In Wisconsin Supreme Court Race, Republicans Shrug at Democrats' Focus on Elon Musk
Outside a wedding venue in Stoughton, Wis., the other night, a group of Democratic protesters unfurled an enormous 'For Sale' sign and a giant check while a man dressed as Elon Musk pursed his lips. It was meant to represent the millions that the world's richest man had spent on behalf of Brad Schimel, the conservative candidate for State Supreme Court in Wisconsin who was about to appear inside.
'Elon has just taken over the presidency,' fumed Mary Nervig, a resident of nearby McFarland who had joined the protest. Now, she worried, Musk could take over Wisconsin's highest court, too.
Inside the venue, though, Musk barely came up during a marathon of speeches. Not by name, at least.
'Isn't it great,' former Gov. Tommy Thompson told his fellow Republicans from the stage, that Republicans and Democrats in the race were 'spending almost on par for the first time?'
Indeed, Musk has spent some $20 million on behalf of the conservative candidate, Brad Schimel, erasing what has in recent years been a Democratic fund-raising advantage in the state. But Wisconsin Democrats are betting that a focus on Musk's role in the race will turbocharge their base, firing up supporters like Nervig, as they try to preserve the court's narrow liberal majority. They've put his face in campaign ads and even named a statewide tour 'The People v. Musk.'
'As much as it is a choice between these two Supreme Court justices, it is also a way to send a message about what Musk and Trump are doing,' Ben Wikler, the Wisconsin Democratic chairman, told supporters at an event I attended in Eau Claire last week.
If any of that spooks Republicans, they're not showing it. They've welcomed Musk's money. And when I asked Brian Schimming, the Wisconsin Republican chairman, how his party should respond to the charge that Musk is trying to buy a State Supreme Court seat, his answer was simple.
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