Despite the multiple warnings of the billionaire Elon Musk that the “Western Civilization” was at risk if the candidate for the Conservatory of the Supreme Court of Wisconsin Losses, the CEO of Tesla and the senior councilor of President Donald Trump, “he was expecting the main defeat of the elections on Tuesday.
The billionaire, who dominates the titles after joining the Trump administration as an aggressive leader of the Ministry of Government, had entered the race.
His political groups spent more than $ 20 million in an attempt to push conservative candidate Brad Shimel across the final line – flooding the broadcast with television ads and saturating Google and Facebook with digital places. He unleashed a ground team throughout the country to give voters, and personally gave two checks on $ 1 million to a rally, where he appeared on the stage wearing a cheese hat.
But it wasn’t enough.
Elon Musk looks during a cabinet meeting in the White House cabinet, March 24, 2025 in Washington.
Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images
Shimel, lost by what can be a double-digit margin, giving the richest person in the world’s political failure and encouraging questions about how eager Republicans will be to perceive Musk’s involvement in future races, including average.
But despite the result of Tuesday, Musk remains uncertain in his political ambitions. According to people familiar with his surgery, he still plans to play a major role in helping Republicans retain control of the house in future competitions, including the average deadlines in 2026.
Sources said Musk and his team had entered the Wisconsin race, knowing that this would be a difficult battle. Part of the calculation, according to people close to effort, was that the Democrats in Wisconsin would probably make Musk the face of their attacks independently, so it is better to stand up directly with them and make the case of the voters, not let these attacks remain unanswered.
Musk’s political team had seen warning signs in the last section. A note from one of his groups, derived from ABC News, showed that Shimel was lagging behind liberal candidate Susan Crawford with double digits earlier in the race and his number improved after a wave of negative advertising. But in the days leading to Tuesday, Musk’s team saw the Shimel tank, which made the billionaire go to a media blitz, which included numerous live events and an interview with Fox News.
The Democrats are now working quickly to take advantage of Crawford’s victory and present Musk as a responsibility for Trump and the Republican Party.
Senate majority leader Chuck Sumer said the loss of Shimel was a referendum on Musk.
“The voters of Wisconsin sent a decisive message to Elon Musk, Donald Trump and Dodge, rejecting an exceptional Republican for their Supreme Court: Our democracy is not for sale,” writes Sumer to X.
Illinois governor JB Pritzker, the billionaire himself, who donated more than $ 1 million to the Wisconsin Democratic Party before the race, wrote on X late Tuesday night, “Elon Musk is not good at that.”
Patrick Guarasky, a Wisconsin -based political operator who serves as a major strategist for Susan Crawford’s campaign, repeated this opinion. He said one of the key performances on Democrats on a national scale was the importance of directly opposing Musk’s political efforts.
“We did not give way to the match when Elon Musk went into this race. We did not go to look for this match, but we did not back down.
However, Musk’s supporters note that the billionaire also played a central role in Trump’s presidential victory in 2024, more specially focused on Pennsylvania with similar tactics.
“[Musk] He travels to Pennsylvania, where he spent a month and a half campaign for me … And he’s a popular man, ”Trump said at a rally after his victory in the election. “He knows these computers better than anyone. All these computers, those computers that count the votes, and in the end we won Pennsylvania like in a landslide. So, it was pretty good, it was good. So, thank you to Elon.”
