Topline
Billionaire Elon Musk shared claims on X Wednesday arguing big-money donors are why Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate Susan Crawford beat Musk’s preferred candidate Brad Schimel in Tuesday’s election—but campaign finance filings suggest Musk and other GOP billionaires actually spent millions more backing Schimel than Crawford’s billionaire supporters.
Elon Musk speaks at a town hall March 30 in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reservedKey Facts
Crawford beat Schimel Tuesday in Wisconsin’s Supreme Court election with 55% of the vote, with the race garnering national attention as Musk and his America PAC poured millions into supporting Schimel—and Musk claimed the election would affect “the course of Western civilization.”
Musk has publicly brushed off Schimel’s loss, claiming on X early Wednesday he “expected to lose” the race and sharing a post proclaiming, “Meet the Billionaires that Elected Susan Crawford,” which claimed Crawford outspent Schimel by 230% and “much of” her direct campaign contributions came from billionaires—downplaying Schimel’s campaign contributions in comparison.
Campaign filings do show Crawford raised more in contributions to her campaign than Schimel, taking in $28 million through April 1, including in-kind donations, versus Schimel raising $15 million.
But Schimel garnered far more support from outside groups, with filings compiled by the Brennan Center for Justice showing outside groups spent $38 million on his campaign versus $17 million spent supporting Crawford—and Musk’s America PAC was the biggest spender in the race outside of the campaigns themselves, shelling out $12 million on Schimel’s behalf.
Both candidates had billionaire supporters who made big-money donations to Wisconsin’s Democratic and Republican Parties—which supported the Supreme Court candidates and could accept larger contributions than their campaigns—including the likes of Musk, ABC Supply founder Diane Hendricks, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Democratic megadonor George Soros.
Campaign filings show Republican-aligned billionaires contributed more than Democratic ones, giving at least $9.8 million to the Wisconsin GOP in 2025 versus at least $3.8 million that billionaires gave to the Democratic Party—which does not include the additional $18 million that groups with ties to Musk spent backing Schimel.
Who Are Susan Crawford’s Billionaire Donors?
Crawford garnered major support in the Supreme Court race from Soros, Pritzker and LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, who all made significant donations to the Wisconsin Democratic Party in 2025 when the Supreme Court race was heating up. Soros was the biggest donor with $2 million in donations, while Pritzker gave $1.5 million and Hoffman gave $250,000. Billionaire Jennifer Pritzker gave $18,755 to Crawford’s campaign directly, close to the $20,000 maximum. Director Steven Spielberg, a billionaire, also gave the maximum $20,000 contribution to Crawford’s campaign.
Who Are Brad Schimel’s Billionaire Donors?
While Musk was Schimel’s most prominent billionaire backer, he was not the only one. Hendricks, who’s from Wisconsin, was the billionaire pouring the most money into the Wisconsin Republican Party in 2025, giving a combined $3.6 million, while Uline chiefs Elizabeth and Richard Uihlein donated $2.1 million and $1.7 million, respectively. TD Ameritrade founder Joe Ricketts gave $500,000. Musk gave $3 million directly to the Wisconsin GOP on top of his efforts through America PAC. While past campaign filings have shown Musk’s money makes up the vast majority of America PAC’s coffers, it’s unclear how much of its spending on the Wisconsin race came from him, as the group hasn’t filed any campaign finance disclosures since throwing itself into the Supreme Court election. Musk has also previously given money to the group Building America’s Future, which spent $6 million supporting Schimel.
Big Number
$98.6 million. That’s how much money was spent in total on the Wisconsin Supreme Court race, as compiled by the Brennan Center—making it the most expensive judicial race in U.S. history.
Why Did Billionaires Spend So Much In Wisconsin?
The Wisconsin Supreme Court race determined the court’s ideological balance going forward, with Crawford’s win meaning the court will stay under the control of Democratic-backed judges. That’s likely to have major implications that could affect the entire country, as the court is likely to decide issues over the state’s congressional maps—which could affect which party controls the House—and voting rules in the battleground state for the 2028 presidential election.
Key Background
The Wisconsin Supreme Court race gained national importance as Musk waded into the race, campaigning in Wisconsin and interviewing Schimel on X as his America PAC offered cash—including two $1 million prizes—to voters who signed a petition against purportedly partisan judges. The race marked the first test of Musk’s political power in a downballot race, after he emerged as one of Trump’s top donors during the presidential election, and became somewhat of a referendum on the billionaire as a result, as Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency have made broad cuts across the federal government. Early data suggests the Wisconsin election garnered particularly high turnout for a spring election, with CNN noting the more than 2.3 million voters who cast a ballot is half a million voters higher than the last Supreme Court election in 2023, and is closer to what the state typically sees during the midterms.
Further Reading
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