Elon Musk said at a Green Bay town hall Sunday Wisconsin’s Supreme Court race will determine who controls the U.S. House of Representatives and even “the course of western civilization” as he offered yet another financial incentive to turn out voters for conservative Brad Schimel.
Musk appeared on stage in Green Bay shortly after the state Supreme Court declined Dem AG Josh Kaul’s request to block the billionaire and his PAC from giving out two $1 million awards. Musk announced Nicholas Jacobs and Ekaterina Diestler as the winners of the awards and brought them on stage, saying they received the money for signing a petition opposing “activist judges.”
America PAC announced last week it had also given $1 million to Scott Ainsworth, of Green Bay, who the group says signed the petition.
Musk painted Tuesday’s election as an uphill battle, noting Polymarkets, a cryptocurrency-based prediction market, gave liberal Susan Crawford a 90% chance to win. He also said Dems are currently 100,000 votes ahead, though he didn’t offer any details. Wisconsin voters don’t list their partisan leanings on their registrations.
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Musk said Schimel winning would be like pulling “a steady stream of rabbits out of the hat” and they need “to generate an anomaly in the matrix.”
He argued if Crawford wins, the state Supreme Court will be able to redraw Wisconsin’s congressional districts to “deprive” Wisconsin of two GOP House seats. Republicans now control the delegation 6-2. The state Supreme Court now has a 4-3 liberal majority; a Crawford win would maintain that.
Musk said with such a narrow GOP majority in the House, that could flip control of the chamber, which would allow Dems to stop the government reforms that he and President Donald Trump are getting done.
“I feel like this is one of those things that may not seem that it’s going to affect the entire destiny of humanity, but I think it will,” said Musk, who walked on stage at the KI Convention Center in a foam cheesehead hat that he signed and threw into the crowd.
Musk also announced a new initiative for people to serve as block captains in their ZIP codes leading up to Tuesday’s election. Musk said those participating would be paid $20 each for every picture they submitted with someone they contacted on the doors while holding a picture or approximation of Schimel in one hand while showing a thumbs up with the other. Those holding a picture of Schimel and flashing a thumbs up will also receive $20.
A promo of the offer included a bonus. Referring 100 people qualifies someone as a block general with a payment of an additional $200. There’s also a bonus on Tuesday if recruited residents send a picture in the vicinity of a voting location. The recruited person and the block captain will get $20 each for that picture.
Crawford spokesperson Derrick Honeyman knocked Musk’s support of Schimel, saying he would “guarantee Musk’s companies have favorable rulings.” Tesla earlier this year filed a suit challenging a Wisconsin law barring car manufacturers from having dealerships.
“There’s a reason why Elon Musk cares about this race and why he’s in Wisconsin today: He knows Brad Schimel is for sale and is incapable of being the fair and impartial justice our state deserves,” Honeyman said.
The rally started 45 minutes late, and Musk spoke for about 18 minutes before he opened it to questions from the crowd. He then spent nearly 90 minutes fielding questions that ranged in topics from artificial intelligence to what he’s learned from becoming a parent.
To attend, people had to have signed the petition opposing “activist judges.” Musk was twice interrupted by protesters. He dismissed one as a George “Soros sleeper agent.”
