Wisconsin attorney general sues Musk to block $1 million payment offers

Law Center - POSTED: 2025/03/29 17:46


Wisconsin’s Democratic attorney general asked a court on Friday to block billionaire Elon Musk from handing out $1 million checks to voters this weekend, just days before the state’s hotly contested Supreme Court race was to be decided.
Attorney General Josh Kaul filed the lawsuit in county circuit court to stop Musk from making the payments, which he said he would make Sunday in Wisconsin. Musk initially said in a post on his social media platform, X, that he planned to “personally hand over” $2 million to a pair of voters who have already cast their ballots in the race.
Musk later posted a clarification, saying the money will go to people who will be “spokesmen” for an online petition against “activist” judges. After first saying the event would only be open to people who had voted in the Supreme Court race, he said attendance would be limited to those who have signed the petition.
Also on Friday, Musk’s political action committee identified the recipient of its first $1 million giveaway — a Green Bay man who had donated to the Wisconsin GOP and the conservative candidate in the court race, and who has a history of posting support for President Donald Trump and his agenda.
Musk deleted the post about the Sunday giveaway from his social media platform, X, about 12 hours after he initially posted it late Thursday night. He issued the clarification about an hour later.
He had posted that he planned to give $1 million each to two voters at the event on Sunday in Green Bay, just two days before the election that will determine ideological control of the court in the battleground state.
“I will also personally hand over two checks for a million dollars each in appreciation for you taking the time to vote,” Musk’s now deleted post said. “This is super important.”
Kaul asked the court to order that Musk stop promoting the Sunday giveaway and not make any future payments to Wisconsin voters. Kaul referenced the changing plans for the Sunday event in arguing that any payment to voters was a violation of state law.
Even though the original post was deleted, there has been no announcement that the payments will not be made, Kaul argued in the lawsuit.
After a campaign stop in Beaver Dam, in south central Wisconsin, Schimel declined to say whether or not he thought Musk’s proposal was illegal, or whether Kaul’s move was appropriate.
“I don’t know. I’m not his lawyer,” Schimel said of Musk after the event in a strip mall parking lot.
As for Kaul’s lawsuit, he said: “I don’t care what he does. That’s his business. I’m running for Wisconsin Supreme Court. I don’t get involved in those legal battles. And I don’t give legal advice.”
Andrew Romeo, a spokesperson for Musk’s PAC that planned to host the event, declined to comment on the lawsuit.
The Supreme Court race, with spending above $81 million, has shattered previous records for a U.S. judicial election, and has become a referendum on Musk and the first months of Trump’s administration.
Trump endorsed Brad Schimel, a fellow Republican, and hosted a telephone town hall with him on Thursday night.
“It’s a very important race,” Trump said in brief remarks by phone, in a call organized 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.”
Schimel, a Waukesha County judge, faces Dane County Judge Susan Crawford in Tuesday’s election. 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.
Kaul’s lawsuit was initially randomly assigned to Crawford but reassigned to another judge in neighboring Columbia County within minutes.