Musk announces $1 million for Wisconsin voter in Supreme Court race. Opposition calls it 'corrupt'

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Musk announces $1 million for Wisconsin voter in Supreme Court race. Opposition calls it 'corrupt'

2025-03-28 02:19 Last Updated At：02:31

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Billionaire Elon Musk says a Wisconsin voter has been awarded $1 million days before the conclusion of a fiercely contested state Supreme Court election that has broken spending records and become a referendum on Musk and the first months of President Donald Trump's administration.

The payment to a Green Bay man, which Musk announced Wednesday night on his social media platform X, is similar to a lottery that Musk's political action committee ran last year in Wisconsin and other battleground states before the presidential election in November.

The upcoming election on Tuesday, filling a seat held by a liberal justice who is retiring, will determine whether Wisconsin’s highest court will remain under 4-3 liberal control or flip to a conservative majority. The race has become a proxy battle over the nation’s politics, with Trump and Musk getting behind Brad Schimel, the Republican-backed candidate in the officially nonpartisan contest.

The campaign for the Democratic-supported candidate, Susan Crawford, blasted the $1 million payment from Musk as an attempt to illegally buy influence on the court in a state where Tesla, his electric car company, has a lawsuit pending that could end up before the court.

“It's corrupt, it's extreme, and it's disgraceful to our state and judiciary,” Crawford spokesperson Derrick Honeyman said in a statement.

No legal action against Musk's payments to voters has been filed in Wisconsin with the Supreme Court election five days away.

Jay Heck, executive director of Common Cause in Wisconsin, said the payments were a last-minute attempt to influence the election.

“Whether or not Wisconsinites will believe this is legitimate or not probably won’t be settled until after the election,” he said. "But this not what a Wisconsin Supreme Court election ought to be decided on. Races for the high court are supposed to be on judicial temperament and impartiality, not huge amounts of money for partisan purposes.”

Musk's political action committee, America First, announced last week that it was offering $100 to voters who signed a petition in opposition to “activist judges.” He did not say there would be $1 million prizes at that time, but in his post on Wednesday said an additional $1 million award would be made in two days.

It was not clear who determined the winner of the $1 million or how it was done.

Musk’s political action committee used a nearly identical tactic before the White House election last year, offering to pay $1 million a day to voters in Wisconsin and six other battleground states who signed a petition supporting the First and Second Amendments.

It is a felony in Wisconsin to offer, give, lend or promise to lend or give anything of value to induce a voter to cast a ballot or not vote.

The Musk petition says it is open only to registered Wisconsin voters, but those who sign it are not required to show any proof that they actually voted.

The petition says: “Judges should interpret laws as written, not rewrite them to fit their personal or political agendas. By signing below, I’m rejecting the actions of activist judges who impose their own views and demanding a judiciary that respects its role — interpreting, not legislating.”

The petition, while designed to collect data on Wisconsin voters and energize them, also is in line with Trump’s agenda alleging that “activist” judges are illegally working against him. Trump’s administration is embroiled in several lawsuits related to his flurry of executive orders and Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency effort to downsize the federal bureaucracy.

During last year's presidential race, Philadelphia’s district attorney sued in an attempt to stop the payments under Pennsylvania law. But a judge said prosecutors failed to show the effort was an illegal lottery and allowed it to continue through Election Day.

America PAC and Building for America’s Future, two groups that Musk funds, have spent more than $17 million trying to help elect Schimel, according to a tally by the Brennan Center for Justice. Musk also has given the Wisconsin Republican Party $3 million this year, which it can then give to Schimel or spend on the race.

More than $81 million has been spent on the race so far, obliterating the record for a judicial race in the U.S. of $51 million set in Wisconsin just two years ago, according to Brennan Center tallies.

Rain turns to ice, cuts power in Great Lakes region while Tennessee braces for wild weather

2025-03-31 12:09 Last Updated At：12:12

Freezing rain brought down trees and power lines in Michigan and Wisconsin, cutting electricity for thousands of people Sunday in the upper Great Lakes region, while forecasters said severe weather was on its way to Tennessee.

Winds topping 70 mph (112 kph) were possible for the middle of Tennessee, with a chance of tornadoes as well as hail as large as 2 inches (5 centimeters) Sunday night, the National Weather Service said.

“Have your safe place cleaned out just in case,” forecasters said on social platform X.

More than 400,000 power outages were reported in Michigan, Indiana and Wisconsin. Churches that had power, as well as schools and fire halls, were turned into warming centers as utilities worked to restore electricity, a job that will likely stretch into Monday in small communities and rural pockets.

The Weather Service office in Gaylord, Michigan, was in the middle of it, saying on X: “Accumulations range here from a half inch to nearly a whole inch of ice!”

Despite the calendar showing spring, “it's still winter,” said Ryan Brege, managing director of the Alpena County, Michigan, Road Commission, 250 miles (402 kilometers) north of Detroit.

Alpena Power said nearly all of its 16,750 customers — homes and businesses — were in the dark. Many churches without power in Wisconsin and Michigan were forced to cancel Sunday services.

"We pray that everyone stays safe!” said Calvary Lutheran Church in Merrill, Wisconsin.

Jesika Fox said she and her husband drove more than 40 minutes from their home in Alpena, Michigan, to find fuel for a generator. Her family lost power Saturday night but kept the house warm by using a fan to circulate heat from a gas-burning stove.

“We just passed a veterinary clinic. The entire front corner of the building was taken out by a tree,” said Fox, 36.

Sarah Melching, emergency services manager in nearby Presque Isle County, said virtually the entire county — population 13,200 — has no power.

“There are trees still falling down. It’s kind of ruthless out there,” Melching said.

Authorities in South Carolina reported progress Sunday in controlling wildfires in the Blue Ridge mountains. The Table Rock and Persimmon Ridge fires have burned about 17 square miles (44 square kilometers). Mandatory evacuations were ordered Saturday for some residents of Greenville County.

“Thank you for the prayers. They’re being heard. There’s rain in the air," said Derrick Moore, operations chief for the firefighting Southern Area Blue Team.