Wisconsin Elections Commission Refers Musk Complaints to District Attorney

The Wisconsin Elections Commission voted 5-1 on July 10 to refer two complaints against Elon Musk to the Brown County district attorney’s office. The commission found probable cause that Musk violated Wisconsin election bribery law by making a social media post offering $1 million to individuals who voted in the 2025 state Supreme Court election.

The complaints originated from voters in Milwaukee and Green Bay.

Brown County District Attorney David Lasee has 40 days from the referral to notify the commission of his decision on whether to file charges. Musk posted on X in late March 2025 that he would give a talk in Wisconsin with entrance limited to those who had voted in the Supreme Court election and that he would personally hand over two checks for a million dollars each.

He later clarified that entrance was limited to those who had signed a petition in opposition to activist judges and that he would hand checks for a million dollars to two people to be spokesmen for the petition.

Musk gave out two $1 million checks at a rally in Brown County on March 30, and America PAC awarded a third check to a Wisconsin voter who signed its petition. Musk and organizations he funded or controlled spent more than $20 million supporting Republican candidate Brad Schimel in the April 1 election. Schimel lost to Democrat Susan Crawford by 10 percentage points.

Total spending by conservative and liberal supporters in the race exceeded $100 million. Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul filed a lawsuit on March 28, 2025, seeking to stop the distributions, but state courts declined to block the giveaways. A lawsuit filed last June by the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign against Musk and America PAC remains pending in Brown County court and seeks to bar similar payments in future elections.

America PAC awarded $1 million every day to a registered voter in one of seven swing states who signed a petition supporting the First and Second Amendments during the 2024 presidential election cycle. Musk stated in May 2025 that he planned to do a lot less political spending in the future.