OFF THE MARKET: Elon Musk Buys Out Brad Schimel

MADISON, Wis. — New reporting from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel today revealed that extreme right-wing politician Brad Schimel has put himself up for sale to the most extreme bidder, begging far-right megadonors like Elon Musk and Dick Uihlein to break out their checkbooks to bankroll his radical anti-freedom campaign.

With Elon Musk’s money and Donald Trump’s extremism already fueling attacks on our rights and freedoms nationwide, now they’re shoveling cash to Brad Schimel to complete a hostile takeover of the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Make no mistake: Brad Schimel invited Elon Musk to bankroll his campaign because he wants to carry out Elon and Trump’s attacks right here in Wisconsin.

Read more about how Brad Schimel put himself up for sale to Elon Musk:

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Bice: Brad Schimel says he’s not for sale after Elon Musk group drops $1.5M in his race
By: Dan Bice

• Just this week, an Elon Musk-backed group, purchased some $1.5 million of airtime in Wisconsin to help conservative Supreme Court candidate Brad Schimel over the next couple of weeks.
   
• Then a group funded primarily by GOP mega-donor Richard Uihlein disclosed in state election records that it has spent $1.35 million on TV ads that will attack Schimel’s opponent, liberal Supreme Court candidate Susan Crawford.
   
• “Ultimately, the only answer to (the outside spending) is that the individual running for office — and frankly, this applies to all offices for the judicial or legislative or executive branch — you can’t be for sale,” Schimel said at a forum sponsored by Marquette University Law School. “People want to support you. It should be they’re supporting you because they like the things that you stand for, not because they’re buying some result.”
   
• But Schimel, a Waukesha County judge, can’t act like he was surprised by the upcoming TV ad blitz by Building America’s Future, the Musk-funded nonprofit.
   
• Earlier this month, he brought up Musk, the wealthiest man in the world and the bosom buddy of President Donald Trump, during a chat with a local Republican group. He did so after Musk urged people to vote for Schimel on X, the social media platform owned by the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX.
   
• “Elon Musk noticed this race a week and a half ago or so,” Schimel said at a meet and greet held by the Lafayette County GOP, according to audio obtained by the Journal Sentinel on Feb. 2. “I don’t know if he’s found his checkbook, though.”
   
• Schimel also said last week that he was hoping Fair Courts and other conservative groups would get into the race “very soon” to relieve the financial pressure on his campaign.
   
• Both Fair Courts and Building America’s Future responded within days.
   
• At the Marquette University event on Tuesday, a law school student asked Schimel about the support from the Musk group.
   
• Schimel offered a cautious bit of thanks to the group. It’s not clear if Building America’s Future is using its federal independent expenditure account or its nonprofit to buy the ads, though insiders said they expected it was the nonprofit because donors would not be disclosed with that.
   
• “I appreciate anybody that will help me get my message out there because it’s hard to reach all the voters in Wisconsin,” Schimel said Tuesday.

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