Pennsylvania challenge of Elon Musk's $1M-a-day voter sweepstakes moves to federal court

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A Pennsylvania prosecutor's effort to shut down Elon Musk's $1 million-a-day voter sweepstakes moved to federal court on Thursday after a state judge let both sides debate their grievances in a hearing skipped by the world's richest man.

Judge Angelo Foglietta agreed that Musk, as a named defendant in the lawsuit filed by Democratic District Attorney Larry Krasner, should have attended the hearing in person, but he declined to immediately sanction the tech mogul.

Musk’s lawyer, Matthew Haverstick, said he's a busy man who could not simply “materialize” in the courtroom hours after the hearing was scheduled. Krasner's team challenged the notion that the founder of SpaceX could not make it Philadelphia, prompting a quick retort from the judge.

“Counsel, he’s not going to get in a rocket ship and land on the building,” Foglietta replied.

The huge giveaways to registered voters come from Musk’s political organization, which aims to boost Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.

After his lawyers argued that claims of federal election interference are involved, Foglietta put the state case on hold pending a decision in federal court, where the case was assigned to U.S. District Judge Gerald J. Pappert, a Republican former Pennsylvania attorney general appointed to the federal bench by President Barack Obama. No hearings there were immediately scheduled.

However, late Thursday, Krasner filed a petition to move the case back to state court in Democrat-led Philadelphia. That's where he had filed the his lawsuit Monday, which accused Musk and his PAC of running a dubious lottery in the tense run-up to Tuesday’s election.

Krasner's lawyers noted that four of the first dozen winners appeared to be from Pennsylvania, perhaps the key prize in the tight presidential race between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris.

“Is it just a coincidence that this is the state that has the largest electoral votes? I don’t think so,” lawyer John Summers argued at the hearing Thursday morning.

Posts by Musk’s America PAC on X, the social media platform he purchased, indicate he’s given away 13 checks of $1 million since the first one in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, on Oct. 19. Other winners came from the battleground states of Wisconsin, Nevada, Arizona, Georgia, North Carolina and Michigan.

Krasner’s lawyers noted that Musk and the America PAC had “brazenly” continued the lottery every day this week, including Thursday morning, despite Krasner’s legal bid to shut it down. The sweepstakes is set to run through Election Day, open to people in too-close-to-call states who can show that they're registered to vote and sign a petition supporting the Constitution.

“They’re doing things in the dark,” Summers told the judge. “We don’t know the rules being followed. We don’t know how they’re supposedly picking people at random … It’s an outrage.”

Election law experts have raised questions about whether it violates federal law barring someone from paying others to vote. Musk has cast the money as both a prize as well as earnings for work as a spokesperson for the group.

Krasner has said he could still consider criminal charges, as he’s tasked with protecting both lotteries and the integrity of elections. In the lawsuit, he said the defendants are “indisputably violating” Pennsylvania’s lottery laws.

Both Trump and Kamala Harris have made repeated visits to the state as they fight for Pennsylvania’s 19 electoral votes.

Musk, who also owns Tesla and X, has gone all in on Trump this election, saying he thinks civilization is at stake. He is undertaking much of the get-out-the-vote effort for Trump through his super PAC, which can raise and spend unlimited sums of money.

He has committed more than $70 million to the super PAC to help Trump and other Republicans win in November.

Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner waits for a hearing to begin at a City Hall courtroom, Thursday, Oct. 31, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Judge sets hearing on $1M-a-day sweepstakes from Elon Musk PAC helping Donald Trump

FILE - Elon Musk speaks before Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump at a campaign rally at Madison Square Garden, Sunday, Oct. 27, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

Judge sets hearing on $1M-a-day sweepstakes from Elon Musk PAC helping Donald Trump

President Joe Biden hosted a formal ceremony Wednesday to publicly celebrate his executive order establishing an initiative to increase funding for Hispanic-serving institutions and create a board of advisors on HSIs.

Hispanic-serving institutions, or HSIs, which are not-for-profit schools with a full-time equivalent undergraduate student enrollment that is at least a quarter Hispanic, are vital to the goals of equality in educational and economic opportunities, according to the White House.

With Hispanic people accounting for almost three-quarters of the nation’s population gain, according to U.S. Census Bureau population estimates from 2022 to 2023, higher education leaders are urging the president to spread the word about the new initiative, given its potential to help Hispanic students catch up to peers from some other backgrounds.

“Hispanic-serving institutions are places that turn dreams into reality for students across the country,” Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said in a statement on X. “When we support inclusive spaces, we are supporting everyone!”

The ceremony came after the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities, a nonprofit advocacy group, released a petition for Biden to host a public event to promote the HSI initiative.

Higher education advocates in Latino communities say that they are optimistic about the federal effort to support hundreds of local colleges and universities.

In a statement, HACU CEO Antonio R. Flores, who was at the ceremony, thanked Biden for taking action to advance the success of HSIs. Flores said the executive order shows a federal understanding of how crucial HSIs are to the future of the nation.

“The numerous forms of support for HSIs established by this order is the start of a new era for our schools, expanding and improving the landscape they operate within,” Flores said. “This will ensure HSIs have a seat at the table so that the students they serve have access to an education that is equitable and accessible, fulfilling the promise of the American dream that increasingly depends on a college degree.”

Latino students are hopeful that the executive order will help HSIs improve their infrastructure and ability to provide more resources in a variety of languages to its students.

The more than 500 HSIs in the U.S. and Puerto Rico serve more than 4.7 million students every year, according to federal data. Many students are low-income, and nearly a third are eligible for Pell grants, which are federal scholarships for students in need.

Unlike historically Black or Native American tribal colleges and universities, which are given their designations based on their missions, any college can receive the HSI label and related federal money if its Latino enrollment reaches at least 25% of the student body.

Hispanic people, who can be of any race, are the nation’s second-largest demographic. Their population grew last year by about 1.2 million, to 65.2 million, meaning Hispanic people make up almost a fifth of the total population, according to census estimates.

Biden’s order is intended to strengthen HSIs’ ability to provide high-quality education, benefit from existing federal programs, and increase their students’ educational and economic mobility.

HSIs “play a critical role in ensuring Latinos have access to the middle class and can fulfill their aspirations,” White House domestic policy advisor Neera Tanden said in a statement emailed to The Associated Press. “The president’s executive order will strengthen these critical institutions and build their capacity to provide economic mobility for all their students.”

The Associated Press received financial support from the Sony Global Social Justice Fund to expand certain coverage areas. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

President Joe Biden meets with President of Cyprus Nikos Christodoulides in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)