Mother Jones illustration by Chris Unger / Zuffa LLC / Getty

On February 20, a dark money group funded by Elon Musk began running ads attacking progressive judge Susan Crawford, who is running in a Wisconsin Supreme Court election in April that will decide the balance of power on the court. Another super-PAC created by Musk has spent $2 million on voter turnout efforts in support of conservative candidate Brad Schimel, a former state attorney general who was appointed to a judgeship in suburban Milwaukee by former Republican Governor Scott Walker. Collectively, groups tied to Musk have already spent more than $4.2 million on the Wisconsin Supreme Court race—a clear sign that his plans for oligarchy extend well beyond Washington.

“I’ve been tracking these races for many years,” says Douglas Keith, senior counsel in the Judiciary Program at the Brennan Center for Justice. “I’ve never seen this much interest in a state supreme court election coming directly from the White House.”

“In North Carolina, there has been a multi-year, hyper focused effort among political actors in the state to gain and keep control over the state supreme […]

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