A far right political action committee (PAC) that is largely funded by billionaire Elon Musk is producing social media ads and text messages that aim to deceive Wisconsin voters by falsely claiming to be in support of the liberal candidate in the upcoming state Supreme Court race.
The group, which calls itself “Progress 2028,” is producing ads that appear to be supportive of Judge Susan Crawford, the nominally liberal candidate in the statewide election set to be held on April 1. But the language used in the ads is aimed at dissuading undecided voters, telling them that Crawford is “stand[ing] up for immigrants” and giving people formerly convicted of crimes “second chances.” The ads also wrongly claim that Crawford is against incarceration of any kind, which the candidate is not.
As it turns out, Progress 2028 is actually managed by Building America’s Future, a right-wing PAC that supports President Donald Trump and receives much of its funding from Musk.
This isn’t the first time Progress 2028 and Building America’s Future have tried to deceive voters. The groups used the same tactics during the 2024 presidential election, giving undecided voters errant information about then-Democratic candidate Kamala Harris, in hopes that their messaging would discourage voters from backing her at the polls.
Musk has been funding Building America’s Future for years, even before he endorsed Trump in the 2024 election. The group has spent around $2 million in the Wisconsin Supreme Court race so far; Musk’s own group, America PAC, has spent an additional $3.2 million.
Musk has a significant financial stake in the outcome of the election — if his preferred candidate, right-wing Judge Brad Schimel, wins, the balance of the court will shift from liberal to conservative control this year.
Currently, Musk’s electric automobile company Tesla is suing Wisconsin over a regulatory decision that prohibits car manufacturers from also being able to own dealerships in the state. Regulators recently determined that the company didn’t qualify for an exemption to that law, resulting in Tesla filing a petition in Outagamie County court in January. The case could eventually make its way to the state Supreme Court.
If Schimel wins the race, he wouldn’t necessarily have to recuse himself from the Tesla lawsuit, if it does indeed reach the state’s highest bench — a 2010 change in the state judicial code allows judges to remain on cases even if they have received endorsements or benefited from campaign contributions from parties involved in the case.
Building America’s Future is likely pretending to be a group called Progress 2028 in part to hide its connections to Musk, as most voters in the state have negative feelings about the billionaire. Indeed, a Marquette University Law School poll published on Wednesday shows that only 41 percent of Wisconsin residents have a favorable view of Musk, while 53 percent of residents have an unfavorable view of him.
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