Hamza Adam 
Billionaire Elon Musk is expanding his political interests beyond the federal government to eye state races that could benefit his companies if the right people are elected, according to an opinion piece in The New York Times.
Musk has turned his gaze to Wisconsin, where he is unsurprisingly supporting the conservative candidate for the state’s supreme court. A victory for Musk’s candidate, Judge Brad Schimel, “would flip the court from liberal to conservative control, with potentially enormous implications for access to voting, legislative districts, abortion and more,” wrote law professor Kate Shaw.
She continued, “Just as it has been difficult to disentangle Mr. Musk’s personal financial motives from his ideological goals when it comes to dismantling the federal bureaucracy, it’s not clear how much of his Wisconsin intervention is ideologically driven and how much may be more narrowly self-interested. In January — just a week before Mr. Musk’s endorsement of Judge Schimel — Tesla sued the state of Wisconsin in a challenge to state dealership rules that may well end up before the State Supreme Court.”
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In January, Musk posted to his X account, encouraging Wisconsin voters to choose Schimel. And, as is usually the case with Musk, the billionaire has put his money where his mouth is.
Musk’s AmericaPAC has spent $6.3 million on the race, and the Musk-affiliated Building America’s Future has spent another $4.3 million, according to the article. “Yet another Musk-affiliated PAC, Progress 2028, is airing deceptive ads that purport to support Judge Crawford but in fact appear designed to help Judge Schimel,” Shaw wrote.
“The prospect of a billionaire with outsize influence over the federal government also seeking to dictate the direction of state-level democracy should be profoundly alarming to anyone committed to federalism, a core constitutional value,” Shaw wrote. “But, she argued, Musk’s “entry into the Wisconsin race could serve as a galvanizing moment for voters troubled by this billionaire’s influence in our politics and a way to make their objections known.”
The Wisconsin Supreme Court election is scheduled for April 1, with early voting beginning Tuesday.
