Dear John,
Elon Musk spent more than $25 million trying to buy a Wisconsin Supreme Court seat for the far-right, and he lost.
In the most expensive judicial election in American history, voters made one thing clear: even the richest man on Earth can’t drown out the will of the people. Liberal Judge Susan Crawford won this high-stakes race by a decisive 10-point margin, securing over 1.3 million votes and maintaining the court’s 4–3 liberal majority. Her victory was a resounding rejection of Musk’s money, Trump’s shadow, and the Republican Party’s attempts to hijack state courts.
This wasn’t just a local race. It was a national power grab.
Let’s be clear: judicial elections are usually low-profile and low-turnout — exactly the kind of contest a billionaire can quietly hijack with dark money and unchecked influence. And Elon Musk tried. He dumped millions into two PACs that flooded the airwaves and internet with ads for conservative candidate Brad Schimel. He personally gave $3 million to the Wisconsin Republican Party. He even headlined a last-minute rally in Green Bay, where attendees had to prove they’d voted early to get in.
At one point, Musk offered a $1 million “reward” to anyone who could help attack “activist judges” in Wisconsin — an unhinged publicity stunt that verged on voter manipulation. His PACs also ran deceptive Facebook ads pretending to be progressive voices urging liberals not to vote. The strategy? Flood the zone with cash, confuse the public, and push a far-right candidate onto the bench while no one was watching.
It didn’t work.
Instead, Wisconsin voters turned out in record numbers for a spring election, over 2.3 million people voted, rivaling midterm turnout levels. That surge was powered by outrage. Musk, Trump, and their billionaire cronies gave Democrats a perfect villain: a Silicon Valley plutocrat trying to buy the court and lock in extremist policies.
And the stakes couldn’t have been higher.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court will likely decide the fate of:
1.) Abortion access in the state, with a challenge to Wisconsin’s 1849 ban headed its way.
2.) Gerrymandered legislative maps that have let Republicans control the legislature despite losing the popular vote.
3.) Voting rights and election integrity, especially critical as Trump lays the groundwork for another chaotic election cycle.
With Brad Schimel on the court, Musk and Trump would have had a loyal vote on every one of those issues. Instead, they lost — and badly.
This is a warning shot for the Republican Party. Their overreliance on billionaires like Musk is backfiring. Voters aren’t inspired by out-of-touch tech moguls in designer boots jetting in to “save” them from judges who believe in bodily autonomy and fair maps. They’re insulted by it.
The GOP’s problem isn’t just that their ideas are unpopular. It’s that they’ve come to believe money alone can win elections. And to be fair, it often can, especially in smaller races like this one, where a single megadonor can drown out grassroots voices. But Wisconsin just proved that when people are paying attention, even billions can’t beat basic decency.
In Solidarity,
The No Dem Left Behind Team
