Elon Musk hands out $1 million checks to voters after Wisconsin Supreme Court declined to intervene

Elon Musk gave away $1 million checks to two Wisconsin voters despite massive backlash from critics and a lawsuit from the state’s attorney general ahead of a consequential Supreme Court election in the state.

The coveted checks went to two Wisconsin men who have both voted for and donated to GOP campaigns and have a lengthy history of supporting President Trump. Musk said that only “spokesmen” for an online petition against “activist” judges would be eligible for the million-dollar handouts.

Musk, wearing a cheese hat, used his time in Wisconsin to rally for Brad Schimel, a conservative politician running for a Wisconsin Supreme Court seat. He is backed by Trump, Musk and the DOGE head’s many support groups who have spent more than $20 million backing Schimel’s campaign.

Wisconsin is a highly contested battleground state, and liberal critics warned that Musk is backing Schimel so that he can influence the court. Many on the left are concerned about the state’s forthcoming redistricting, which could impact who has control over the House, which is currently held by a slim Republican majority.

“And if the [Wisconsin] Supreme Court is able to redraw the districts, they will gerrymander the district and deprive Wisconsin of two seats on the Republican side. Then they will try to stop all the government reforms we are getting done for you, the American people,” Musk said.

The state Supreme Court made a unanimous decision not to hear an eleventh-hour attempt by Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul to stop Musk from handing out the checks mere minutes before the rally began. Two lower courts had already rejected Kaul’s legal challenge, which argued that it is illegal to offer “anything of value” in exchange for a vote in Wisconsin.

The court did not provide an explanation for its decision.

Musk attempted an identical ploy ahead of the 2024 election, where he offered to pay $1 million to random voters in swing states who signed a petition supporting the First and Second amendments. A Pennsylvania judge handling a legal challenge in that case also found that prosecutors did not provide enough evidence that Musk had set up an illegal lottery.

So far, approximately $81 million has been spent on both sides leading up to the heated state Supreme Court election.

In the coming months, the Wisconsin Supreme Court is expected to rule on abortion rights, congressional redistricting, union power, and voting rules that could make or break the 2026 midterms and, eventually, the 2028 presidential election in the battleground state.

With Post wires