Elon Musk focused and spent tens of millions of dollars on involving national and international elections and politics. Now has a focus rotated To the US state elections: a plant to cast a key chair that determines control of the Supreme Court in Wisconsin.
These elections are scheduled for April 1 (early vote begins on Tuesday) and Mr Musk supports the conservative candidate Brad Schimel over the liberal candidate Susan Crawford. The victory for Judge Schimel would overturn the court from liberal to conservative control, with potentially huge consequences for access to vote, legislative districts, abortion and others.
The prospect of billionaires with excessive influence on the Federal Government, which also seeks to dictate the direction of state democracy at the state level level, should be deeply alarming for anyone who committed to federalism, which is the main constitutional value. Federalism is particularly important right now. With the united Republican control in Washington, DC and Congress, who was a willing participant in his own def -henstreration, states and state institutions are prepared to become increasingly critical places to maintain rights and rule of law.
Mr. Musk’s interjection began in January asking for x his followers “Vote the Republican for the Wisconsin Supreme Court”. ) Another PAC associated with Musk, Progress 2028, sends deceptive ads trying to support Judge Crawford, but actually appear Designed to help Judge Schimela.
Wisconsin’s policy is as divided as the policy of any state, and the Supreme Court of the State has long been in the middle. Wisconsin has a democratic governor and a general prosecutor, a Republican legislator and 4-3 of the Supreme Court with liberals at present in most. In November 2024, Mr. Trump won only 29,000 votes-the narrowest victory in any battlefield-Latímco Democratic Senator Tammy Baldwin was closely re-elected.
For years, extreme gerrymandering has brought a huge Republican advantage in the State Legislative Corps. But in 2023 – in another expensive and closely monitored race of the Supreme Court – Liberal Janet Protasiewicz defeated the conservative Dan Kelly to change the ideological balance of the Supreme Court. Later, the new majority of 4-3 found that Gerrymandered maps of the state legislator violated the State Institute and had to be reworked. The new maps eventually introduced, elaborated by a democratic governor and an enacted Republican legislator, created the conditions of a real democratic competition.
The liberal majority of the court also issued decision Permission of electoral boxes and suppression of decision 2022, which banned their use; And just last month, avert (from permanent areas) Call for state voting procedures of personal absent.
These issues of democracy at the state level level are particularly important with regard to what happened in the state in 2020, when the State High Court got into a single vote on the promotion of eccentric claims for Trump’s election fraud- only The state court to seriously entertain such a claim. Three of the sitting judges at that time would consider the ejection of hundreds of thousands of votes in strong democratic areas.
Both candidates in this year’s race, judge Crawford and Schimel, are sitting with lower courts. Judge Crawford was approved by the State Democratic Party, as well as AFL-Cio and Planned Parenting in Wisconsin; Judge Schimel was approved by the state Republican party, anti-potrats, and now Mr. Musk.
Just as it was difficult to separate Mr. Musk’s personal financial motifs from his ideological goals in terms of removing federal bureaucracy, it is not clear how much of his Wisconsin intervention is ideologically driven and how much more can be interested. In January – just a week before the approval of Judge Schimel Mr. Musk – Tesla sued the state of Wisconsin in the call for the rules of prosecution, which may end before the Supreme Court of the State.
Whether it is business interests or the desire to expand its influence by the installation of ideological allies in every conceivable position of power on the national, international and now stage, the effort of Mr. Musk to seek to control over these elections should be a reason for alarm. The amount of power it controls seems to be an area in violation of the main principles of political equality, government responsibility and above all popular sovereignty.
Specific shares in Wisconsin are high: the Supreme Court of the State has two pending cases concerning the enforceability of the abortion prohibition of 1849. State seats with detained Republicans. And the changed court could re -see and even cancel the recent decisions banned from previous state legislative maps – pave the way for the restoration of Republican Supermajorin in the Wisconsin legislative choir.
We should understand Mr. Musk’s interest in this race as recognition of the undeniable fact that there will be a large number of rights and policies in the states, to be in Washington. His entry into the Wisconsin race, however, could serve as a galvanizing moment for voters concerned with this billionaire in our policy and a way to announce their objections.
