As the Democrats celebrate a victory in the battlefield state in the most expensive judicial campaign in the history of the United States, President Donald Trump and the Republican Party are facing a worrying early sign on what the intense attention of Elon Musk’s influence for the party means.
Musk, the White House billionaire advisor, played a leading role in the race, using personal funds and external groups to put more than $ 15 million behind the former Wisconsin attorney general, Brad Schimel, Trump’s support candidate who ran into the Madison County Circuit Judge, Susan Crawford. Crawford and his allies responded in kind, using musk as a sheet and scoring a decisive victory.
Although the race was technically non -partisan, there were intense partisan connotations, and it was functionally transformed into a vote of power over Trump’s first two months in office and especially in Musk, which has become one of the most powerful people in Republican politics since Trump won last year.
However, although the results were not promising in the first state test of the Republicans of the second Trump administration, Trump’s advisors are, at least for now, deactivating the loss, and pointed out that it was an election out of the year with a lower participation than the recent presidential career.
“The results are what they are. It is a career out of year and predictive,” said a Trump advisor. “I don’t think you can read too much, including Elon’s role.”
A source familiar with Musk’s thought was on the same page, brushing the loss as a result of a “uphill battle.”
“Elon was a happy warrior this career, knowing very well that it was a battle uphill. The only reason Schimel was able to make this a race was because Elon got involved,” said the source familiar with Musk’s thought. “He put the Democrats in defense and made them empty their coffers in a race that should never have been competitive.”
The person added that Musk’s effort to help Republican campaigns will continue.
“He will continue to be active and is not giving anything to the Democrats,” said the person.
Even so, immediately after Schimel’s loss, Republicans are evaluating how the influence of Musk’s foci will shape the key political careers that are directed to half of the Marisca in 2026, when Republicans will defend a close majority of the camera. While participation in Wisconsin did not reach the presidential levels, he approached the number of people who voted in the intermediate works of 2022 in the state, closer to a regular election than to a under exchange error.
“Elon is great for Trump because it’s a shield,” said a Republican operation that advised Musk in Wisconsin’s career. But, the person added, the ability to attract so much heat is “bad for the elections, because it energizes the Democrats.”
The recent NBC news survey found that most voters throughout the country (51%) had Musk negative views, while 39% saw it positively. Neither Musk nor Trump had spoken publicly about Wisconsin’s result from 11 pm on Tuesday.
The political arm of the White House, including musk, played an “unprecedented” role in the contest, highlighting the importance of the race for Trump, and the sharp nature of the loss. Trump supported Schimel and publicly promoted the importance of the race, but much of the attention in the weeks before the day of the elections focused directly on Musk, who was Trump’s greatest donor last year and has pointed out the ambitions to use his massive wealth to influence the races in the future.
Beyond giving great political cash to Schimel, Musk established a petition contest that made those who registered to fight against the “activist” judges are eligible for a $ 1 million award, and also made a demonstration for Schimel on Sunday. In the rally, Musk said the career could “affect the entire destiny of humanity.”
“I would call it unprecedented,” said the former president of the Wisconsin Republican Party, Andrew Hitt, about the role of the White House in the state race. “It had never been done before in terms of their participation.”
He said that the race was undoubtedly seen through a Trump-Musk lens, since he began to gain more national attention, but that he was not always just Democrats who tried to make that brand stay.
“I think that as the race nationalized, I would say in some way that the correct defined us as Trump-Musk candidate,” Hitt said. “The left really didn’t have to do that; it was the conservatives who did that.”
Hitt was surprised at how much Crawford won on Tuesday night, but said he did believe that Musk helped energize the base Republicans in the state after being completely involved.
“He helped close the gap, I think,” he said. “We will see where the margin lands ultimately, but it seemed that Elon was energizing people. Maybe not? We will see where the final numbers land.”
Trump beat Vice President Kamala Harris in the state in less than 1 percentage point last year, the third time that the presidential race has been reduced to decimal points in Wisconsin.
“Wisconsin is a great state politically, and the Supreme Court has a lot to do with the elections in Wisconsin,” Trump said last week. “Wisconsin winning is a big problem, so the election of the Supreme Court … is a great career.”
But Trump’s supporters focused on Tuesday on the victories that obtained notches in two seats in the Florida Congress, which will help to ensure that the Republicans keep their thin majority of the camera. The Democrats obtained some profits amid low participations in deep red seats, but both Republican candidates still won comfortably.
“The Democrats had the Supreme Court of Wisconsin, while the Republicans won both Congress races in Florida,” said a former Trump advisor. “Republicans have maintained our majority in the Chamber and, most importantly, Democrats will not be able to prevent President Donald J. Trump’s first America.”
