Democrats Launch ‘The People v. Musk’

Elon Musk speaking at the 2025 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland. Photo by Gage Skidmore. (CC BY-SA 2.0)

The money is pouring into this state in the race for Wisconsin Supreme Court.

“We’re projecting to reach at least $75 million,” said Nick Ramos, executive director of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign in an interview with Wisconsin Public Radio, “which would be a $20 million leap since the last time we had a state Supreme Court race.”

That was just two years ago, when liberal Janet Protasiewicz defeated conservative Dan Kelly for a court seat and total spending was $51 million, with much of it coming from outside the state. That gave the court a 4-3 liberal majority and Republicans now hope to re-take the majority with a victory by conservative Brad Schimel over liberal Susan Crawford.

“The Republican millionaires and billionaires had their ass handed to them on a plate last time. So they got the memo,” said Brandon Scholz, former executive director of the Republican Party of Wisconsin. Republicans are hell-bent on making sure they’re not outspent this time around.

Back in May Schimel had made statements on talk radio making clear that his goal was to “nationalize” the race by exploiting connections he made working to restrict abortion rights during his years as Wisconsin Attorney General. But the rise of Elon Musk as a key funder of Donald Trump‘s reelection effort and the government czar of federal spending cuts has led to national funding that is beyond Schimel’s wildest dreams.

Ramos estimated that Musk’s PAC, Building America’s Future, had spent $3 million on the race, but that was six days ago. The state Democratic Party is now estimating it’s now up to $5 million. Odds are that will rise between now and the April 1 election.

As of February 27, the Badger project reported that more than 80 people had given $10,000 or more to the campaign of Schimel, and more than 70 had given that much to Crawford. But the really big players are giving directly to the parties because under the law you can make unlimited donations that way and then the party spends on behalf of the candidate. The state Democratic Party has gotten donations of $1 million from George Soros and $500,000 from Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and the state Republican Party has gotten $1.3 million from Richard and Elizabeth Uihlein.

But Republican donors are especially fans of spending their money through “independent” PACs that often collaborate with the campaigns in placing ads. And that’s how Musk is spending his money, and at a rate that is unprecedented. As of last week Monday, “Republicans had spent or reserved $13.9 million of television advertising time for the Wisconsin court race, compared with $10.7 million for Democrats,” the New York Times reported. It’s looking like the liberals could be outspent this time around.

But in hitching their wagons to Musk, the Republicans also provided an opening for the Democrats, as I predicted last week. “Schimel has handed his opponent a new attack line, that he is a $2.6-million puppet who is bought and paid for by Musk…we are seeing in real time how Musk is tearing apart the federal government, freezing spending that helps countless Americans and firing thousands of employees without cause. These are average Americans having their lives turned upside down.”

Today Ben Wikler, the Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chair, announced exactly such an attack, a new campaign effort called “the People v. Musk, which will be a seven-figure grassroots effort to turn Elon Musk’s attempt to buy the Wisconsin Supreme Court race into a political disaster for Brad Schimel. These efforts include a digital ad campaign, town halls across the state, and billboards coming to a highway near you,” a press release by the party noted.

“Schimel’s unholy marriage to Elon Musk is a threat to freedom, democracy, and the rule of law in Wisconsin, and the more voters hear about it, the more furious they become,” Wikler declared. The People v. Musk campaign “is going to turn the Musk-Schimel alliance into a massive political liability” he predicted.

The party has created a new website for this effort seeking volunteers and asking for people to tell their story: “Have you been negatively impacted by DOGE cuts or Backlog Brad? Share your story now.”

In launching this effort, Wikler is taking a big gamble. The election is only four weeks away, and the impact of the Musk-Trump changes, big as they are, will take time to be felt. April 1 could be too soon. “If the Democrats in this state want to pin their race for the Supreme Court on Elon Musk, go right ahead,” Republican Party chair Brian Schimming declared in a National Public Radio interview.

But Wikler really has no choice. Because the Republicans have already nationalized the race. One ad, for instance, talks about voters electing Trump so that he can deport “criminal immigrants” and that “liberals” are now out to stop this by electing Susan Crawford. Yes the ad seems like a reach, though the state high court might eventually have to rule on some case involving immigration. But it is a clear sign the Republican strategy is to re-run the November presidential election on any issues it can.

Wikler, I suspect, is also thinking about how to get more Democratic donations from outside the state and a campaign pitting “The People v. Elon Musk” jumps on the hottest topic in the nation right now.

In doing so he may be transforming the political landscape for his party nationally. Democrats have been predicting the fall election for governor in Virginia could be a measure of voters’ view of Trump’s far-reaching changes and a bellwether election for the party. But Wikler has just moved the calendar up by six months: the time is now, the place is Wisconsin and election is a high-stakes battle that could have national consequences.