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Elon Musk’s preferred candidate has been trounced in a Supreme Court race in Wisconsin that was widely seen as a referendum on the controversial billionaire and the Trump administration’s agenda.
Conservative Brad Schimel, whom Musk, the world’s richest man, backed with an unprecedented $25mn, lost on Tuesday to liberal judge Susan Crawford, according to the Associated Press.
The race was most expensive judicial contest in US history — with total campaign contributions of nearly $100mn — and was seen as a test case for Musk’s political might outside Washington.
Voter turnout was the highest ever for a Wisconsin Supreme Court race, according to AP.
Musk, who campaigned in the state in person on Sunday and handed out two $1mn cheques to Schimel supporters, had cast the election in the battleground state as crucial to protecting Republicans’ razor-thin congressional majority.
The result will secure a 4-3 liberal majority in the swing state’s high court, which is expected to hear cases in the coming months on abortion rights. It could also be asked to weigh in on attempts to redraw Wisconsin’s electoral map ahead of the midterm elections in 2026.
“Losing this judge race has a good chance of causing Republicans to lose control of the House. If you lose control of the House, there will be nonstop impeachment hearings. There will be nonstop hearings and subpoenas,” Musk, who runs Trump’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency, told Fox News on Tuesday.
In other elections on Tuesday, Republicans fended off two Democratic challenges for US House of Representatives seats in Florida that proved stronger than expected.
Randy Fine, a Republican Florida state senator, won the House seat previously held by Trump’s national security adviser Mike Waltz, while Jimmy Patronis, Florida’s Republican chief financial officer, won the former seat of Trump’s initial nominee for attorney-general Matt Gaetz.
Gaetz withdrew from consideration for the cabinet role following allegations of sexual misconduct and drug use, which he denies.
The Republican wins will raise the party’s majority in the House to 220 against the Democrats’ 213, easing the task of Speaker Mike Johnson as he seeks to push Trump’s legislative agenda through Congress.
But Democrats performed much better than expected on Tuesday, emboldened by voter discontent with Trump’s agenda 10 weeks into his presidency. Republicans’ margins of victory in the two deep-red districts were on track to be about half of November’s levels.
Trump hailed the wins, writing on his Truth Social platform: “THE TRUMP ENDORSEMENT, AS ALWAYS, PROVED FAR GREATER THAN THE DEMOCRATS FORCES OF EVIL.”
But last week, the president withdrew the nomination of New York congresswoman Elise Stefanik as UN ambassador over fears that her seat could also become vulnerable.
In Wisconsin, Democrats had cast the judicial contest — which is technically non-partisan — as a referendum on Musk and Doge’s influence on the federal government, running a campaign ad called “People v Musk” that highlighted the billionaire’s cuts to the administrative state.
Trump also backed Schimel in the final days of the race but did not travel to Wisconsin, which he won in November.
“The voters’ verdict sends a resounding message: Wisconsin’s Supreme Court election demonstrates Musk and Trump have gone too far, and any politician allied with them could swiftly face the end of their political career,” said Ben Wikler, chair of the state’s Democratic party.
While Musk was by far the single largest backer in the race, Crawford and the Democrats attracted large donations from billionaires including George Soros and Michael Bloomberg.
Musk also revived a controversial tactic from last year’s presidential campaign, offering $100 to registered voters to sign a petition decrying “activist judges” and handing out $1mn cheques to two signatories.
