Wisconsin Democrats to counter Elon Musk's spending in Supreme Court race with seven-figure initiative
- The Democratic Party initiative is dubbed "The People v. Elon Musk" and includes digital aids and other outreadh.
- Groups funded by Musk have spent at least $5.2 million targeting Supreme Court candidate Susan Crawford.
- Crawford's campaign has benefited from money from out of state billionaires George Soros and JB Pritzker.
Democratic Party leaders announced Tuesday they are launching a seven-figure initiative to counter Elon Musk's spending in support of conservative Waukesha County candidate Brad Schimel in the current Supreme Court election.
Dubbed "The People v. Elon Musk," Democratic Party Chairman Ben Wikler said the party would air digital ads, conduct town halls across the state, do door-to-door canvassing and host media events in support of liberal Dane County Judge Susan Crawford.
She is running against Schimel in the April 1 for a seat on the Supreme Court. The winner will determine the ideological bent of the high court for at least the next year.
"Elon Musk, Donald Trump's bag man, is attacking the very foundations of this country, and Elon Musk has set his sights on Wisconsin to buy the state Supreme Court by buying Brad Schimel and bankrolling a massive campaign to give him a tie-breaking vote on the highest court in the state of Wisconsin," Wikler said on a Zoom call.
The first digital ad, scheduled to start running Tuesday, appears on the website peoplevmusk.com.
Jacob Fischer, a spokesman for Schimel, noted that Crawford is also backed by billionaires. Records show Crawford has received $1 million from liberal billionaire George Soros and $500,000 from Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker via transfers from the Democratic Party.
"The attempts by Susan Crawford and the Democrats to distract the people of Wisconsin from her extreme views and the radical billionaires funding her are a mockery of hypocrisy," Fischer said in a statement.
State campaign records show Musk's super PAC, called America PAC, has spent $3.2 million on voter outreach, digital ads and texting for Schimel between Feb. 17 and Tuesday. Building America's Future, a political nonprofit funded largely by Musk, has reported spending more than $2 million on ads attacking Crawford in the state's five media markets over the past two weeks.
Nationally, Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, has been leading the Department of Government Efficiency as part of Trump's controversial efforts to slash federal government spending.
Musk's groups aren't the only outside conservative groups backing Schimel. Fair Courts America, a group funded largely by GOP megadonor Richard Uihlein, and the Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, the state's largest business lobby, are also spending millions of dollars on TV spots supporting Schimel and attacking Crawford.
A Better Wisconsin Together, a liberal group, has run ads critical of Schimel.
Crawford's campaign has raised at least $7.7 million, including $3 million from the state Democratic Party. Schimel's campaign has brought in $5.1 million, which includes $1.67 million from the state GOP.
Both Crawford and Schimel have said they will not be influenced by the big spending by the out-of-state billionaires.
In his Tuesday press call, Wikler said internal polling found only 1% of likely Democratic voters gave a favorable rating to Musk — the wealthiest person in the world — while 94% gave an unfavorable rating.
But Wikler acknowledged that the conservatives might have an edge in spending so far.
"At this point, there is more funding on the right than there is for supporting Susan Crawford," Wikler said. "But that doesn't mean that the Crawford campaign will be out communicated because she's spending more efficiently and her message is more powerful and more effective."
Contact Daniel Bice at (414) 313-6684 or dbice@jrn.com. Follow him on X at @DanielBice or on Facebook at fb.me/daniel.bice.