Elon Musk Tried to Buy Wisconsin’s Supreme Court and Faceplanted

Wisconsin voters rejected Musk’s cash-fueled court grab, keeping the liberal majority and striking a blow against MAGA interference.

Elon Musk just learned the hard way that you can’t always buy democracy—even with $19.3 million and a checkbook full of illegal bribes.

On Tuesday night, Wisconsin voters handed a decisive win to liberal Judge Susan Crawford, who defeated MAGA conservative Judge Brad Schimel for a critical seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court. The win means liberals maintain their 4–3 majority, holding onto control of a court that’s become a major player in the state’s political battles.

This election was not a squeaker, it was a total wipeout! And it came despite a last-minute push by Musk, who’s not just the world’s richest man but also, apparently, a part-time campaign financier and full-time hype man for the Trump administration.

Let’s rewind.

On Sunday, Musk showed up in Wisconsin with what can only be described as a Silicon Valley fever dream of a campaign stunt: giving away $1 million checks in what he called a get-out-the-vote effort. Whether or not it was legal is still an open question—the Wisconsin Supreme Court declined to block it in time—but the ethics of the whole thing are, let’s say, less than inspiring.

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At the rally, Musk claimed this wasn’t just about a court seat—it was about the fate of the nation, and apparently, the galaxy.

Wisconsin has been ground zero for gerrymandering for over a decade. In the early 2010s, the Republican-controlled legislature carved out district maps so rigged they made a Dalí painting look symmetrical. It wasn’t subtle, it was a power grab with a highlighter. But in 2023, the state Supreme Court tossed those maps, ruling they violated the state constitution. That ruling only happened because liberals had the majority—the very majority Musk just spent $19 million trying, and failing, to overturn.

Which brings us back to Tuesday night, where Musk was out here handing voters $50 like democracy was on the dollar menu.

If Musk thought a cash giveaway and an apocalypse-themed stump speech could swing the vote, Wisconsin voters just said: “Hard pass.”

More importantly, the liberal majority on the state Supreme Court now has a mandate to continue undoing years of GOP power grabs from gerrymandered maps to voter suppression laws. And the Musk-Schimel meltdown just made that majority even stronger.

In the end, Elon Musk spent $19 million trying to steer the course of Western civilization and got steamrolled by a giant block of Wisconsin cheddar.