Voters cast their ballots in Little Chute, March 25, 2025. PC: Fox 11 Online
GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — State Democrats announced legislation addressing political contributions made in the April 1st Spring election.
In total, $98 million was spent leading up to the Wisconsin Supreme Court election, making it the most expensive judicial race in American history.
On Thursday, State Rep. Lee Snodgrass (D-Appleton) and State Rep. Amaad Rivera-Wagner (D-Green Bay) proposed the Petition Payment Prohibition Act.
“The legislation we are introducing today would expand our election bribery laws by defining payments offered in exchange for signing petitions supporting or opposing a candidate referendum or proposition about political, social issues, state law or proposed or potential legislation if the petition is related to an election referendum or is circulated during an election period as defined in the bill,” Rep. Snodgrass explained.
The losing candidate in the Wisconsin Supreme Court race, Brad Schimel, had more money to support him than his opponent, Susan Crawford, did.
And while Crawford’s campaign spent double what Schimel’s did — $22 million to his $11 million — Schimel had far more support from outside PACs and donors. He received more than $21 million from billionaire Tesla CEO Elon Musk and groups he controls.
In addition to his political contributions, Musk paid three individual voters $1 million each for signing a petition in an effort to goose turnout. Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul, a Democrat, sued to bar Musk from making the payments, but the state Supreme Court unanimously declined to rule on the case over a technicality.
Musk also offered to pay $20 to anyone who signed up on his group’s site to knock on doors for Schimel and posted a photo of themselves as proof. His organization promised $100 to every voter who signed the petition against “activist judges” and another $100 for every signer they referred.
For Crawford, Billionaire George Soros donated $2 million to the Democratic Party of Wisconsin and Illinois Governor JB Pritzker gave $1.5 million to the Wisconsin Democratic Party for Crawford’s campaign.
“Let’s be clear – election bribery is already illegal in Wisconsin however Elon Musk attempted to circumvent this law by paying people to sign a petition instead, something not currently explicitly banned in current law,” Rep. Snodgrass said.
Last year, private money to fund elections was banned in Wisconsin after voters approved a constitutional amendment put forward by Republicans in reaction to grants received in 2020 that were funded by donations from Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.
At the time, Democrats opposed the amendment, which they argued would make it more difficult to conduct elections in the battleground state.
Democrats are a minority in the state Legislature and would need significant support from Republicans to pass.
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