Musk is spending millions in this race—but Wisconsin can’t be bought

The following guest post was written for Daily Kos by Ben Wikler, chair of the Democratic Party  of Wisconsin. This post does not represent an official endorsement by Daily Kos.

This week, Wisconsin’s Supreme Court election beat the record—a record set just two years ago in Wisconsin. It is now the most expensive judicial election in American history. 

On one side is Brad Schimel—now known as “Elon Schimel” because of Elon Musk’s eight-figure investment in putting him on the court. He’s the most extreme, pro-Trump MAGA candidate we’ve ever seen. He even dressed as Donald Trump in a garbage truck drive costume for Halloween. 

On the other side is Judge Susan Crawford, the kind of common-sense judge any defendant would want behind the bench. 

On Wednesday night, Schimel and Crawford faced off for the state Supreme Court’s one debate. Check out some of the highlights (or can watch the full debate here).

Schimel repeatedly defended the state’s 1849 abortion ban as “valid.” 

Asked whether the case in which the Wisconsin Supreme Court declined Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election was correctly decided, Schimel answered, “I don’t know.” 

Asked if he embraces Musk’s endorsement, Schimel hemmed and hawed. 

"It is expensive and it's difficult to get your message out,” he said—a veiled thank-you to the richest man in the world, who happens to be shredding the Social Security Administration, the Veterans Administration, and our Constitution, all while his own court case affecting his bottom line moves through the Wisconsin court system. 

Related | Here's the election Elon Musk is trying to buy next

Crawford, meanwhile, reminded us why she’s exactly the right person to serve on the Supreme Court: clear answers, Wisconsin values, and great care to make clear that she wouldn’t prejudge cases that might come before her.

She won the debate walking away. But only a tiny number of voters watched the debate, and nearly all of them already knew who they were supporting before the first question was asked. To win this election, it’s on all of us to reach the hundreds of thousands of committed Democrats—and friends of freedom and democracy—who didn’t watch it. 

And Musk’s millions are standing in the way.

Musk’s strategy is two-fold. First, spend millions of dollars, through various groups and PACs he’s funding, on relentless ads trying to suppress support for Crawford by lying about her record as a judge. Second, launch a huge mail-and-door-hangers campaign targeting Republicans with a simple promise: “BRAD SCHIMEL WILL SUPPORT PRESIDENT TRUMP’S AGENDA!” 

Here’s one of their mailers: 

Is it working? 

Well, a right-wing dark-money group posted its poll saying the race is tied 47-47. If Democrats and Republicans vote in equal numbers, that might in fact be the case. 

But the Democrats’ job is to out-organize and out-communicate the Republicans—and clean Schimel’s clock by driving up turnout for Crawford. That’s why anti-Schimel billboards went up this week around Wisconsin.

And that’s why Wisconsin Democrats will be out in every community in the state this weekend, knocking on doors, calling phones, and spreading the word to friends—that a vote for Crawford is a vote for freedom, democracy, and the rule of law, and a vote for Schimel is a vote for abortion bans and Elon Musk. 

If you haven’t signed up for a volunteer shift yet, do it now, right here.

Nobody has a reliable way to measure in advance which side will have more energy in this race or who will ultimately vote. But in special elections so far this year, margins have swung toward Democrats by an average of almost 10 points. And all it takes is a gut check to know that Democrats are furious about what Musk, Trump, and the GOP are doing to this country. If we channel that outrage into electoral energy, we’ll win this race. 

And the whole world will see that no amount of Musk spending is enough to deter us from defending the country that we love. 

Let’s get out there. Just 18 days to go. 

Wisconsin Democrats need all hands on deck to defeat Brad Schimel and defuse Elon Musk’s money bomb. Electing Judge Susan Crawford will take resources to reach voters across Wisconsin. Help fuel WisDems efforts. Chip in here.