Elon Musk weighs in on Wisconsin’s high-profile April state Supreme Court election

Elon Musk, the world’s richest man and Tesla CEO, has waded into Wisconsin’s high-profile state Supreme Court race that will determine if the court stays under liberal control or flips back to a conservative majority.

“Very important to vote Republican for the Wisconsin Supreme Court to prevent voting fraud!” Musk posted Thursday morning on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter that Musk owns.

While races for Wisconsin Supreme Court are technically nonpartisan, partisan groups and donors have already heavily flooded cash into the campaigns of Dane County Judge Susan Crawford, the liberal candidate, and former Republican Attorney General Brad Schimel, the conservative in the race.

The race is expected to attract even more spending and national attention than Wisconsin’s 2023 race for Supreme Court, which flipped the court to a liberal majority for the first time in 15 years with the election of Justice Janet Protasiewicz. It became the most expensive judicial race in the country’s history.

Musk is a prolific political donor and contributed more than a quarter-billion dollars to campaign committees supporting President Donald Trump. He donated $2 million last year that helped elect Republican judges in Texas, where he resides, the New York Times reported. Musk could donate directly to candidates in Wisconsin’s Supreme Court race if he chose to.

Musk quote-tweeted a post from Scott Presler, a conservative activist, who cited the high court’s ruling last July that allowed clerks to reinstate absentee ballot drop boxes ahead of the August primaries and November presidential election.

Drop boxes have been the target of Republican scrutiny, including after Republican U.S. Senate candidate Eric Hovde lost his race in Wisconsin and falsely claimed they were only used during the COVID-19 pandemic.

But drop boxes for ballots were used in Wisconsin as far back as the 1980s, in both blue and red areas of the state, without controversy. Multiple recounts and reviews of the 2020 election found no evidence of fraud.

“Where are the donors? Where are the door knockers? Where are the influencers? Where is the support?” Presler said.

The state Supreme Court election is April 1. Only two candidates are running for the vacant seat, so there is no primary for the race on Feb. 18. The race is beginning to ramp up — candidates started airing their first television ads in the last week.

High-profile issues could soon go before the Supreme Court, including Act 10, which removed bargaining rights from the majority of Wisconsin public employees. A Dane County judge overturned the law late last year, but Republicans are expected to appeal to higher courts. The ruling is currently on hold.

More: What’s on the ballot for Wisconsin’s Feb. 18 primary and April 1 spring election?

Musk’s post about Wisconsin’s election came one day after Milwaukee meteorologist Sam Kuffel was fired by her local CBS station for criticizing Musk’s arm gesture at an inauguration event — which many have likened to a Nazi salute — on her personal Instagram account.

Reactions to her firing were swift throughout Wisconsin Wednesday, with some on social media criticizing the station’s decision and encouraging her to sue. Others supported her firing, saying news employees should not share their personal opinions.