MADISON, Wis. — On Friday, Wisconsin’s Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul initiated legal proceedings to obtain a court order that would prevent billionaire Elon Musk from handing out $1 million checks to voters over the weekend. This legal action comes just two days ahead of a crucial Supreme Court election in the state.
Kaul filed the lawsuit in Dane County Circuit Court with the intent of halting Musk’s plans to distribute the funds, which Musk announced would take place on Sunday in Wisconsin. Initially, he shared via his social media platform, X, that he planned to “personally deliver” $2 million to two voters who had already cast their ballots.
However, Musk later clarified that the funds would be directed to individuals acting as “spokespersons” for an online petition opposing “activist” judges. After initially stating that the event would be restricted to voters from the Supreme Court race, he revised the eligibility criteria to include only those who had signed the petition.
On that same day, Musk’s political action committee revealed that its first $1 million giveaway would go to Scott Ainsworth, a Green Bay resident with prior support for the Wisconsin GOP and the conservative candidate in the Supreme Court race, as well as for former President Donald Trump.
Roughly 12 hours after Musk’s initial announcement about the Sunday giveaway, he deleted the post from X, only to issue a clarification soon after.
His original statement indicated that he aimed to distribute $1 million checks to two voters during the event, occurring just two days before the critical election that could sway the ideological balance of the court in this battleground state.
“I will also personally hand over two checks for a million dollars each as a token of appreciation for your time spent voting,” Musk’s now-deleted post stated. “This is extremely important.”
Kaul urged the court to compel Musk to stop promoting the Sunday giveaway and to refrain from making any future payments to Wisconsin voters. He cited the evolving nature of the Sunday event in his argument that any payments to voters would violate state laws.
Despite the deletion of the original post, Kaul pointed out in his lawsuit that there have been no announcements regarding the cancellation of the payments.
Andrew Romeo, a spokesperson for Musk’s political action committee, opted not to comment on the pending lawsuit.
The upcoming Supreme Court race has seen spending exceed $81 million, shattering previous records for a U.S. judicial election and turning into a referendum on both Musk and the early days of Trump’s presidency.
Trump has endorsed Republican Brad Schimel and even hosted a telephone town hall with him on Thursday evening.
“This is a very important election,” Trump remarked during his brief phone call organized by Schimel’s campaign. “While it may seem local, it’s far from it. The entire nation is watching.”
Schimel, who currently serves as a judge in Waukesha County, is set to face Dane County Judge Susan Crawford in the election on Tuesday. Crawford has garnered support from a broad coalition of Democrats, including the liberal justices who currently hold a 4-3 majority on the Wisconsin Supreme Court, along with former President Barack Obama. The retirement of a liberal justice this year has intensified the stakes surrounding the court’s majority control.
Kaul’s lawsuit was initially assigned to Crawford but was swiftly reassigned to a different judge in Columbia County within minutes.
Musk’s PAC announced on Friday that it had awarded $1 million to Scott Ainsworth, a mechanical engineer from Green Bay, for signing its petition against “activist” judges. In a video shared on X, Ainsworth encouraged others to sign the petition and “vote early for Brad Schimel.”
“If everyone in the MAGA movement shows up and votes for Brad Schimel, we will prevail,” Ainsworth asserted in the video.
Ainsworth contributed $350 to Schimel’s campaign this year, according to campaign finance records. He has also made numerous Facebook posts since January promoting Schimel, featuring campaign event photos, endorsements from local organizations, and X posts from Trump urging Wisconsin residents to support Schimel.
Musk also offered $100 to any registered Wisconsin voter who either signed the petition or forwarded it to someone who did.
This raised concerns about the legality of the petition, as Wisconsin law prohibits offering anything of value to influence a voter’s decision to cast or abstain from voting.
Although Musk’s adjustments to his offer may mitigate the situation’s seriousness, they do not entirely resolve the legal issues, according to Bryna Godar, a staff attorney with the State Democracy Research Initiative at the University of Wisconsin Law School.
“The core question is whether these offers are made ‘to induce’ people to vote or attend the polls, and there are valid arguments on both sides,” she explained in an email.
Any legal challenge regarding Musk’s payments could ultimately find its way to the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
Schimel, a former attorney general, was asked about the petition on Thursday by WISN-TV.
“I actually thought about whether I should sign that petition. While I oppose activist judges, I felt it wasn’t appropriate,” Schimel noted.
Regarding the $1 million award, Schimel added, “I’m not aware of the selection criteria.”
Crawford’s campaign spokesperson, Derrick Honeyman, criticized Musk’s planned visit to Wisconsin as a “desperate last-minute distraction.”
“Wisconsinites don’t want a billionaire like Musk dictating their voting choices, and on Tuesday, they should reject Musk’s ally, Brad Schimel,” he stated.
Musk’s political action committee previously adopted a similar strategy ahead of last year’s presidential election, proposing to pay $1 million daily to voters in Wisconsin and six other battleground states who signed a petition supporting the First and Second Amendments.
A Pennsylvania judge determined that prosecutors did not sufficiently demonstrate that the initiative constituted an illegal lottery, thus allowing it to proceed through Election Day.
Musk and his affiliated groups have already invested over $20 million to back Schimel’s campaign, while billionaire George Soros has contributed $2 million to bolster Crawford’s efforts, along with Democratic Illinois Governor JB Pritzker donating $1.5 million.
This race is particularly critical as the Wisconsin Supreme Court is poised to make decisions on issues such as abortion rights, congressional redistricting, union influence, and voting regulations that could shape the 2026 midterms and the 2028 presidential election.
Associated Press writer Christine Fernando in Chicago contributed to this report.
