There is a temptation to overhype or read too much into the results of off-year elections. In this case, I suggest we succumb.
Yesterday, Wisconsin voters exposed, humiliated, and decisively rejected the world’s richest man. And they sent a stark message to Republicans in Washington.
On Sunday, when Elon Musk parachuted in for a rally that featured $1 million checks for voters, he described the race for state supreme court here in apocalyptic terms. Tuesday’s vote, he declared, would determine which party controlled the House of Representatives, presumably because of the court’s role in redistricting. “That is why it is so significant,” he said. “And whichever party controls the House, you know, it, to a significant degree, controls the country, which then steers the course of Western civilization. So it’s like, I feel like this is one of those things that may not seem that it’s going to affect the entire destiny of humanity, but I think it will. Yeah. So it’s a super big deal.”
Yesterday’s result—a decisive victory for liberal Susan Crawford over conservative Brad Schimel—was, indeed, a super big deal. Not just for Democrats, who desperately needed this kind of win, but for Musk himself. By inserting himself into the Wisconsin race, Musk, the billionaire who has become a top adviser to President Donald Trump, had hoped to cement his status as MAGA enforcer and kingmaker. Instead, he provided Republicans with graphic evidence that he has become a political boat anchor. Late last night, The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board fretted: “The MAGA majority may have a shorter run than advertised.”
[John Hendrickson: Musk is still paying for political influence]
It was a message that jittery Republicans in Congress are not likely to miss. As for Trump himself, he notoriously hates both losing and losers.
The stakes for Wisconsin in yesterday’s election were huge. The outcome of the judicial race would affect everything including abortion rights, gerrymandering, and public-employee bargaining rights. But along the way, Musk turned the race into a referendum on himself and the president.
Conservative groups flooded the state with literature featuring Schimel cheek by jowl with Trump, whose picture was … everywhere. Musk hoped to turn out low-propensity Trump voters by convincing them that Trump was, in effect, on the ballot. Musk and his allies hammered the message over and over in mailers: “Schimel will support President Trump’s agenda!” “President Donald Trump needs your vote. Stop the radical liberal takeover.” “Together, we won the White House. Now it’s time to win the courthouse!”
In the end, it all backfired, and the election wasn’t close. In a state where many elections are decided by razor-thin margins and where Trump won only narrowly in November, Musk’s conservative candidate was shellacked. Democrats turned out in massive numbers, and Schimel failed to hit the targets he needed. The suburban vote continued a leftward shift.
[Jonathan Lemire: Elon Musk is president]
As she claimed victory, Crawford gave a shout-out to Musk. “Growing up in Chippewa Falls, I never could have imagined that I would be taking on the richest man in the world for justice in Wisconsin,” she said. “And we won.”
The timing of Crawford’s win is important. Wisconsin’s vote came amid stories about Musk’s assault on Social Security and circulating reports about massive cuts to public-health agencies, just a week after The Atlantic’s reporting on the Signal security breach, and just before Trump’s expected announcement about huge new tariffs.
At the rally on Sunday, Musk—who has become one of the loudest voices on the right calling for the impeachment of federal judges who rule against Trump—bounced onto a stage in Green Bay wearing a cheesehead and brandishing million-dollar checks. How would this play in the swingiest of swing states? we all wondered. How popular was Musk? How did voters feel about Trump’s shock-and-awe agenda?
Wisconsin voters have given their answer. They delivered a grim verdict on Musk’s chainsawing of government and his crude attempt to buy their state’s high court.