In Wisconsin court race, megadonor Musk's role helps fuel Democratic turnout

By Alexandra Ulmer

(Reuters) -Elon Musk poured millions of dollars into a Wisconsin Supreme Court race and even donned a local cheese-shaped hat at a political rally, only to have his candidate soundly defeated in a race viewed as an early referendum on Donald Trump's presidency.

Musk's high-profile involvement has raised questions over whether the Trump ally has become more of a political liability than an asset, providing a demoralized Democratic party a much-needed boost and a boogeyman to run against.

The tech billionaire's blunt approach to cutting tens of thousands of government workers has made him deeply unpopular among many Americans and Democrats sought to paint his efforts in Wisconsin as a brazen effort to buy a local court seat.

"As a little girl growing up in Chippewa Falls, I never could have imagined that I'd be taking on the richest man in the world for justice and Wisconsin. And we won!" liberal Susan Crawford told supporters on Tuesday after defeating conservative Brad Schimel to preserve the state Supreme Court's 4-3 liberal majority.

It remains to be seen how much Democrats will be able to replicate the strategy of turning Musk into a lightning rod in future elections, including the 2026 midterm local and congressional elections.

Musk, who poured over $250 million into helping Trump win the presidential election in November 2024, remains committed to helping defend Republican majorities in Congress in the November 2026 midterms, according to a source familiar with his thinking.

That could put Republican congress members in a quandary: keen on Musk's financial help, but skittish about being too closely associated with the man overseeing cuts to the federal workforce and halting thousands of government programs and contracts.

The White House on Wednesday said Musk will stay on to complete his mission to slash government spending and downsize the federal workforce, dismissing media reports that he will leave the role soon.

Musk, who is remaking the federal government through his Department of Government Efficiency, did not respond to an emailed request for comment about his role in Wisconsin or the upcoming midterm elections.

Musk and political groups tied to him spent more than $21 million to knock on voters' doors and bankroll advertisements supporting Schimel, the former Republican state attorney general who lost in Tuesday's election.

Warning that the election could affect the future of "Western civilization," the world's richest person traveled to Wisconsin to hold a rally on Sunday night, handed out $1 million checks to two voters, and donned the state's signature cheese-shaped hat.

"I'm not phoning it in," Musk told the crowd.

That, though, was precisely the problem, according to interviews with political experts who said the Tesla CEO became a political burden for Republicans because he juiced liberal turnout without turning out a commensurate number of conservative voters.

"Musk helped fuel the anti-Trump vote by his presence," said Brandon Scholz, a former executive director of the Wisconsin Republican Party.

"Maybe this is the canary in the cave," Scholz added, though he cautioned against assuming the same scenario will play out in other elections unless Musk made prominent appearances like in Wisconsin.

BILLIONAIRE BACKLASH

As Musk's involvement in Wisconsin grew, liberals pivoted to a message that Musk, whose net worth Forbes estimates at around $384 billion, was using his wealth to meddle in Wisconsin.

"Elon Musk is trying to buy a Wisconsin Supreme Court seat for Brad Schimel," a Democratic National Committee ad read. "WISCONSIN IS NOT FOR SALE."

The source with knowledge of Musk's thinking said Musk's involvement in Wisconsin made the race competitive and put liberals on the defense.

Charles Franklin, a pollster at Marquette Law School, said Musk may have helped turn out some Republican voters, but that in the end more Democrats came out to vote in Tuesday's election than they did in a 2023 state supreme court race.

"I think it's a strong argument that the net impact of Musk was a bit negative," said Franklin. "And he provided a foil for Democrats to use in campaign messaging."

About 39% of Americans view Musk favorably, compared with 57% who view him unfavorably, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted March 31-April 2.

Musk is already facing a backlash against his Tesla electric car company, which on Wednesday announced its first-quarter sales slumped 13%, the weakest performance in nearly three years.

In posts he wrote or shared on his social media platform X following the Wisconsin results, Musk highlighted that Crawford's campaign had received donations from philanthropist George Soros. He also doubled down on his claims that Democrats are politicizing the judiciary, an accusation Democrats dismiss as false.

"The long con of the left is corruption of the judiciary," Musk posted in the early hours of Wednesday.

Many of his other posts, however, were about AI, robots, and outer space.

(Reporting by Alexandra Ulmer; Additional reporting by Dan Trotta and Jason Lange; Editing by Paul Thomasch and Deepa Babington)