MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A conservative nonprofit backed by billionaire Trump adviser Elon Musk is getting involved in a race that will determine the political direction of the highest court in one of the country's most important presidential battleground states.
The group Building America’s Future is spending $1.6 million on television ads in the Wisconsin Supreme Court race that started airing Thursday and will run for two weeks in the state's five largest media markets. The spending comes after Musk posted a message last month on X, the social media platform he owns, drawing attention to the race and calling for the Republican to win.
The April 1 contest will be perhaps the most significant election since last fall, providing an early litmus test for Republicans and Democrats after Donald Trump won every swing state and as the start to his second term is sending . It also has high stakes within the state, determining whether the court will remain controlled by liberal justices or flip to a conservative majority. Major upcoming cases will cover , , election law and congressional redistricting.
, the Musk-backed candidate, is a Republican former state attorney general who is currently a Waukesha County judge. He's a strong supporter of Trump and welcomed a potential endorsement from Trump in the race. Musk spent an estimated $250 million in last year's presidential race, and the Tesla and SpaceX CEO is now a key Trump adviser to cut the federal bureaucracy.
“Who wouldn’t want the endorsement of the sitting president, who is enjoying high popularity right now?†Schimel said on WISN-TV. “I suspect President Trump is aware of this race. It’s been identified by many as the most important race in America in 2025, and they’re probably right.â€
Schimel’s opponent, Dane County Circuit Judge , is backed by the Wisconsin Democratic Party and previously worked for a Democratic governor. She is endorsed by Planned Parenthood Advocates of Wisconsin and Wisconsin’s AFL-CIO. As a private practice attorney, Crawford brought lawsuits challenging laws that restricted abortion and union rights.
Crawford reacted to the funding by the Musk-backed group saying Schimel is “bought and paid for by right-wing extremists.†Building America's Future doesn't have to list its donors, but The Wall Street Journal reported last fall that Musk became the group's major donor in 2022.
“Elon Musk and other right-wing billionaires are pouring money into this race because they can bank on Brad Schimel to protect their corporate dominance, restrict reproductive freedoms, and take our state backward at the expense of ordinary Wisconsinites,†Crawford said in a statement to The Associated Press.
An ad that started airing Thursday from the Musk-backed group echoes one from the Schimel campaign that criticizes Crawford's handling of a case from 2018. The case resulted in a four-year prison sentence for a man charged with having sexual contact with two children in a public swimming pool. Prosecutors sought a 10-year sentence, but Crawford said at the time that was longer than necessary to rehabilitate the perpetrator.
Both candidates are seeking to fill an officially nonpartisan seat left open when a liberal judge retired.
Musk, the world's wealthiest person, isn't the only billionaire in the Wisconsin Supreme Court race. Those spending on behalf of Schimel include Diane Hendricks, owner of ABC Supply in Wisconsin, Richard and Liz Uihlein, founders of the shipping and packing company Uline, and Joe Ricketts, the founder of Ameritrade and co-owner of the Chicago Cubs. Schimel is also getting outside help from some conservative and business-aligned groups in the state.
Schimel addressed the donation from the Musk-backed group when asked about it earlier this week during a Marquette University Law School forum.
“People want to support you,†he said. “It should be they’re supporting you because they like the things that you stand for, not because they’re buying some end result. And that’s the only way it’s going to work right. I can’t do anything to stop the money that comes into these races.â€
The race is expected to become the most costly state supreme court election on record, topping the $51 million spent on the Wisconsin contest two years ago. And the big money isn’t just coming from the right.
from hefty donations from Democratic philanthropist ; Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker; Gloria Page, the mother of Google co-founder Larry Page; and LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman. Schimel pointed to those donations to say big spending by outside forces is “happening on both sides.â€
The only outside group spending large amounts of money on Crawford's behalf is the liberal A Better Wisconsin Together, which says it has spent $1 million on digital and television ads. In the 2023 state supreme court race, the group spent more than $6 million on behalf of the liberal candidate who won and flipped control of the court after 15 years with conservatives in the majority.
Last year, Musk spent nearly $300 million supporting Republican campaigns, according to Federal Election Commission filings. While the bulk of his efforts went toward electing Trump, a super PAC he founded also spent millions of dollars on U.S. House races to keep Republicans in control.
Musk also dabbled in state politics in Texas, where he has moved several of his businesses. In 2024, he gave $1 million to a tort reform group supporting Republicans in state legislative races and $2 million to a political action committee that campaigned to elect Republican judges in the state.
In last year's presidential race, Building America’s Future repeatedly funded misleading ads to promote Trump.
It was the sole funder of a super PAC that ran contradictory ads in Michigan and Pennsylvania on Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris’ stance on Israel. The ads characterized her position differently in targeted messages to Arab American and Jewish voters.
The group also funded Facebook ads made to look as though they came from Democrats, falsely claiming Harris supported policies such as eliminating gas-powered vehicles and giving voting rights to immigrants living in the U.S. illegally.
Crawford and Democrats seized on Building America's Future getting into the Wisconsin court race to ask for donations.
Harris sent a fundraising email Wednesday urging donations to the Democratic National Committee “to fight back†because congressional redistricting is expected to be an issue before the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
___
Swenson reported from New York.
